Ryan Adams was born Nov. 5, 1974, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. His first foray into music was with high school punk band, Patty Duke Syndrome, fuelled by influences such as the Dead Kennedys and Sonic Youth. However, first experiences of love-turned-sour converted Adams to country and folk as he searched for a musical genre which could embody his feelings. In this spirit, Whiskeytown was the band Adams formed in 1994 with Caitlin Cary, Phil Wandscher, Eric "Skillet' Gilmore and Steve Grothman.
After only two albums, Faithless Street and Strangers Almanac, and beset by personnel changes, the band disintegrated, partly because of artistic and personal differences, partly because of an inability to meet the fans' expectations as result of alcohol and drug excesses. ("Well, we were called Whiskeytown!' was Adams' riposte.) Nevertheless, Adams' image as a latter-day hell-raiser served him well and his popularity helped him survive the demise of the band.
After a period of introspection, Adams began working on his own songs and honing his musicianship by jamming in after-hours bars with friends Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. He teamed with Emmylou Harris for a tribute album to his hero Gram Parsons, which featured their duet of "Return Of The Grievous Angel." However, it was the emotional impetus of the split with a girlfriend that led to his first solo album in autumn 2000, the Dylanesque Heartbreaker, recorded in collaboration with Ethan Johns (who Adams had already worked with on the final Whiskeytown album). Adams credits Johns with organizing Harris' appearance on "Oh My Sweet Carolina", a particularly melodic and soulful track. There were also contributions from Rawlings, Welch and Kim Richey. The melancholy tone, complete with harmonica, could not totally crush the infectious energy underlying the whole album, in large part owing to the gutsy guitar licks. The light-hearted banter ("Argument With David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey') which prefaces the songs also offered a clue to Adams' more cheerful side. All the same, Heartbreaker certainly helped confirm Adams' assertion that "Sad music at its best can be found in country and folk."
Adams' second release, Gold, was a highly ambitious and remarkably consistent work which helped confirm Adams as the alt-country artist with the most potential to break into the mainstream. The album was released on Mercury Records' new alt-country offshoot, Lost Highway. The prolific Adams released his third long-player Demolition (compiled from several different album sessions) in September 2002, and collaborated with singer-songwriter Jesse Malin in hardcore tribute band the Finger.
In 2003, Love Is Hell Part 1, and Love Is Hell Part 2 were compiled from material rejected by Adams' record company as being too bleak to appear on an official follow-up to Gold. The artist's response was to record the hard rocking but largely inconsequential Rock N Roll, also released in 2003.
