Ryan Adams – ‘Tina Toledo’s Street Walkin’ Blues’

I’ve been listening to a lot of killer country-infused stuff lately. In fact, between alt-country, freak-folk and the hundred deviations on a theme, I can safely say that the mythical music land of harmonicas, banjos and steel-strings has been the soundtrack to a whacked couple of weeks. Ryan Adams is no newbie, I’ve been listening to the most contentious man with a Southern drawl that side of Kings Of Leon since I was still at school. However, I’d never actually listened to what appears to be his defining record, Gold, because frankly, the guy records too many albums. Interestingly, during our End of the Decade wrap-up, two of the insiders whose musical opinions I respect far higher than most people listed Gold, or tracks from it, as their best of the last ten years. So I promptly bought the thing, shoved it onto the Ipod in the nick of time, and pissed off to India.

Gold has received so many accolades as it’s a total package; from start to finish, Adams is in top form. He swaggers, spits booze, sex and betrayal all over some of the strongest songs he’s ever written, and occasionally sits back and takes your breath away with songs like ‘Sylvia Plath.’ In short, Adams is the dude you want to have at your party. He’s got the most to say, doesn’t care if it makes him look stupid, crushes on the first girl in the room with a pretty smile and then goes home to smoke cigarettes and write a tune about it. And his dedication to young whore Tina Toledo, clocking in at a glorious six minutes and towards the end of an almost twenty-track album, is my absolute favourite.

People dismiss Ryan Adams because it’s all like ‘I hate country music’. I’d like to point out that Adams has more chops, both as a guitarist and singer, than 98% of the modern rock world. Sure, he kicks a bit of desert dust into the mix and snarls like a redneck who’s just seen a ‘coloured folk’ walk onto his property, but Adams is a blues boy at heart. As he sings the delightful chorus ‘Black limousines/Money in the bank’, the keyboards pounding and drums booming, what you can take from Mr not-Bryan Adams is that he’s well-schooled in the classics. This could be Rolling Stones. This could be Cream. The production aesthetic is the same, the backing players (Cardinals I hope) are that good, and there’s even a wailer a la Pink Floyd’s ‘Great Gig In The Sky’ to ratchet the intensity up another four notches to boiling point by the time the coda comes.

I was bouncing along to this in the Rajasthani Desert as D looked on. As I slipped off my headphones in a bout of aural ecstasy, he looked at me sideways and said “There’s something a bit wrong with you.” If only he’d heard what I had just heard. Actually, come to think of it, he’d probably have exactly the same opinion. Brothers are awesome. So is Ryan Adams. Have a lovely Friday.

Ryan Adams – ‘Tina Toledo’s Street Walkin’ Blues’

PS: Ryan Adams recently quit the Internet.