This Friday will be Nov. 4, and it may or may not see the release of a new Ryan Adams album called Prisoner. It’s a project Ryan has been talking about for close to two years now (see this handy timeline), and he claims to have recorded more than 80 songs for it. The initial interview about the album cited Nov. 4 as the release date, and Rolling Stone magazine thought it was enough of a sure thing to include Prisoner in its fall preview of “35 Must-Hear Albums” back in September.
But still, we’ve not seen track lists, cover art, pre-order previews or any of the other promotional tidbits that usually get dangled out there in the run-up to a high-profile album’s release. So two weeks ago, I put the question to Ryan’s publicist as to whether or not Prisoner really was coming out on Nov. 4 and received the terse reply, “tbd.” I asked today if anything had been determined and the answer was longer this time, but not much:
Nope, we’ll make a formal announcement once it’s ready.
It’s possible Ryan will follow the “unannounced surprise” model Beyonce has used for her last few albums and just drop the thing with no warning. But this point…I wouldn’t set your watch for Friday.
ADDENDUM (11/2/2016): It’s officially delayed.
Losering Books 