“Heartbreaker” deluxe box will be out May 6

It’s finally official: May 6 is the U.S. release date for the much-rumored-about Deluxe Edition Box Set of Ryan Adams’ 2000 solo debut Heartbreaker. The package includes lots of demos and outtakes plus a live DVD, dressed up in a fancy box that appears to involve a fair amount of photos and verbiage. Perusing the unreleased tracks on the list of song titles, I’m especially glad to see “Petal in a Rainstorm” (also known as “Oh My Sweet Valentine”) finally getting a proper release. “Locked Away” is a great rarity, too.

There’s a nice preview trailer; and you can check all the track-list details and/or pre-order the album here.

ADDENDUM (7/7/2016): Also, here is a pretty extensive interview about Heartbreaker, with some interesting ruminations from Ryan regarding how he felt about Whiskeytown — plus a few remarks about David Rawlings that are bound to stir some controversy.

A Heartbreaker of a box set?

It’s hard to know just what, if anything, to make of this. But for a period of time this week, a European music-vendor website called cdon.com had a “Deluxe Box Edition” of Ryan Adams’ 2000 debut solo album Heartbreaker listed. It soon disappeared, and hitting the link for it now seems to take you to the main cdon.com home page. But cursory, less-detailed listings for it can also be found on Amazon Germany and Amazon France.

Those are the only places I’ve seen it so far, and I’ve yet to find a trace of it anywhere in America. Interestingly, it has “April 1” down as a release date. So it’s entirely possible that the whole thing is some sort of April Fool gag. If it is, however, it’s one heck of an elaborate joke. There’s a track list with lots of rarities including “Oh My Sweet Valentine,” one of my favorite of Ryan’s lost classics. And it should surprise no one that the thing I find most enticing about the accompanying illustrative photo (which I screen-grabbed while it was still online) is the book. What’s in there, and who wrote it?

I put in a query to Ryan’s publicist, asking if this was for real and if so when it might appear in the U.S., but there was no response. So we shall see if or when this ever emerges — or if it winds up in the same black hole as Blackhole.

Fifteen years of “Heartbreaker”

Here’s another reminder of just how much time has slipped away since the Whiskeytown era: Today marks exactly 15 years since the release of Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams’ first solo album. Even though the band hadn’t “officially” broken up at that point, and its in-limbo album Pneumonia wouldn’t be released until the following May, I’ve still always thought of Heartbreaker as the official end of Ryan’s Whiskeytown period. He was certainly talking about Whiskeytown in the past tense in the No Depression magazine feature I wrote for Heartbreaker’s release. And a year later, the mainstream was in the process of finally discovering Ryan with his second (and inferior, at least to me) solo album Gold.

Here’s a pretty solid track-by-track dissection. I am a little embarrassed to admit that, as noted in chapter 12 of “Losering,” my initial reaction to Heartbreaker at the time was disappointment that it didn’t have any of the astounding material I’d seen Ryan play live during his fall 1999 shows (“Hey There Mrs. Lovely,” “Oh My Sweet Valentine,” “Born Yesterday” and other songs you can find nowadays on bootlegs like Destroyer). But that feeling didn’t last because Heartbreaker was and is extraordinary — a perfect snapshot of Ryan finding himself artistically at a moment when his life and career seemed to be falling apart. I still think it’s the best of his officially released solo albums, and it would have outsold Gold by multiples were there an ounce of justice in this world. At least it’s the top-selling album in the history of Bloodshot Records, so that’s something.

Ryan himself has had some harsh and flippant things to say about Heartbreaker over the years, including this dismissively withering 2006 self-assessment:

If you are a redneck or want to be disappointed with me buy Heartbreaker. But it’s utter shit and I didn’t mean a word of it.

Maybe he really meant that. But Ryan says a lot of things, and I think it matters more that a decade and a half later, he still plays Heartbreaker tunes like “Come Pick Me Up” and “Oh My Sweet Carolina” onstage pretty much every night. And it seems as though his feelings toward Heartbreaker have softened just a bit. In the wee small hours of this morning, Ryan tweeted this:

Happy 15th Anniversary, Heartbreaker!!!

You’re too long, overly earnest & a lil’ wordy but damnit you’re all mine.

That’s fair. So here’s to Heartbreaker — and the ongoing hope that the heartbreak kid has still got another record like that in him.

“Losering: The Songs of Ryan Adams” — wish you were here

Back in Whiskeytown’s prime, I really wanted them to break through to widespread popularity, which seems a bit odd in retrospect. Sure, it would have been fun to watch from close range; but I can’t say why I was rooting for them beyond a vague belief that a large audience was going to provide some measure of validation. There was closure that only a large crowd singing along with “Sixteen Days” was going to provide.

Fittingly and belatedly, that happened last night, sort of. The fine folks at Deep South The Bar in Raleigh put together a tribute show inspired by my book, “Losering: The Songs of Ryan Adams,” and I got to emcee. And about halfway through the show, while members of the band Old Quarter were playing “Sixteen Days” — the song I thought was going to be Whiskeytown’s big breakout hit way back in 1997 — I was hollering along with everyone else in the soldout house and feeling chills about the experience.

Ghost has got me running
Away from you, away from you, awaaaaaay…

It was a truly wonderful night, very much a feeling of being among friends and fellow fans; as much a tribute to the milieu Ryan came out of as to Ryan himself. There were multiple highlights, some of which went like this:

Aaron Menconi, shortly before asking why he started that damn country band.

The Equivocators — Featuring my dear friend Scott Huler, they kicked things off with three songs from Whiskeytown’s Faithless Street album; “Midway Park,” “Hard Luck Story” and the title track. When Scott got to the “started this damn country band” line, I coached my 18-year-old son Aaron to yell out, “Why’d you do that?”

David Teeter (from the band Martha Ann Motel) — He brought out a couple of more recent Ryan solo songs, “Shadowlands” and “Desire.” And to make the absent guest of honor seem more present, David also played the recording of the infamous Jim DeRogatis voicemail, a legendary moment in artist-critic relations. Guffaws all around.

Ryan Kennemur — Continuing in a humorous vein, Ryan gave a nod to Mr. Adams’ touchier side by belting out a bit of Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69.” Then he got down to business, and his versions of “Turn Around,” “Avenues” and especially “If He Can’t Have You” were outstanding.

John Booker and Rachel Hirsh (I Was Totally Destroying It) — Major props go to John, who did a fantastic job with booking the acts for this show. And he and his bandmate Rachel did great with four songs — “Everybody Knows,” “Call Me On Your Way Back Home,” “Don’t Be Sad” and “Firecracker.” There was an enthusiastic audience sing-along on the latter song, and John needled me a bit for not giving it and the rest of Ryan’s Gold album sufficient respect in the book. Touche! Danny Johnson, who plays in about a thousand other bands, sat in.

Bobby Bryson — I’d never heard Bobby before, and he might have played my favorite set of the night with stellar versions of “A Kiss Before I Go,” “Let It Ride” (also much audience singing along here) and “Carolina Rain.” He showed absolute command instrumentally as well as vocally, and I loved his stage presence. Afterward, he presented me with a business card carrying the slogan Songs that gently rip your heart out. I believe it.

Charles Marshall and Richard Bolton (Balsa Gliders) — They put a couple of Strangers Almanac-era Whiskeytown classics through some unusual paces, quieting down “Waiting to Derail” and rocking up “Avenues.” Very cool, inventive versions that they clearly put some thought into.

John Massengil, George Hage and Danny Johnson (Old Quarter) — The aforementioned “Sixteen Days” sing-along went over great. So did “Jacksonville Skyline” and a lovely reading of “Houses on the Hill.” Meg Johnson sat in on vocals (and also with Jack the Radio). Felt like being at the Brewery back in the day.

Jack the Radio — Speaking of sing-alongs, there was a raucous one on “Come Pick Me Up,” maybe the most exuberant of the night. “O My Sweet Carolina” and “Lucky Now” rounded it out.

Adam Lane and Jeff Mullins — Ryan Kennemur returned for an exceptionally sweet harmony vocal on “Desperate Ain’t Lonely” (which they rehearsed once, outside in the parking lot, and Ryan had to read the lyrics off his phone — perfect). They also offered up a couple of nice rarities, “Onslow County” and “Oh My Sweet Valentine,” which never fails to put a lump in my throat. Last night was no exception.

Ryan Mullaney and Ashley Gray — Two fine singers teamed up to harmonize on “Desire” and the Gold standard “When the Stars Go Blue” (take that, Tim McGraw).

Wylie Hunter (Wylie Hunter & the Cazadores) — Back to Whiskeytown days with “Dancing With the Women at the Bar,” and Heartbreaker‘s “Be My Winding Wheel.” Really glad to hear both.

Chip Robinson (Backsliders) — He sat at the piano and covered “New York, New York,” reading lyrics he’d scribbled out by hand. Fascinating, weird and pretty great, made even moreso because he was wearing a Wu-Tang Clan T-shirt. I snagged the hand-written lyrics for my archive.

Debonzo Brothers — Jeff and Keef with another long-lost favorite, “Hey There, Mrs. Lovely” (yay!), plus Heartbreaker‘s “In My Time of Need.”

Be The Moon — And in the closing slot, this trio from Burlington offered up the resurrected Whiskeytown song “Am I Unstable.” It was fantastic, featuring box drum and an arrangement that Peter Blackstock’s memory placed in the ballpark of the original (which Whiskeytown only played live once, nearly 13 years ago).

All told, the event raised $579 for the Future of Music Coalition. I could not be happier, and prouder of everyone involved. Thanks to all the musicians, and especially to Deep South impressario Dave Rose for making it happen.

Ryan Adams covered by Jeff Mullins, and it’s (Mrs.) Lovely

Happy Good Friday to all you fine people, and it is a good Friday. How good? Well, I’ve never had anyone upload a Youtube video especially for me before — until now. So God bless my fellow Ryan Adams fan Jeff Mullins for taking the trouble, and doing a bang-up job to boot. It’s all one take and 21 minutes of him playing really good versions of a half-dozen Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown songs; and I’m delighted to report that the playlist includes two of my favorite “lost” Ryan songs from the fall of ’99, “Oh My Sweet Valentine” and “Hey There, Mrs. Lovely” (see Chapter 11 of “Losering” for some babble about both).

Check it out. Well done, Jeff, and thank you!

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody

Let’s mark the day with one of Ryan’s best songs from the vaults, 1999’s still-unreleased “Oh My Sweet Valentine” (also known as “Petal in a Rainstorm”). The first time I ever heard “Valentine” was Oct. 20 of that year, when it was one of a handful of spellbinding new songs that Ryan played solo at Local 506 in Chapel Hill — a show recounted in Chapter 11 of “Losering.”

Ryan played unaccompanied for most of the night, and Caitlin joined him for the closing stretch. “Valentine” remains among my favorite songs from that period, and I think it’s kind of tragic that it has yet to be properly released all these years later. But for those who care, at least it’s out there.

ADDENDUM: On the flipside of happy Valentine’s Day sentiments is the Love Hangover, an annual multi-city tradition and subject of a Wall Street Journal feature that quotes the aforementioned Caitlin Cary. The Raleigh edition of the 14th annual Love Hangover happens Friday at Kings, and Chip Robinson is among the participants this year.