Ryan Adams Heartbreaker

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A stone cold classic. The sine qua non of Ryan's albums. Where promise met execution head on.

Has it really been 10 years since its release?  As life piles on the weirdness and hardships, this album gets nothing but better.

Heartbreaker is a near perfect record, the kind that never gets dated, with songs that slowly work themselves into the our subconscious musical heritage. It's also our best seller ever.

Upon its release in 2000, it was IMMEDIATELY apparent that Ryan had taken a momentous leap forward with his songwriting and songcraft, abilities that had been merely hinted at in his days with Whiskeytown. For such a fully formed, confident set of songs to come out of nowhere, with their easy amalgam of country and rock stylings, seemed impossible. Heartbreaker almost single handedly re-defined what was possible for roots music and moved in firmly into the mainstream without a whiff of compromised quality.

This raggedy folk-punk confessional, with its stripped down band and sparse arrangements combine to create a record full of soul-baring songs. Get yourself together because Ryan climbs all over your emotions with these tunes of desperation, loss and hope. It's a record you'll want to put on late at night when you're too drunk to fall asleep, but too sober to face staying awake. Features some hefty guest appearances from Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Kim Richey.

"Adams' sources run deep--from Paul Westerberg to Hank Williams--and he has the raspy, quavering voice and innate tunefulness to be worthy of them." —Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone

“…One of the best records of the year… At 25, he writes the kinds of songs that Nashville no longer has patience for--songs about being young and sad, or young and desperate, about finding whiskey and refuge at a bar because you can find neither at home.” —GQ

“These songs are as stark as the emptiness Adams feels, as if the emotional blow stunned them into near silence.” —USA Today

“…His beautifully funny and blue first solo album, Heartbreaker, while full of twangy guitars and Adams’s smoky southern rasp of a singing voice, is as indelibly a New York City record as anything ever created by George Gershwin or Bob Dylan.” —New York Magazine

"Adams picks up the pieces of his potential and puts them together with off-hand authority. From cheeky rockers to textured pop epics to soft-spoken and heart broken tomes, America's brash boy blunder has come home, heart in hand and head clear, to show he's worth the trouble." —Pulse

"Even when banging through seemingly optimistic tunes, like the bouncing Bob Dylan inspired 'To Be Young (Is to be Sad, Is to be High),' Adams still has his head in his hands. If there was ever a record for loneliness, Heartbreaker is definitely it." —Las Vegas Weekly