You can call Ryan Adams a lot of things — and a lot of people have, justifiably or not — but you cannot call him lazy.
For those who haven’t been keeping score at home, the absurdly prolific singer-songwriter and guitarist has released more than 30 albums in the past 23 years. And is seems he’s just getting warmed up. While the rest of us were still nursing hangovers and wiping 2023’s sleep out of our eyes on Jan. 1, Adams surprised-released five new albums. Yes, you read that right: Five new full-length releases. To be precise, four new studio sets and one live album. A grand total of 77 songs that run the gamut from ragged roots-rock to moody meditations and even pugilistic punk salvos. What do they have in common? They’re all pretty goddamn fantastic. Case in point:
Between the fantasy-novel title and the broadsword / shirtless-torso cover pic, you could be excused for suspecting that you’re in for some sort of bizarro folk-rock period piece — or perhaps even a bombastic medieval metal excursion — on Sword & Stone.
And to be fair, I wouldn’t put either one past the eclectic Adams, a guy who’s never been shy about heading down a musical rabbit hole or two. But fear not; I am happy to report that Sword & Stone is not some left-turn detour into an alternate universe. It’s actually the most grounded, commercial and accessible entry in the quintet of simultaneous releases. It’s also the one that sounds most like the version of Adams that average fans seem to prefer: The dark-horse country / roots / heartland rocker. And the 12-song set delivers all his trademark touches in spades: Guitars that twang and ring, lyrics laced with loneliness and romantic yearning, vocals that are intimately drawled or plaintively soar; and a late-night sonic landscape richly steeped in reverb. If any of these albums were likely to get a major-label release or spawn a hit single, it would be this one.
