Ryan Sets Free New Book and New (old) Track...

That's the freshly positive Ryan Adams uploading a demo (somewhat acoustic) recording of 'Magick' to his website as a thanks for all the pre-orders of his latest written work, Hello Sunshine. Ryan's second book of verse is purported to be a much brighter collection of poems and short fiction than his debut literary work.

The song is available for download if you know your way around the nets, but I'll make it easy on you.
Magick (Original Home Demo)


The book - at least the pre-order - costs nearly as much as I've spent on my entire collection of Ryan Adams' music, but that didn't stop this unapologetic fan (even after Cardinology) from droppin' the bucks. For $50 +shipping you get a hardcover version of Hello Sunshine plus a limited edition, numbered chapbook signed by Ryan. This addition, entitled Pink Magic (I guess he found the spellcheck this time) is only available through this pre-order. It's not officially released until December 1st, but the pre-orders will ship by August 10th.

Ryan says of Hello Sunshine, "This collection was a beautiful way for me to wrap up my narrative verse style of writing before I move into writing short stories and novels. Maybe this book really is more about my connection to my senses and to the romantic. Where I was scared to read Infinity Blues after I wrote it, Hello Sunshine makes me want to eat ice cream. This book is about, quite simply, how it might feel to surrender to a love. It will reinforce everyone's fear that I am smarter than them."

Click here to order yours.


Now, I've said before that I'm not the biggest fan of poetry, but Ryan's Infinity Blues is slowly growing on me. As I've made my way through the strangely spaced and punctuated verse, a handful of the selections have emerged as (somewhat) coherent and enjoyable. Here's one that stood out to me:

In the Middle of the Night Goes the Bang
Ryan Adams

in these slow moments, when there is too much time, i feel the entire inside
world of me collapse into its pile
the words drift from me
and i am but a calm swarm
an endless end
my skin touches the edge of the desk and i know i am alive
sort of hanging
and i feel a soft heart
my own
go into the gears, go shredding
for lack of tears
and more words
for the things i could not express
and time
which will not wind itself back
where the folds of what was me and what were wishes
came undone
like a slow dress in a brutal wind
like when a flock separates
and takes no shape again
was that my soul
my heart wrapped in tin
with a wire
on ice
and a bulb too thin
or a dream too long
or a breath too kissed
words they do fine
but cannot touch
this thing i miss
a heart
inside me
when
in the middle of the night goes the bang

Buy Infinity Blues, if you dare.

Hello Sunshine, My Old Friend...

Seems as though I can't think for myself lately, or at least can't come up with anything original. So here's another news-worthy snippet courtesy of some other website.

Word from Pitchfork (once again) is that Akashic Books has yet another work from Ryan Adams in its final production stages. Hello Sunshine will be Ryan's second literary work - following Infinity Blues - a collection of short, dark poems.

So just as Ryan can release albums with his hands tied behind his back, it seems he can also type with his feet. The announcement of his second book comes more than a month prior to the official release of his first. The first batch of Infinity Blues was shipped out before Christmas, but the collection will hit bookshelves in April. I'm about halfway through my copy, and I can tell you one thing: poetry is not my bag, baby. The pieces are always interesting, but I just can't seem to follow them. The book initially received great reviews from some power names (Steven King, Cameron Crowe, Eileen Myles), so that just proves I should not review literary works.

The new one is listed as a mix of "poems and short fiction from Ryan Adams."

The publisher goes on to say "with the release of Hello Sunshine, Ryan Adams breaks literary ground far beyond what he accomplished with his critically acclaimed first book. Where his debut was characterized by the bitterness of heartbreak, Hello Sunshine is a graceful, sensual assertion of the other side of the emotional coin. This is a 2009 fever dream--inside Ryan's heart and mind--replete with unforgettable verse that will shock and delight those expecting a mere continuation of where Infinity Blues left off."

Ryan, as ever, claims his newest effort to be his "best work yet."

Read more, including some comments from Ryan himself here.
Check the page again on May 15th for ordering information.

This news has got me wanting to get back into the first one so I can make a better judgment regarding it. I stopped reading it when I ordered a copy of the (so far) only biography written on Ryan - Michael Heatley's aptly titled Ryan Adams (2003). The bio was short and sweet, offering lots of quotes and inside-the-studio intel. But the premature effort stops just short of the good stuff. It abruptly ends after the release of Demolition with the hanger being the question of what is next for Ryan, to which the only answer Heatley has is I don't know. The life of this prolific songsmith will no doubt spawn many better efforts further down the line.

Music To Read By......

How cool is it that? - As i'm reading the first Townes Van Zandt biography - one of his most sought-after and impassioned albums gets a re-issue. Live At The Old Quarter is - you guessed it - a live recording of Townes at his best (before his destructive ways started to effect his live shows). It came out on June 17th, but i had to wait to get it until today when my eMusic downloads refreshed - and promptly used 'em all up.

The Old Quarter was a dive bar in Houston, TX where "blue jeans and blue collars came together for the good music and cold beer." (Earl Willis - producer and engineer of the album) It saw the likes of Lightnin' Hopkins, Jerry Jeff Walker, and - of course - Townes come through in the early parts of their careers. One hot night in 1973, Townes gave the packed house a 27-song set filled with some of his most classic songs.

John Kruth, the book's author, mentions how Townes' studio recordings were often mauled by bad production as well as sub-par studio players. The problem, according to John (as well as accounts from Kevin Eggars and Guy Clark, among others), was that his labels were unsure of how to market Townes' albums - so they mucked 'em up in order to fit them better into a genre. It's a square block in a round hole trying to genre-fy Townes. He was, after all, a live performer who liked life on the road and always managed to wreck some part of his life as soon as one place got too permanent.

That's why The Green Album - as it's often called - remains one the true-est momentos of The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. Not only is his guitar work sharp as ever, but Townes was talkative and charming on this night. [By the way - if you've only heard a few TVZ songs here and there, you may be under the impression that, albeit an amazing poet, he was a lazy guitar player. Not the case - like i said, his hard-livin' began to take a toll on him later in his life, but in the first decade of Townes' career, he was admired as much for his intricate finger-picking (he carried a set of metal finger picks around in a purple-velvet Crown Royal bag) as he was his songwriting.]

Here's just one of the jokes Townes tells during song breaks:

"There was this drunk walkin' down the street. He walks up
to this cop and he says 'Man, somebody stole my car.'

The cop says 'Well, where was it?'

And he says 'It was right on the end of this key.'

The cop says 'Why don't you go down to the precinct and file a report?'

Guy says 'Okay' and he starts to walk off.

The cop says, 'Before you go downtown, you better zip up your fly.....'

The drunk says 'Aw, man. They got my girl, too.'"

If you're already a Townes Van Zandt fan - you MUST have this record....
If you're new to Townes - this is as good a place as ever to start......

[eMusic] Free 14-day trial with 35 mp3 downloads - FREE!
[Amazon] $23.98 hard copy/$11.49 mp3

mp3: Townes Van Zandt - Two Girls
mp3: Townes Van Zandt - Lungs

i'll probably be inspired to write another TVZ post when i finish up the book.