Catchgroove’s Hall Of Fame – Ryan Adams Heartbreaker

Ryan Adams has been trying to live up to this, his debut masterpiece, for the last quarter of a century. While his band Whiskeytown was still burning to the ground, Adams ducked into a Nashville studio for two weeks of sessions with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, supervised by Ethan Johns. The album is said to be inspired by Adams’ break-up with music industry publicist Amy Lombardi. This is Adams’ best LP, and it perfectly captures the Americana zeitgeist of the turn of the 21st century.

Pitchfork at the time gave it a glowing 9.0 review, stating that: “Heartbreaker is a drinker’s album, an ode to sadness that deals exclusively with all the dark and dirty corners of the human heart. It’s music written in the language of loneliness, depression, and, above all, heartbreak, in all its varied forms.”

I was reminded of this album while working on a review of a Laura Marling album also produced by Ethan Johns. Johns is the son of legendary producer Glyn Johns. Although Johns is primarily a record producer, mixer, and engineer, he is also a multi-instrumentalist who has toured as a backup musician. When I think of Johns, the first thing that comes to mind is the Ryan Adams classics he produced: Heartbreaker and Gold.

The album opens with an amusing argument between Adams and Rawlings regarding Morrisey and then leaps into the album’s first song, “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, to Be High).” The song wonderfully captures a mood: savoring your misery – which is Ryan’s brand that has carried him for his career. This is not a unique mood in country music; there is even a term for it: “high lonesome.” It is performed as a raucous rock song with a soaring bridge that milks the high lonesome. The pairing of an argument about one of the mopiest of rock stars, Morrisey, and the album’s first song could not be more perfect.

“My Winding Wheel” slows down from the previous song to a fingerpicked acoustic guitar ballad that is a plea for a soulmate.

“Amy” is another acoustic guitar ballad, but this time augmented by sad-sounding strings. The soulmate has been lost.

“Oh My Sweet Carolina” (Ft. Emmylou Harris) is another love song. Instead of lamenting a lost lover, this lamenting a place: the Carolinas, where Adams grew up. Emmylou has made a career of these kinds of guest appearances – she is the most outstanding guest vocalist in country music.

“Bartering Lines” is a weary song about being a loser in a shithole town.

The heartbreak continues with “Call Me on Your Way Back Home.” The narrator’s lover has left, and all he can hope for is that she remembers him. The song ends with a beautiful, mournful harmonica solo.

“Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains)” – Adams opens the song with an admission that he is a world-class sad sack: “As a man, I ain’t never been much for sunny days” in this song praising a crying girlfriend.

“Come Pick Me Up” opens up with another Dylanesque harmonica solo and then explains his heartbreak with this brilliant chorus:

“Come pick me up, take me out
Fuck me up, steal my records
Screw all my friends, they’re all full of shit
With a smile on your face, and then do it again
I wish you would”

“To Be the One” is more sadness. For me, this is the weakest track on the album. The narrator is feeling so sorry for himself that I find it pathetic.

“Why Do They Leave?” describes the timing problem of love; just as the narrator falls in love, the lover leaves. Was he too late in showing his affection? Would it have never worked out anyway?

“Shakedown on 9th Street” finally brings up the pace with a full-on rocker. Sadness has escalated to anger: “I was just gonna hit him, but I’m gonna kill him now.”

After the anger, “Don’t Ask for the Water” moves to the bitterness of the loss: “Don’t ask her for the water, ’cause she’ll swallow you down (or “teach you to cry” or “you’ll sink like a ship”).

“In My Time of Need” introduces a new decent: the narrator is ready to give up.

On “Sweet Lil’ Gal (23rd / 1st),” Ryan switches to piano and ends the album on a particularly bleak point. I can’t figure out if he is remembering a lover or something else like a drug. Is 23rd and 1st referring to a NYC street address? It is spooky that Ryan foreshadows 9/11 one year early with this lyric: “Steals my shirt, makes me hurt / In the field where my plane went down.”

I don’t see myself as a sad or depressed person, but boy, do I like sad music and high lonesome in particular. Ryan Adams delivers a high-lonesome masterpiece. Adams has flirted with this formula for the last 25 years but has never struck the landing as effectively as Heartbreaker.

Personel:

Ryan Adams – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, banjo
Ethan Johns – drums, bass, Chamberlain, glockenspiel, B-3, vibes
David Rawlings – backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, tambourine
Gillian Welch – backing vocals, banjo, acoustic guitar, electric bass, “voice of Lucy”
Pat Sansone – piano (“Oh My Sweet Carolina,” “Come Pick Me Up,” and “Why Do They Leave?”), Chamberlin and organ (“Bartering Lines”), backing vocals (“To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, to Be High)” )
Emmylou Harris – backing vocals (“Oh My Sweet Carolina”)
Kim Richey – backing vocals (“Come Pick Me Up”)
Allison Pierce – backing vocals (“Why Do They Leave?”)