ACL Artist Spotlight: Ryan Adams

Merely days before his sold out Official ACL Fest Late Night Show, Ryan Adams releases his cover of Tegan and Sara‘s “Back In Your Head” to be featured in their upcoming album The Con: X Covers.

https://www.facebook.com/ryanadams/videos/10154707765766431/

Having also covered Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” in his 2015 album 1989, which solely consists of covers of songs from her album titled 1989,  Adams is no stranger to tackling upbeat, catchy, bubble gum sweet songs and twisting them into his own gravelly, rock, alternative country creations. His career, spanning two decades, consists largely of this sound. A voice filled with sturdy melancholy, paired with a harmonica and acoustic guitar is representative of the soul scratching music Adams has created. Songs such as “Come Pick Me Up” and “When Stars Go Blue” stand out as timeless fan favorites.

Adams does have a bolder sound, as seen in his guitar shredding in “Back In Your Head” and further displayed in his latest album. There is more plucking and shredding in “Do You Still Love Me?” featured on Prisoner. Prisoner, released February 17th of this year, is Adams most recent and sixteenth studio album.  Divorcing from Mandy Moore in June of 2016, this is the first album since the separation. Adams, who has always written from his personal experiences (which makes you want to give the guy whose music has been called “too sad” a big ol’ hug) , has admitted that it influenced the songs on his latest album.

With two published books, Infinity Blues and Hello Sunshine, Adams is a man of many talents. He has taken a dysfunctional childhood in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and spun anthemic songs, poetry and short stories. While the Official ACL Fest Late Night Show is sold out, Adams can be seen in Zilker Park on Friday, October 6th for Day 1 of ACL Fest. He can also be found in Houston on Saturday, October 7th at the Revention Center.