Peer Validated

Pictured: Ryan Adams looks like you look in your dreams about yourself.

I currently reside in Osseo, WI, in a house on 14 acres of land. I own a yellow lab that chases after cars and I drive a big black beater of a Jeep. I play the banjo. Sometimes I play it on the porch. Horses roam freely through my land and into the stream that runs through my backyard. I am afraid of them more than anything else in the world, but they’re still there. I very much prefer Leinenkugel’s to any other kind of beer, because it’s been owned by the Leinenkugel family for generations, the ultimate hand-me-down, and it’s brewed in a neighboring town. I often wear shirts without sleeves. Yesterday I wore a shirt without sleeves while I shoveled dirt into a wheelbarrow and hulled it across the yard at least 20 times, just so my waiting step dad could empty it back out into the garden. He calls it ‘work,’ I call it male bonding.

All of that said, I think I’m a fairly legitimate fan of Ryan Adams. Last night I took my first listen to his new album Easy Tiger, and when the last song finished I took a big sigh of relief and said, “nuther one in the bank.”

His alt. country has basically defined the genre for years. Easy Tiger is his ninth album since the year 2000, and it uses the same formula.

COUNTRY SONG + INDIE SENSE + DRAMATIC LYRICS = ALBUM EVERYONE LOVES.

I have just a few bones to pick with Adams’ style. I think a lot of his songs give themselves away within the first 30 seconds. It’s really cool to be pulled into a song right away, with a super catchy melody and a nice guitar riff, but I feel like a lot of his songs do that and then never give much additional benefit. Also, how many songs can one guy write about some girl named Rose, or Elizabeth, or whoever, and the way that she dumped him and how he wishes she would come back to him. I know that’s all a part of the country thing, but man, maybe it’s just not in the books for you. Just one more thing Ryan, you released three CDs in 2005. Please, please don’t do that again this year, I’m begging you.

Those few things aside, Ryan Adams is the current icon of alternative country, and he deserves that. This album proves his consistency and is honestly one of his most refreshing releases to date.

“Halloween Head,” isn’t really at all like the rest of Easy Tiger, but seriously, he yells “guitar solo,” after the second chorus and right before a blistering set of finger-doodles. I couldn’t resist.