During a Ryan Adams concert at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Saint-Denis in 2007, an audience member said to him, \u201cI want us to get married, Ryan\u201d, to which he replied, \u201cOh no, believe me, you wouldn\u2019t want an existence made of miseries\u201d. The audience, who laughed at the time, would probably react differently today in light of the allegations of sexual misconduct that have been hanging over Adams since last year. For the rest, let the relevant authorities \u2013 including the FBI \u2013 do their job. The suicide of musician Neal Casal, who was in Adams\u2019 entourage with the Cardinals, must also have had an effect on Adams\u2019 mood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan Adams, undeniably one of the most gifted and prolific American singers in the country-folk-rock world, releases Wednesdays<\/em>, his 17th post-Whiskeytown studio album and first release since Prisoner<\/em> in 2017. In 2019, Adams was scheduled to begin a trilogy beginning with the album Big Colors<\/em>. The events mentioned above obviously turned the calendar upside down, as Wednesdays<\/em> is the first volume. On the virtual cover, you can admire the piece \u201cThe North Station\u201d by the Dutch painter Sieben Johannes Ten Cate. A train arrives at the station and another one leaves; the principal interested party has not specified whether this is a metaphor for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adams often presents us with a narrator in his songs who\u2019s despondent over his sentimental disappointments. This time, however, he\u2019s engaged in a formal act of contrition, and in an acoustic mode. The titles are more than explicit: \u201cI\u2019m Sorry and I Love You\u201d, \u201cWho Is Going to Love Me Now If Not You\u201d, \u201cWalk in the Dark\u201d, \u201cLost in Time\u201d, \u201cDreaming You Backwards\u201d and \u201cPoison & Pain\u201d, on which Adams sings \u201cMy demons \/ Alcohol and freedom \/ A king without a queen \/ A king without a kingdom\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adams announced last year that Jason Isbell, Emmylou Harris, Benmont Tench, and Don Was would collaborate on Wednesdays<\/em>. While he can\u2019t confirm anything given the paucity of information (and Adams and the usual commentators are terse), your correspondent believes he can hear the organ of the veteran Tench on \u201cBirmingham\u201d and \u201cLost in Time\u201d, and the voice of the mythical Emmylou on \u201cMamma\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all, the 11 songs on Wednesdays<\/em> confirm that Ryan Adams remains, despite everything, an exceptional singer and a moving performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n