Album Reviews
Like their alt-country peers Uncle Tupelo,
Whiskeytown were a short-lived outfit that made primo tunes via two core
talents: the sweetly ragged yearning of perpetual train wreck Ryan Adams
and the poignant fiddle and harmonies of foil Caitlin Cary. Released in
1997, when Adams was twenty-two, Almanac was Whiskeytown's major-label
debut, and although the group was in upheaval, the record is remarkably
polished, coloring Gram Parsons-style country rock with R.E.M.'s vocal
drama ("Not Home Anymore") and the Replacements' beer-breath blues
("Yesterday's News"). The album is a minor classic, and this reissue
proves Adams was ridiculously prolific even then. The bonus disc of
unearthed Nineties sessions would itself make a strong album, unplugging
many Almanac songs alongside other originals and covers, including
Adams' plaintive reading of Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone" and a
surprisingly affectionate take on Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," anticipating
a time when the Dixie Chicks and Little Big Town would make the Mac a
touchstone of modern country. As he is now, Adams was then both ahead of
and behind his time.
(Posted: Mar 6, 2008)
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