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Rock for Learning features: RYAN ADAMS

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Ryan Adams Has More Love and Learning to Share

2018 NLM

“What’s more heartbreaking than any single event in life is the realization that every human being is trapped in a quest for love, trying to navigate a maze of desire. That’s what this record is about. Nobody falls in love to fail.”
—Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams, a multiple-Grammy-nominated singer songwriter from Jacksonville, NC who has released a veritable onslaught of critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums since 2000, has a double shot of love for the world this year:

Ryan Adams single Baby I Love You. First, a special (Valentines Day) single—“Baby I Love You”—a brand new and unavailable elsewhere track brought to you on the wings of Cupid (and by Blue Note/Pax-Am). “Baby I Love You” is exactly what it sounds like: A song to one’s baby, whom they love—a unique twist on Ryan Adams’ classic recipe, with key ingredient “sad” replaced by “happy.” Listen and get it here and check out the love-ly visual interpretation of the song by director Brook Linder here.

And second, hearts aren’t the only red things in the bouquet Ryan’s getting you this year: Tickets are on sale now for a June 14 headline show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO. [click here for tickets] Yes, Ryan’s first confirmed show of 2018 will be his return to the site of the 2017 show that generated local raves including “Ryan Adams Fans Fulfill Their Wildest Dreams at Red Rocks” (WESTWORD) and “Watching him onstage amidst the thousands of people who came out to see him was a surprisingly intimate affair… Adams sincerely put the audience first playing a slew of fan favorites all night, to everyone’s delight” (303 MAGAZINE). [Additional show June 12, 2018 in Salt Lake City, UT. Plus, European tour dates November 10th + 17th for Rolling Stone Festivals. More TBD.] For tickets and updates on Ryan’s future plans as they develop, as always visit: PaxAm Records. Let's share the great music and good causes!

Ryan Adams at Red Rocks photo by Danny Cinch, use by permission of NLM. With decades of acclaimed work to his credit, and accolades ranging from "one of the most elegant singer-songwriters of his generation” (The New York Times) to “one of the few truly great roots-rock troubadours left” (Entertainment Weekly), Ryan Adams delivers new music with his first album of all new original material since 2014 with PRISONER, primed to add new superlatives to the C.V. of Jacksonville as North Carolina's most celebrated multiple-Grammy-nominee. Released in 2017 in partnership between his own PAX-AM label and Blue Note Records, Prisoner is somehow one of the most personal yet universal works of Ryan’s mercurial catalogue.

Regardless of how history may come to see it, one fact rings undeniable when it comes to Prisoner: It was the only record Ryan Adams could make at this point in his life. As Ryan recalls, the title track was the third song written in the period of Prisoner’s gestation, and the preternatural ease with which the lyrics and arrangement came to him was the point where the muse took hold. From that song on, Ryan was in the thrall of a record that was coming to life with him as a vessel. "Some records are made by design,” Ryan explains, "You feel like a carpenter making a bookshelf, creating that because that’s what you do—but then there are records that come to you, like a waking dream but you’re lucid. Prisoner is one of those records. I know for a fact that something deeper was speaking to me and I was just there taking notes. I was so engrossed in my experiences as a human being that this is the only record I could write.”

Prisoner is heralded by the sudden arrival of first single “Do You Still Love Me?”—an opening salvo that “sounds bruised, reflective, and like his heart's on fire” (Vulture 5 Best New Songs of the Week) and was already killing it live on Ryan’s 2016 touring run through some of the biggest and most enthusiastically received performances of his storied career—including first ever headline stops at Red Rocks and the Greek in L.A.. From there, Prisoner takes a hard left into a compelling series of studies of beauty wrung from pain and introspection. From the title track that gave Ryan the thread to weave the entire album from scratch, through the signature bittersweet restraint of second single “To Be Without You” to the classic Adams combo of uplifting melodies dredging spiritual depths on the just-released “Doomsday," Prisoner is a cathartic and compelling listen—and one that goes by all too fast. The songs virtually unfold before the listener in real time from sketches in the back lounge of a tour bus or live room of Electric Lady or Ryan’s own PAX-AM studios—then by the time the album’s occasional glimmers of light coalesce into an outright shine with the closing notes of “We Disappear,” it’s time to dive back in again…

Ryan Adams cd cover Prisoner. Prisoner’s immediacy is a direct result of its creator’s all-consuming need to document the songs on the record as they came to him and took hold. Every rare and precious bit of downtime in the wake of 2014’s Ryan Adams entering the U.S. chart at a career high #4—a frantic two year stretch that not only saw Ryan tour the world and receive two more Grammy nominations (Best Rock Song for “Gimme Something Good” and Best Rock Album), but also witnessed the release of his Live at Carnegie Hall chronicling two sold out shows at its namesake, while his full album cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989 became his fourth Top 10 album—was spent in service to these songs, fulfilling an overriding urge to get everything out—and to get it 100% right. "I knew exactly the sound I needed for every note on this record and I’m very proud of the results,” Adams says. “Literally weeks were spent weeks getting the right sound for everything—all the way down to the right piece of metal or pipe to bang on.”

The there’s the most obvious question of all regarding Prisoner—A question that is, in fact, so obvious that we’re just going to skip straight to Ryan's answer: "People will ask if this record is about my personal life. The answer is yes--but the answer has always been yes. I’ve always written from experience, as someone who’s used poetic and artistic license. When has there ever been a time when I haven’t been doing that? Obviously, the record is about heartbreak, but it’s more than just that. These songs are about finding the true nature of desire and finding out how much more heartbreaking that is than any single event in someone’s life.”

Prisoner was written, recorded and produced by Ryan Adams 2014-2016. While there were able assists from a supporting cast including “hostage negotiator and righteous bro” Don Was, drummer and best friend Johnny T. Yerington, stalwart bass player and engineer Charlie Stavish among others, everything on Prisoner was a direct transmission from Ryan’s psyche and soul. This includes the cover, painted by Ryan himself and providing a final coda that somehow completes the album’s narrative: “The original album cover was a painting of a woman’s face. When I went to look for it, it couldn’t be found and eventually I accepted that it was lost. Instead I ended up using another painting from the same show that had hung in my living room unnoticed for five years. Ironically it was one of the last things to leave my old house, was almost thrown away, and has since been acquired by a private collector and has a safe and permanent home. There’s a parallel there I’m sure, even if I’m not quite sure what that is…"

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Ryan Adams’ Prisoner is out on PAX-AM/Blue Note. It is the newest of his 15 studio albums--depending on how you keep count—which stretch back to his 2000 debut album as a solo artist, Heartbreaker—which received a deluxe reissue in 2016 and was named one of Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of the Decade. In addition to his self titled, double-Grammy-nominated 2014 album, Ryan’s catalogue includes Ashes & Fire, 29, Easy Tiger, Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights, Rock n' Roll, Love Is Hell, Demolition,and his 2001 major label debut Gold, which has sold nearly a million copies worldwide and features "When Stars Go Blue," quoted in Stephen King's Lisey'sStory and widely known as "that Tim McGraw song that kid did on American Idol.” Ryan Adams is also CEO of his own PAX-AM label and has also produced albums for Jenny Lewis, La Sera, Fall Out Boy, Willie Nelson, Jesse Malin, and collaborated with Norah Jones, Emmy Lou Harris, America, Cowboy Junkies, Beth Orton and many others.

Ryan Adams discography.
[NLM 2017-2018 - Written by NLM/Edited by Melanie Silos for Rock for Learning/New Moon Publishing & Consulting.
Red Rocks photo by Danny Cinch and article published by permission of NLM.]



** 2018 Featured Indy Artist **




Hear new music from indy artist
Grace & the Midnight Angel "HEART WHISPERS" EP here:

Grace & the Midnight Angel - original music and lyrics by BMI singer-songwriter Melanie Silos Download the full EP or new singles
"You've Got Me", "Heart Whispers", "Tears of Wish" and "Sing To Me"!

(Featuring music and lyrics written by BMI singer-songwriter Melanie Silos.)

Hear new unreleased track demos "Stark Raving Mad" and "Take the Lead" (and more) at ReverbNation.com.



2007




Ryan Adams hard working at soundcheck. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals:
Helping the Learning Process with Peace, Love and Hard Work
Written by Melanie Silos
July, 2007

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals puts on a masterful performance with a show of acoustic ballads at the Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles, CA. His music is so emotional, that even through all the conflict in the world, it brings on the feeling of peace and love - that's right, the L-word, deeply emotional. And sometimes that's what the world needs most; love is something we all can learn and experience a little more, because when you love what you're doing, it makes the process of hard work all the more fulfilling.

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals are making a difference with their hard work and are contributing towards a better world in the process. There's much to be learned from professional musicians, and much of it is unattainable through formal education, and rather is best experienced straight from the professionals in action. There's an experience of learning in observing a band as Ryan Adams & the Cardinals and the hard work and precision they put into creating their sound and presentation. It's very clear that they truly care about the quality of sound and music they share with their audience, and they work very hard to make it happen.

Ryan Adams says, "I sang 29 songs last night." That's 29 in quantity and he's careful not to strain his voice as they find the right levels for the dynamics of his vocals, and he insists, "Two hours of sound check." That's what it takes before every show, and sometimes more to get that right sound, including the perfect balance between highs, mids, and lows of all the instruments, guitars, bass, drums, lap steel and vocals, and how the form of the room affects the sound. Ryan Adams is one who will not settle until it's right, even if it means working longer up until the last minute before doors open - and maybe even holding the doors until it's right, they work as hard as it takes to get it right, and it takes two. You know what I mean.

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, new CD 2007 EASY TIGERThe show begins for an expecting audience. Ryan Adams' voice is expressed powerfully and emotionally on every song and reaches even the top balconies with the gentlest of dynamics and feeling, so good it can make me cry. The Cardinals guitarist, Neal Casal delivers that perfect Ryan Adams guitar sound on his own acoustic presentation of the songs; Jon Graboff is brilliant on lapsteel, and new Cardinal bassist, Chris Feinstein adds a surprising complement of backing vocals, while drummer Brad Pemberton achieves a full drum sound with just a small kit.

Later at the bar drinking my Red Bull with drummer Brad Pemberton, he adds, "I'll have the full kit in a couple of days for the rock show," as he explains they alternate sets depending on the venue. -- And when Ryan rocks out on his electric guitar especially on the highly intense new songs "What Sin Replaces Love" and "These Girls" rivetting with deep blues, passion and a solo and bridge that resound of something of The Doors or even a Jimmy Page-style blues-guitar intensity, something totally different from him than ever before, it's earth moving. See the videos. "These Girls", "Everybody Knows"--

Ryan Adams appears in the room with a refreshing presence holding a bottle of Pelegrino water sharing the gift of sobriety. His ballads so peaceful and so emotional, I asked Ryan about his music, how does he do it day after day and still be as deeply emotional every time. He says, "I don't know; maybe I trick myself." That's the candid truth. Maybe it's like magic; that's what the expression of love is like: Just like magic! ***and sparkling fireworks ;-)*** In a world where the expression of emotions is not always encouraged, it's a much appreciated gift to feel and share so much emotion with music. As we shook hands I did not want to let go - maybe a subliminal response to his song "Please Do Not Let Me Go" from his record "Love Is Hell." Maybe it's really Love is Hell-O, and I'll say, Ryan Adams you had me at open door. Ryan Adams says it with his songs on his new record "Easy Tiger": "Everybody Knows" it takes "Two."

Holding on just for a moment longer, maybe by osmosis if we could just join hands we can change the world and make it a little better together. Well, maybe with a little peace, love and hard work - a lot of effort. Big Grrrr-roar for Ryan Adams and his new record Easy Tiger! Have a listen and link on; he's on MYspace.

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Neil Young hosts annual Bridge School benefit - see www.bridgeschool.org for details. Ryan Adams featured on Neil Young's Bridge School benefit CD - see www.bridgeschool.org for details. Ryan Adams is a featured artist on Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit compilation CD/I-tunes downloads, "The Bridge School Collection", with other artists including Nora Jones, Hootie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Bright Eyes, and more. Neil Young hosts Bridge School benefit concerts annually in the fall at Mountain View, CA. Join in and help the learning process; get the CD and benefit concert details at www.Bridgeschool.org

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© 2007 Melanie Silos/New Moon Publishing & Consulting
Ryan Adams photos courtesy of NLM (Ryan photos by Neal Casal)
Neil Young photo courtesy of WBR (photo by Pegi Young)



BIG-GRRRR ROAR for RYAN ADAMS After a year of making country music and touring with Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams is back with his classic sound and his backing band, The Cardinals, with the new 2007 record Easy Tiger and making a better world in the process.

Visit and have a listen at Myspace.com/RyanAdams



2005




RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS have yet another new CD in addition to his critically acclaimed "Cold Roses" and classic country "Jacksonville City Nights" now there's "29" available December 20th 2005! It's so good it hurts! CLICK HERE to listen to "29" and pre-order your copy now! Have a listen to every track of JACKSONVILLE CITY NIGHTS and his new single "The Hardest Part" at www.Ryan-Adams.com



RYAN ADAMS: A Well Spring of Passion & Creativity

Written by: Melanie Silos - Los Angeles, CA
April 2005

The passion, the pain, the love, the desire, the longing from the center of ones being and the satisfaction and joy to feel it expressed and released into the creativity of music, this is the experience one may find with RYAN ADAMS, an experience worth sharing.

Like fluid lightening bolts of emotional expression, he plays every note with a channelling of passion flowing from the depths of his soul through the tips of his fingers into the melodic sounds of his guitar.

Ryan Adams brings a continuity of history into present day form and style.   In all his spontenaity, and rasp and grrrr - who else would be better to carry on the classic influences of blues based rock n' roll with an essence of freshness of all that is now. In concert with new music, Ryan declares - I Will Learn To Love - **Photograph by Bob Gruen. Posted with permission of Lost Highway Records.** The spark of crazy love exudes in his very presence through one of his many incarnations. Simply by changing the style of his hair, the fashion of his clothes, the expressions in his tones, he reincarnates in form, but the song - the spirit and essence of his nature - remains the same. He breathes and creativity happens, magic that manifests by a puff of smoke. From his painted canvasses of colorful art to the depths of emotional expression in his lyrics and music, RYAN ADAMS is the ANDY WARHOL of the art of songwriting. From his past records Rock n'Roll, Heartbreaker, Demolition, Love Is Hell, to his new music for 2005, it all glitters of GOLD.

True to his brilliant nature, RYAN ADAMS brings life and spontaneity with comedy and rambling on in chats with his audience. Together with the masterful collaboration of his band, THE CARDINALS, he shares an event that is not only a show of musicianship, but more of a visit with him and his bandmates that we, the audience, may know the persona behind the music.

Through his music and performance, RYAN ADAMS shares the experience of being alive and active in learning to love and accept the wholeness of ones being, the truth in every aspect of the self from the stark raving mad craziness of mind and body to the most delicate emotional gentleness of the heart and soul. He shares the experience of learning to love the passion, the pleasure and the pain of desires in the dance of life,
the inspirations of creativity,
every little bit,
strange and new,
familiar and old,
of darkness and of light,
all that is,
everything you are,
the creative truth,
of RYAN ADAMS!

From the wellspring of his continuous creative passion, RYAN ADAMS has 3 new CDs this year beginning with "COLD ROSES" this Spring, followed by a double CD from his country-side this summer. Click into www.Ryan-Adams.com for details.

April 24, 2005
© 2005 Melanie Silos/New Moon Publishing & Consulting
Ryan Adams photograph (© 2003 Bob Gruen)



2004




RYAN ADAMS: I'm Still Learning! Ryan Adams 2004

Written by Melanie Silos - Los Angeles, Ca
September 21, 2004

Ryan is back on tour with his latest record Rock N' Roll and "Love Is Hell Pt. 1 & 2" after healing from a severe broken wrist & hand last winter. With months of physical therapy in New York, Ryan says, "The only thing that healed my hand was playing; it hurt, but it fixed it." He's smokin' as ever before, and out there with his brilliant talent, humor and charisma playing Rock N' Roll. With 20 new songs in the making, in concert Ryan declares he is still learning and shares the new song "Learn To Love".

** Get RYAN ADAMS' Book & CD: ROCK N' ROLL in stores now! And click in for 2004 Tour Details, merchadise and more! **




2003




RYAN ADAMS: A Light of Brilliance

Written by Melanie Silos - New York City, NY
January 2003

From The Stones' generation is born a star... One in a constellation of many, without whom the whole would not be what it is, he's RYAN ADAMS:

Ryan Adams cd cover Demolition. A guitar slinger bangin'-it-down-on-the-ground-when-you're-done, spotlight-on singer/frontman known for his profound talent of songwriting. Three solo CDs under his belt, "Heartbreaker", "Gold," & the newest "Demolition," with undoubtedly more on the way. Writer of the song "When The Stars Go Blue" also performed and recorded live by U2's Bono with The Corrs harmonizing a most beautiful lyric line: "Where do you go when you're lonely - Where do you go when you're blue - Where do you go when you're lonely - I will follow you - When the stars go blue..."

Songwriter extraordinaire from an alternative-country group called "Whiskeytown," Ryan brings a continuity of history into present day form and style. In all his spontenaity, and rasp and grrrr - who else would be better to carry on the classic influences of blues based rock n' roll with an essence of freshness of all that is now. The Black Crowes did it in the 90's - Now, this is the new millennium generation of classic rock n' roll. He's not Keith Richards, not Bob Dylan, and certainly not "The Boss", nor is he Paul Westerberg, but damn close... Perhaps he could likely be the new replacement for that classic rasp and grrr inside the heartfelt callings of All-American old-time rock n' roll.

It was a very cool winter day in New York City. Up on stage at Madison Square Garden opening for the Rolling Stones with cigarette in hand, and an all too neat jacket and tie, and smooth hair just waiting to get all ruffled in that classic rock'n just-rolled-outta-bed messy hair look, Ryan Adams exudes he's still in love with New York. Were those blue jeans Levi's? He's an all-American rocker, hip with a spice of fun and spontenaeity of humor that is but only a glimmer of the light that shines of his brilliance. Calling out time and again to the New Yorkers at Madison Square Garden "It's great to be in Chattanooga!" - "Thank you Chattanooga!" he was as real as it gets.

We're each an individual part of this integrated whole, stars shining our own light, each with a valid purpose for existence. What is this light of brilliance that shines through Ryan Adams - It's the SHARING OF GREAT ENERGY. The type of energy that can keep a train rolling all night long! Energy that can get your motor running and head out on the highway, looking for adventure... even just for the blessing to feel that rock 'n roll grrr. If you didn't know Ryan Adams before, I hope you know now. A blue star, ONE in a constellation of many, without whom the whole would not be what it is.

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While in NY Ryan also performed a mini-benefit concert on 1/17/03 at the Ryan Adams supports Housing Works - visit Housing Works Used Book & Cafe in Soho, NY to help.Housing Works Used Book Cafe where 100% of proceeds go to Housing Works non-profit organization to provide housing, job training, and other services for homeless New Yorkers with HIV and AIDS. Ryan is on tour with the Rolling Stones in January-February 2003. For Ryan Adams official website and tour info visit Ryan-Adams.com.

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January 22, 2003
© 2003 Melanie Silos/New Moon Publishing & Consulting
Ryan Adams photograph (© 2003 Bob Gruen) and lyrics from "When the Stars Go Blue" posted/printed by permission of Lost Highway Records.


2009:


**** Ryan Adams & the Cardinals: CARDINOLOGY *****

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cardinology (photo by permission of NLM.) It's a time for a better world, so what can we do to make a difference? Ryan Adams & the Cardinals' are self-expressed from their new record, Cardinology: "FIX IT" is the message I hear. And do it with a little "MAGICK". Have a listen at Myspace and we can even "LEARN TO LOVE". Well really, that's something to learn about and understand better, the power of the law of love and what goes around comes around. Ryan & the Cards (Ryan Adams and drummer Brad Pemberton) are changing their world with a little more sobriety, and even cutting the smoking. Changing isn't easy, but we can do it; you can do it... and soon we'll be saying "We did it!" Oh my, Ryan without cigarettes, the world is surely changing. All the best to you! Let's do it!


2010:

Please join us March 25th, 2010 at 9pm
at the New York Bowery Electric
for the Memorial Benefit Concert for musician Chris Feinstein (bassist of Ryan Adams & the Cardinals).
See http://www.spinner.com/2009/12/16/chris-feinstein-death/
Chris was a really great person and wonderful musician, especially with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals.


2012 NLM

RYAN ADAMS: LIVE AFTER DEAF VINYL BOXSET SELLS OUT ENTIRE RUN IN 8 MINUTES
MULTIPLE DIGITAL VERSIONS NOW AVAILABLE VIA iTUNES & THE AMAZON MP3 STORE

Having completely sold out of all quantities of the 15-vinyl-LP 218-track box set, Pax Am has confirmed a July 2 digital release for RYAN ADAMS’ LIVE AFTER DEAF.

While the physical box set that crashed the servers of both paxamrecords.com and kungfunation.com before selling out in 8 minutes featured 218 tracks total (144 on vinyl plus 74 digital-only bonus tracks), Pax Am will be offering multiple configurations via iTunes and Amazon:

* A complete digital box set including all 144 tracks from the 15 vinyl LPs and an additional 30 of the 74 bonus tracks

* The option to buy any of the 15 single-show LPs, which range in length from 8-11 tracks each

* Every one of the 174 tracks from the complete digital box set will be available for individual purchase.

RYAN ADAMS’ LIVE AFTER DEAF chronicles the 15-date June 2011 UK/Europe tour that marked Ryan’s return to live performance. Sandwiched between the completion of his acclaimed Ashes & Fire and its October 2011 release, the shows were the first of a solo acoustic tour featuring Adams performing to arguably the best reviews of his career–The New York Times called it a “Gorgeously hushed communion… One slow, perfectly poised song after another” while the SF Weekly raved “Shows rarely get more revealing — or more engaging — than this.” With setlists featuring tracks covering the breadth his career – from Whiskeytown through early solo landmarks Heartbreaker and Gold to the Cardinals era and about-to-be-released material from Ashes & Fire–RYAN ADAMS’ LIVE AFTER DEAF is a rare and intimate document of an artist reconnecting both with his fans and his own body of work.

Now, in celebration of its one-year-anniversary, LIVE AFTER DEAF provides fans a way to re-live that tour–or experience for the first time.

Stay tuned to paxamrecords.com for further developments.

[Written by NLM - 2012]



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