Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cold Roses

Genre rock Publisher Lost Highway Records External Links Official Website Lost Highway Records

Perhaps its time. Time for what you may ask? Well, time to leave Ryan Adams alone. Granted, the man has brought a lot of the negativity thrown at him upon himself, and his recorded output, not to mention his live performances, have been erratic to put it mildly. But, with the one-two effort of the Love Is Hell EPs (later put together as one album), and now the double-disc Cold Roses, I will give Adams the benefit of the doubt from here on out.

This album is such a breath of fresh air in a year that finds recorded music leaving me feeling a tad sour. Adams, here working in collaboration with the Cardinals (nice to see him collaborating--it suits him better than autonomy does), and leaving the production duties to someone other than himself or Ethan Johns (Tom Schick does a really fine job here) isn't putting on airs or posturing himself in any way like he appeared to be on other efforts (Rock N Roll and Gold are the primary offenders). Instead, he sounds free and relaxed, a fact that is mirrored on his best work.

His voice is warm and emotive throughout, backed up by the delicate vocals of Cindy Cashdollar and Catherine Popper. Cashdollar and Popper's vocals make a Ryan Adams fan reminisce to the days of Whiskeytown and that band's key player, Caitlin Cary.

The Cardinals are all quite capable musicians as well, each bringing wonderful touches to the songs on Cold Roses. This is especially true of Cashdollar's steel and lap-steel guitar playing (see particularly "Now That You're Gone").

One of my personal favorite tracks, but one that admittedly is completely out of place among the alt-country flavored album, is "Beautiful Sorta." Starting off with a little throwback to the New York Dolls ("When I say 'LUV,' you better believe me, LUV"), the song is a spirited bit of lo-fi garage rock, perfectly scuffed up and dirtified.

The second disc is every bit as good as the first, even if there isn't another song like "Beautiful Sorta" to go along with the first one.

"Let It Ride" slays me every time I hear it. Its everything I love about country music. Great vocals, stellar guitar playing, nice forward drum beats, and road weary vocals to match the lyrics which recall Hank Williams at his best. The way Adams sings "Tennessee's a brother to my sister Carolina," pulls at me for perhaps inexplicable reasons. But I guess I do know what he's saying here, despite being a northerner. North Carolina is my second home, and a state that is quite a beauty. Try the Sweet Tea in Brevard...excellent!

Even better is when Adams and the backing vocalists moan out the title track of "Cold Roses." The way they all pull out this mournful howl of a vocal when singing those two simple words simply needs to be heard.

Ryan Adams, confounding and exasperating as he may be, has created one of the best albums of this or any other year with Cold Roses. I will not think negative thoughts of the potentially two more releases the man hopes to release this same year. I'm actually starting to admire him for having the gumption or balls or recklessness or whatever you want to dub it to put himself out there, good, bad, ugly, beautiful, whatever. It is a trait I am actually starting to wish more artists had these days. And, even if neither release is as good as Cold Roses is, or simply not good at all, I have faith that the man will come back and deliver the goods as he's proven to do time and time again.