Ryan Adams: “I Do Not Like Fu!$ing Country Music”
It has been a long-standing theory here at Saving Country Music that when country music became hyper commercialized in the 90’s with artists like Garth Brooks and the rest of the “Class of ’89,” it was young punk rockers that picked up the authentic spirit of country music and kept it alive. Whether it was the gang of artists that revitalized Lower Broadway in Nashville like BR549, Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, and Joe Buck, or the Bloodshot Records gang with The Old 97’s, Neko Case, and Whiskeytown with front man Ryan Adams, this was where it felt like the soul of country music resided when it was abandoned by Music Row.
Ryan Adams was one of the unquestionable leaders of this punk-infused country music “insurgent country” conquest, and that is why it was so disconcerting to read recently that apparently he not only does not like country music, but he apparently never has, never really cared about it even when he was playing it, and certainly doesn’t want anything to do with it now. And no, this is not some indictment of what mainstream country music has become and wanting to distance from it. This is a straight up, unequivocal repudiation of any association with what country music is or has ever been.
The quotes come from a lengthy feature on Buzzfeed that was published in early September ahead of the release of Ryan Adams’ self-titled 14th studio release, but was brought to the attention of Saving Country Music by Country California in their weekly quotation roundup.
Here’s the Ryan Adams quote:
There’s this wrong idea about me being identified with things that are Southern or country. I do not fucking like country music and I don’t own any of it. I watched ‘Hee-Haw’ as a kid with my grandmother, I only like country music as an irony. I liked it when I would get drunk … I suppose playing country music felt like learning how to build a beautiful bookshelf or something. There was a certain amount of honesty that had to be there and it had to hurt. I loved the discipline of that. It reminded me of the challenge of playing punk rock. But me playing country music ”¦ it was a false face. It was style appropriation.
Granted, Ryan Adams made an entire career of being a petulant, drug-infused, self-destructive wing nut, making purposefully-stupid career moves, and mouthing off to crowds and firing band members in an attempt to grow his legacy by leaving a wake of destruction. But most, if not all of that appears to be behind him now, and we have no other recourse than to believe this is the sober-eyed truth of Ryan’s sentiments towards country music.
So the next question is, what is a country music fan, or a Ryan Adams fan that likes country music, including the country music he once made, supposed to feel about this new insight? I would tend to agree that later in his career, including with his latest album, that people have attempted to equate Ryan’s music with country, or at least alt-country, when there’s really no solid sonic basis for it. But his quotes offer up such revisionist history that I can’t help but think I will never be able to enjoy those Whiskeytown releases and his early solo stuff with the same zeal now that he’s let it be known that it was all done as “irony,” and that apparently when it comes to country music he doesn’t own “any of it.”
What about those landmark Ryan Adams collaborations with Willie Nelson? Ryan produced and performed on Willie’s 2006 album Songbird. How about the Lost Highwaymen performance? Was that all for irony? Don’t you think that when you produce a Willie Nelson album and play country and alt-country for a dozen years it is a little unfair to get angry at people if they associate you with it? To say you like country music only as an “irony” alludes that you believe that it’s not only not right for you, but that it is an inferior art form.
And it’s not just the country music fan inside of people that is disappointed by these revelations. How are we supposed to take any of Ryan Adams’ music seriously? Certainly there can be some irony in music without it completely losing its authenticity, especially in country music. But these Ryan Adams quotes, these are fighting words. This isn’t just clicking delete on the Ryan Adams block in iTunes, these are quotes that merit serious consideration of crossing swords with this dude as a country music fan. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as an inflammatory indictment of country coming from a former proprietor of it, ever. There are rappers out there that have more respect for country music than what Ryan Adams evidences in these quotes.
And apparently this isn’t the first time Ryan Adams has articulated his hatred for country music. “I hate country music, always have,” Ryan said on his blog in April of 2008. “…I cannot stand country music one bit.”
Read More: Ryan Adams Slams Country Music Mecca | http://theboot.com/ryan-adams-slams-country-music-mecca/?trackback=tsmclip
I understand if Ryan Adams wants to disassociate himself with country music or wants to clarify that his music shouldn’t be considered it. But don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. Ryan’s close approximations of country music is what put him on the map, and it seems like he should have a little more respect for the music that made him, and the fans that enjoy it.
I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the back.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:04 pm
I really can’t get a beat on this guy. I saw him at the Newport Folk Fest in July and up to that point, I found his music and demeanor rather depressing. Then I saw him play and he blew me away with his music and his wit. He plays country music, but hates it at the same time. He’s an anomaly if I ever saw one. Just cannot figure out whether Iike him or I hate him.
March 15, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
He’s pretty much a whiney, self-promoting kind of man-baby if that helps. I mean for someone to say they don’t like country music and then write and record songs such as Let It Ride and Magnolia Mountain is either crazy or a liar.
December 19, 2018 @ 8:09 am
get a *bead* on this guy
October 13, 2014 @ 6:17 pm
I’m on record as saying I like the new Ryan Adams release. In fact I love it.
Petulance. Drug-induced. Who knows? His track record is not exactly a referendum on sane career choices.
I’m not taking this as any more than an idiot continuing to be an idiot. I like the music. That’s all I care about. I know Trig goes much deeper on this site. That’s not me.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:28 pm
This is not 2002. From what I understand Ryan Adams is a sober guy who has sworn of some of his past behavior. I’m not worried about his new album. I’m worried about the integrity of all his older material that was very country music-based, and how these quotes color it. I would love to just focus on the music. But as a country music lover, Rayn Adams just made that extremely difficult.
October 14, 2014 @ 9:48 am
disagree with you on this Trig
“think I will never be able to enjoy those Whiskeytown releases and his early solo stuff with the same zeal now that he”™s let it be known that it was all done as “irony”
I think that It doesn’t matter what the artist thought or felt when he/she was making the music/painting/dance.
Actually, it’s pretty hard to determine that isn’t it? No matter what they said then, or now. And that person may have not even known what it meant to them while they were creating.
I think all that matters is what the person listening thought/thinks and feels.
Nothing should change that..
“Dylan: Well, you know, motivation is something you never know behind any song, really. Anybody’s song, you never know what the motivation was”
http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/1991zollo.htm
thanks for the site Trig
October 14, 2014 @ 2:41 pm
“I think that It doesn”™t matter what the artist thought or felt when he/she was making the music/painting/dance.
Actually, it”™s pretty hard to determine that isn”™t it?”
Not when they spell it out with such candid language like Ryan Adams just did.
Look, if people love Ryan’s music and these quotes don’t affect them whatsoever, I think that’s great. Life’s too short to let certain things come between you and good music. But at the same token, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t troubled by these quotes. I wasn’t mad, because in my heart I want to like Ryan Adams. How will I feel a few months down the road when I’m on a road trip and I feel like listening to a little Whiskeytown? I don’t know. Maybe I won’t even have that desire. Or maybe this incident will be the farthest thing from my mind.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:19 pm
I wouldn’t get too worked up. This is just a poor imitation of Bob Dylan doing a Victoria’s Secret ad or Neil Young declaring his love of Ronald Reagan. Sooner or later all musicians – especially ones who are intentional assholes like Ryan Adams – turn on their fans. He knew this one would hurt.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:32 pm
These quotes were buried in a Buzzfeed post barely anyone read, and weren’t unearthed until six weeks later. He’s not buying billboards and posting them on it, he was speaking his mind in an interview situation. I have no reason to believe he doesn’t believe them. He may be crazy, but I’m not sure how any of that justifies these quotes. I’m much less angry as I am disappointed, confused, and hurt to be quite honest.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:47 pm
All the more reason why I wouldn’t put stock in them. Who better to mess with than a buzzfeed interviewer?
October 13, 2014 @ 8:09 pm
What are you talking about? Just because you just found out about the article doesnt mean that the article was barely read. I saw the article being talked about a lot in different places when it first went up.
If you can’t separate the music maker from the music then you must hate a lot of country like Willie, Johnny, DAC, etc etc for being terrible people. It is Ryan Adams, if we took everything he said as gospel we would have 3 different box sets of unreleased music, he would have stayed retired, never play a Whiskeytown song again and he would absolutely hate Bryan Adams still.
October 13, 2014 @ 8:26 pm
Huh?
The comparison was made between public displays by Bob Dylan and Neil Young in comparison to some quotes buried in a lengthy story. Nobody said those quotes didn’t exist before I saw them. That is why I explained in detail how I came to find them.
“If you can”™t separate the music maker from the music then you must hate a lot of country like Willie, Johnny, DAC, etc etc for being terrible people.’
You (and many others I might add) have completely missed the point if you think this article is somehow and indictment of Ryan Adams’ personal life. Quiet honestly, I’m completely perplexed of how people are even coming to this conclusion. Ryan Adams spoke very very specifically about his music and how he perceives it both today, and in the past, and that is what is being discussed here. I’m not saying he’s a drug fueled womanizer so we should hate his music because of it. I am discussing his music in the context of his specific quotes about it.
October 13, 2014 @ 10:08 pm
Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson might have made some mistakes or done some unsavory things over the years, but putting those men in the same category as David Allen Coe is totally out of wack.
October 13, 2014 @ 10:24 pm
I don’t ever remember any of those guys saying anything close to, “I do not fucking like country music and I don”™t own any of it. I only like country music as an irony,” so I’m not sure why ANY of them are even in this conversation. Nobody’s “personal behavior” is being discussed here.
October 30, 2014 @ 10:01 am
I agree.
October 13, 2014 @ 7:59 pm
I agree, he’s just a bone head that doesn’t think before he talks. I don’t see how you can play country music, quite well I might add, and not believe in it. Now, if his true underlying attitude is that his tastes have changed or he has progressed his artistic endeavors beyond country music – that I would believe. And maybe that’s what he tried to say. But I don’t put much stock into what he said.
October 13, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
What’s at play here is Ryan Adams just released a rock album, and because of Whiskeytown, some of his early solo stuff, the work with Willie Nelson, etc., some lazy media outlets are inappropriately labeling his music as having something to do with country. So in spite, he came out with some inflammatory statements to try to put as much distance between him and country as possible. Funny thing is, I’m still seeing these country comparisons to Ryan Adams all over the place. Ryan Adams is the toast of Americana.
I don;t have a problem with him wanting to distinguish his new music from country. I just don’t see the point in flame throwing his old music in the process.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:46 pm
99% of this dudes music isn’t worth a second listen.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:57 pm
‘99% of this dudes music isn”™t worth a second listen.’
‘Lunchbox’ nailed it for me . With so many incredible musical options out there ( writers, vocalists , players etc.. ) I don’t have time to waste on RA .
October 13, 2014 @ 6:54 pm
This ties in with my comments on Aldean. Why focus on the person, their actions or their words, just listen to the music. Gold and the Whisketown albums were great country and country/rock albums. Ryan Adams is immature and often downright stupid in his actions and his words, but why should i let that ruin those albums for me. Aldean cheated on his wife. not my business. in fact, who knows what went on in his house. His wife might have been awful and intolerable. so i am not going to judge him on that issue, just on his music. Same with G’n’R, i mean good god, how could you listen to Appetite if you based your opinion on Axl and his antics.
October 13, 2014 @ 8:06 pm
Okay first off, I’m not saying this sentiment isn’t out there, but I honestly have seen few if anyone around here saying they hate Jason Aldean’s music because he cheated on his wife. In fact I haven’t seen much of that sentiment anywhere. Where I’ve seen the most chatter about it is from Jason Aldean himself trying to make himself out as a victim of the media and a judgmental culture.
These two instances couldn’t be more different. Jason Aldean cheated on his wife, which as you point out, has nothing to do with the music. Here, Ryan Adams is very specifically taking about his music specifically, and basically telling us that he never liked the music he was making and did it for “irony.” This is not “focusing on the person,” this is focusing on his own words about his music. I said very little about Ryan’s personal life, and only to set the context that once upon a time he was a self-admitted train wreck of a man, and for over a decade now he’s been much more in control, which is a truth that seems to be flying over many people’s heads in their rush to say, “He always says this type of stuff.” They’re missing the point that all the behavior their referring to happened in many cases over a decade ago.
October 15, 2014 @ 4:55 am
For me, it’s not about Jason Aldean’s personal life. It’s that when I hear him now, it brings up personal, really hurtful issues from my own life. I can totally admit that.
I loved Jason Aldean’s music. His music used to be a source of comfort and fun for me to listen to. Now, the emotions it brings me are ones I try hard to forget. In fact, I can’t listen to him, any of his songs, at all.
It has nothing to do with “judging” the artist’s personal life or comments and everything about emotions. To me, music, when done right, brings emotion, and sometimes, for whatever reason, those emotions are not ones that you want. So you stop listening.
October 13, 2014 @ 6:57 pm
At this point, I’m not surprised. Artists with previous country leanings or tendencies distancing themselves from the country music genre seems to be the trend this year.
Ray LaMontagne made similar comments earlier this year before the release of his very pop “Supernova” album declaring his previous and very excellent country leaning album “God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise” to be too depressing – a change in artistic direction that disappointed me.
Tennessee country-rock brothers (and cousin) Kings of Leon have dismissed their earlier southern rock albums in interviews and being too immature and unplayable during shows. I fucking love pre-Sex on Fire KOL!
I don’t know if these artists are distancing from the genre because it now houses rap-infused and EDM bro-country or because of the influx of mainstream artists trying to make a go at in in the country arena (Sheryl Crow, Darius Rucker).
October 23, 2014 @ 9:10 pm
Considering KOL rock is so aweful and yes immature especially musically, I would hope there country would be better.
October 13, 2014 @ 7:01 pm
he’s on record as saying Gram Parsons is one of his biggest influences. He had Emmylou Harris, and Kim Richey provide background vocals on Heartbreaker. He produced and played on a Willie Nelson album. He sold a song Tim McGraw. Sounds like he either has amnesia or, he’s just trying to see how many people are actually paying attention to what he says. Disappointing sure, but par for the course for him unfortunately
October 13, 2014 @ 7:15 pm
I remember reading a story once that Mick Jagger hated country music and purposely sang in a hokey voice on the Stones’ country-ish songs. That sure is hell isn’t gonna stop me from listening to Dead Flowers or Far Away Eyes. Stranger’s Almanac is a masterpiece, I don’t care what anybody else has to say about it, Ryan Adams inlcuded. Hell, his newest CD has a few songs on it that aren’t too far removed from country. Something doesn’t add up here.
October 13, 2014 @ 11:17 pm
His bootleg covers of Merle Haggard, duet with George Jones, and general statements about country say otherwise.
October 13, 2014 @ 7:50 pm
As a fan of Ryan Adams and country music, I find these comments to be very disappointing. It reminds me of lot of celebrities that make ignorant and mis-informed political statements; as much as I try to ignore it, I still find it detracts me from their work. In this case, I think it will be hard to listen to Ryan Adams’ music and not find myself just a little annoyed with the things he has said. I specifically enjoy his older stuff more than the new, so maybe I’ll just stick with those albums.
October 13, 2014 @ 8:10 pm
What makes this instance worse is that he’s talking very specifically about his own music, instead of painting himself as more of a moron at large. I would love to run to the safety of his previous albums that loom large in my personal musical mythos, but he pretty much just told me unequivocally they were made as a joke, and he never cared about country music.
October 13, 2014 @ 7:53 pm
In all honesty, i don’t really disagree with him all that much. Of course, we all pretty much hate all the “cuntry” music that is coming out of the Nashville machine, but in truth, I find the other “country” music that everyone else seems to love to be just as false and pandering to people as “cuntry.”
Artists change, and he honestly may not have ever seen the previous music that he done as “country” music. The Beatles went from making pop music about wanting to hold hands to wanting to be an octopus under the sea to telling Jude not to make it bad. What would they have said? At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. They made the music that they wanted to make, and if people want to label it as one thing, and the artist wants to label it as something else, let em.
As for producing an album for Willie Nelson and not liking country music? Willie Nelson is a legend no matter what your genre is. You don’t pass on a chance to produce a Willie album even if you are Bob Rock or Timbaland. He is a legend. It probably helped that he wasn’t a fan, a different perspective on the songs.
To say that him saying these things makes it sound like he is saying it is an inferior art form is something that may be true, but the dude can say whatever he likes. There are people that are praised within the “country” genre when they hate on “cuntry” music, but the first time they shit on what people think is real “country”, or anything remotely seen as hating on it, holy shit, let’s get the pitchforks and nooses, let’s hang em!!
Both forms of “cuntry-country” have good and bad, but they are both for the most part shit in my opinion, and that is all that it is, an opinion. Let the man say what he wants to say. There are plenty that do it, so why shit on him and act surprised?
Take it or leave it, doesn’t matter to me. I’m just calling it like I see it.
October 13, 2014 @ 7:56 pm
this sounds like hipster mischief to me.
October 13, 2014 @ 8:19 pm
Why do I get the feeling that this outburst is motivated by politics? It sounds an awful lot like Natalie Maines’s comments from last year about having never liked country.
October 13, 2014 @ 8:40 pm
His comments are lame, but his biggest crime is not releasing “Crazy Lonesome” on an album.
October 13, 2014 @ 9:37 pm
I”™ve never listened to this guy, at all. Not a single note. In a way I always felt kind of bad about that, but now ”¦ ehh, maybe I shouldn”™t feel bad about it.
The first time I ever heard of him it was through some guy on a music forum. A guy whom I could not stand in any way shape or form, who listened to the poppiest of pop punk and emo and actively insulted and made fun of me for listening to country, so needless to say him going on about how great this guy is didn”™t exactly make me overly excited about checking his stuff out. Over the years part of me was always somewhat curious, but I never actually went through with listening to anything.
And now this ”¦ heh.
October 13, 2014 @ 9:41 pm
“It has been a long-standing theory here at Saving Country Music that when country music became hyper commercialized in the 90”²s with artists like Garth Brooks and the rest of the “Class of ”™89,” it was young punk rockers that picked up the authentic spirit of country music and kept it alive.”
I could not disagree more. Having heard much of the punk-country posted on SCM, it seems like the music from the Class of ’89 is far more authentically country, in terms of both sonic and lyrical style. In my opinion, country music was actually at its finest in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
Many on SCM might not like hearing this, but I actually believe that the punk-country movement (in particular, Hank3’s popularity) helped trigger the rise of bro-country. As you yourself have mentioned before, bro-country may have initially served as a tool to cater to fans complaining about the “wussification” of country. Taking a closer look at the lyrical themes, we can also see a similar laundry list style shared between punk-country and bro-country, with the former emphasizing cocaine, pills and the devil instead of beer, trucks, and tailgates.
I suspect that many punk-country fans and artists actually believe that country music today is better than it was four years ago. One has to wonder, for example, why Hank3, last decade’s most vociferous critic of mainstream country, has gone largely silent about the state of country music…
October 13, 2014 @ 10:21 pm
First off, nobody mentioned Hank3 here. Ryan Adams and Hank3 are two completely different animals and that’s its own conversation thread.
I didn’t mention Hank3 because he didn’t even come around until after Whiskeytown had disbanded. Hank3 was late to the “punk gone country” game, and his first two albums were solid traditional country. It wasn’t until 2006—more than a decade after the movement began in earnest, Bloodshot Records had formed etc. etc.—that Hank3 put out “Straight to Hell.” Other bands like BR549 were also very traditional country. There was Wayne “The Train” Hancock, Hot Club of Cowtown, Big Sandy, Dale Watson, Robbie Fulks, that were all seminal parts of that initial “insurgent country” movement that weren’t screaming about devil’s and cocaine.
I honestly don’t see a correlation between punk country and Bro-Country, especially concerning Ryan Adams. Ryan is a songwriter first and foremost. I do believe that the “wussification” of country did help lead to Bro-Country, but that has more to do with Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts than Hank3 and Ryan Adams.
October 13, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
This comment was a general response to the first sentence of this article, not specifically about Ryan Adams.
It is true that the reaction to Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, and other country-pop artists of the 00’s helped lead to bro-country, and much of that reaction was led by fans of Hank3 and other punk-gone-country artists. I recall that the common criticism at that time was that the industry was too focused on suburbanites, and that themes of rural toughness were not being adequately represented. The fact that Hank3’s “Damn Right Rebel Proud” reached #2 in the Billboard country album charts back in 2008 surely caught Music Row’s notice.
Regarding the lyrics, it is probably true that the punk-gone-country movement did not start out with laundry lists, but it ended up that way as you mentioned in an article more than three years ago.
Now of course, this is just a theory and it may be an outlandish one, but there is a distinct possibility that the laundry-list bro-country style of country may have been at least partially inspired by late underground-country, with the edges taken off the themes in the list in order to make it more palatable to the general audience.
October 13, 2014 @ 9:47 pm
Also Randy Rogers, one of my favorite country singers, covers his song “Come Pick Me Up” and as with most things randy does it sounds truly country
October 14, 2014 @ 6:20 pm
Randy Rogers could sing zippity-do-da and I would listen. It would probably be more country than 90% of what’s on the radio ha!
October 13, 2014 @ 10:03 pm
I can sympathize with longtime Ryan Adams fans who might feel aggrieved by his comments. I have been in a similar situation before, where I had a particular concept of an artist’s intentions, only to be suddenly and violently disabused of it due to statements that issue from said artist’s own mouth. It sucks.
I determined a while back that Ryan Adams is a first class giblet-head, and nothing I’ve read or heard from him recently has deterred me from that opinion. He seems to have a habit of saying rash, ridiculous things, and his comments here strike me as particularly disingenuous.
Yeah, I’m sure being mislabeled by the press is frustrating. As a side note, I once read an interview with Steve Earle in which he expressed bemusement over the fact that people still label him simply as a country artist, years after he left “Guitar Town” behind in favor of being a bearded singer-songwriter apparatchik. (He didn’t seem particularly bothered by it, though.) That’s just the way the media works, and people in general in work. First impressions matter, and the first impression Ryan Adams made on the listening public was as the lead singer of an alt-country band called Whiskeytown. That’s the truth, whether Adams likes it or not. And as the article states, if the man doesn’t want to be associated with country music, featuring Emmylou Harris on one’s albums, collaborating with Willie Nelson, and writing and playing country songs were all particularly poor career choices.
October 13, 2014 @ 11:27 pm
His loss.
October 13, 2014 @ 11:33 pm
At least “I started this damn country band ’cause punk rock was too hard to sing” – Faithless Street (1995)
Typical Ryan Adams bullsh*t… his entire career has been almost 20 years of “style appropriation” and schtick. From Gold to 29, every album reflects whatever his *alleged* drug ravaged mind thinks is cool that day (sober? yeah, right). Remember his “Rock N Roll” phase? Pure ‘Boy’ era U2 and the (fairly decent) Cold Roses album was a Grateful Dead record played sideways.
Truth is, his only “country” album since his Whiskeytown/Heartbreaker days is Jacksonville City Nights (wall to wall pedal steel!) from ’05, but that felt a little too… forced or insincere to me. After several listens I quickly realized that it wasn’t recorded for us fans… no, it was for those alterna-kids that you saw at all his shows that suddenly had suddenly “gone country”. Again, more posing.
I bailed for good right around the time Easy Tiger was released and never looked back… until now I guess. Ha!
October 14, 2014 @ 5:43 am
I read this Buzzfeed article the day it was released. It was a great read and perhaps the only good thing Buzzfeed has ever posted. These quotes didn’t and still don’t concern me much. Everyone has a different opinion on which songs fit into which genre, so how are we to know which of his own songs he considers country? I’m sure when recording the songs, his approach was honest and sincere. His opinion may have changed over time.
October 14, 2014 @ 6:16 am
maybe we’re just reading too much into it. Maybe he meant Ironic the way the Flying Burrito Brothers were kind a ironic country to band. He has been on record several times stating that Gram Parsons was one of his biggest influences. He can say he hates country music all he wants, but those Whiskeytown albums are some the finest alt-country records to have ever been made.
October 14, 2014 @ 6:38 am
Ryan Adams hated country music in 2008.
http://theboot.com/ryan-adams-slams-country-music-mecca/
October 14, 2014 @ 10:28 am
Wow.
October 14, 2014 @ 6:51 am
Loved Whiskeytown but the bulk of his solo work does little for me. This is a mini rant designed to distance himself from earlier work and lose the ” alt-country” label and try and promote the new record. Ok, fine but to do this in such typical, for Ryan Adams, douche bag fashion irritates me highly. Show respect for the genre that made your early career and those people like Willie and Emmylou that were gracious enough to collaborate with you.
October 14, 2014 @ 8:00 am
This reads like a case of a man with his head wedged very tightly up his ass.
Pretentious, self-centered, condescending, and ultimately very insecure.
It says a lot about the man, and none of it is good. I don’t care how talented one
is, the most important element for any performer in the entertainment industry is the audience. And he just gratuitously insulted that audience.
It is good to hear that he is sober. But one must remember that there are a lot of sober assholes out there in the world.
Sometimes it is difficult and disappointing trying to separate the artist from the art.
October 14, 2014 @ 8:19 am
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Ryan Adams. When he’s good, he’s damn good. There are some great Ryan Adams songs. Unfortunately, most of his music is boring and while his behavior provides the excitement.
The guy has tried on so many styles over the years it’s hard to say if any has truly been authentic, but he’s so damn talented it almost doesn’t matter. (Ever seen his Music in High Places show from Jamaica?)
Even though this quote is really damning at face value, if you consider that the underlying question is: why don’t you just play the same music you did at age 19? I think you can on-some-level appreciate that maybe he has done some soul searching to realize that who he was at 19 is not who he is now and perhaps was not even really who he was then. Package that up with some Ryan Adams’ bombast and belligerence and you end up with a quote like this.
October 14, 2014 @ 8:46 am
Some of the worst music ever made is when Ryan Adams plugs in a guitar and decides he wants to “rock”.
October 14, 2014 @ 8:55 am
kind of the inherent problem with labeling anyone from that 90s crop of country-influenced alt rock as a standard bearer for country music proper (and I think that distinction matters). It’s similar to the Stones and “Let it Bleed”, just songwriters who liked some country and used it as convenient vehicle to distinguish themselves, but ultimately they’re just as happy to switch cars and bristle at the notion that they played any role in country as a genre. That’s obviously their business, but the older I get, the more I appreciate guys I admittedly dismissed at the time as too slick (Alan Jackson, Randy Travis…) who haven’t made bones about playing country and have generally stayed true to its roots.
October 14, 2014 @ 9:02 am
Having met Ryan Adams back at the near end of Whiskeytown days I can tell you first hand he is without an emmotion to mouth filter. What he loves one moment (and I mean moment) he’ll ravage the next. You might talk to him every day of the week and he’ll have a different take any given subject every single day. But he also loves screwing with people too so he might just be doing that here. He’s whacked and he’s genius.
October 14, 2014 @ 9:05 am
Ryan Adams has always struck me as a Bob Dylan wannabe when it comes to interviews and media appearances. He loves to mix fiction with the truth and mythologize himself and his biography.
I don’t believe for one second that Ryan Adams hated country music while he was playing in Whiskeytown. Maybe he hates country today and maybe he wants to distance himself from his old records. That’s fine. Understandable, even. But this move strikes me as more revisionist history from a guy who doesn’t seem to have a problem rearranging his life story to suit his current mood.
Whatever. I find very little of his music compelling anyway. He’s playing in my town (Ames, IA) later this month, and I never for one second considered buying a ticket (and I see a lot of live shows). This does nothing to change my mind.
October 14, 2014 @ 9:31 am
I don’t either. And it 20-25 years he will do an interview exclaiming that he is about to release an album inspired by his country roots.
October 14, 2014 @ 9:14 am
I have to agree with Trigger’s point. For me, Whiskeytown’s Stranger’s Almanac was an amazing record at the time and still holds up. What he is saying now is that he faked all of it (for over a decade)…as a country music fan and a musician creating it. If you liked that record it sucks knowing this now!
I’ve flipped back and forth on this guy so many times, in fact I was done with him but the new album is excellent. He also seemed to be more grown up and grateful for what he has these days so I could deal again.
I say this all being someone who often separates the artist from the music.
October 14, 2014 @ 9:45 am
I bought one of his CDs a few years ago and haven’t listened to him since.
His music sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard with a little pop music woven into the mix.
October 14, 2014 @ 10:11 am
Ryan Adams is a douche anyways but this isn’t the first time he’s said things like that:
SPIN interview from 2003:
SPIN: Your music is decidedly American. If you moved to Europe, would that change?
RYAN: I don’t feel it’s consciously American. People used to say to me, “Yeah, you’re into country,” and I’m like, “I am so not into country music that you have no idea.” And they’re like, “Dude, you’re into the good kind!” And I’m like, “I don’t even fucking care about the good kind.”
http://www.spin.com/articles/intimate-portrait-ryan-adams/
October 14, 2014 @ 10:22 am
Those are disappointing comments from RA, but I’m not a bit surprised. Nevertheless, anyone who has ever listened to those Whiskeytown albums knows full well they are the gold standard of the 90s alt-country movement. In fact, the somewhat-autobiographical “Jacksonville Skyline” from the Pneumonia album knows what a wonderful country songwriter he could be. In fact, I always liked Pneumonia’s light country-pop sound.
In fact, I’d like to see a discussion on those alt-country artists from the 90s sometime.
October 14, 2014 @ 10:24 am
I never got into the guy.Punk? Country? I call his music straight up pussy rock.
Then there’s the time he was blasting Sean Hannity on his twitter,Hanniity invited him on his show to debate one on one and he ran..like a pussy..
October 14, 2014 @ 11:12 am
I feel like I”™ve been stabbed in the back.
If I were a bigger Ryan Adams fan, I’d feel that way too. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen an artist so gratuitously insult the genre of music and the fans of that genre that brought him fame and fortune, but it’s incredibly distasteful all the same. I can separate the artist from the art a lot of the time, but it’s not so easy when the artist insults his art.
October 14, 2014 @ 2:14 pm
I mean, for fuck’s sake, even as big of a jagoff as Geoff Tate comes off as anymore, not even he stooped so low as to say he played metal ironically! Seriously, Ryan Adams can go fuck himself. I don’t get it, I really don’t. I get people playing music they’re not really into in a lot of cases ”” Queensryche with Geoff Tate at the mike made quite a name for themselves back in the day, and quite a bit of money at least with 1990’s triple-platinum Empire and the resulting increased sales of their catalog before that album ”” but this? It’s not like alt-country is that lucrative a genre to be playing in. Why did Ryan Adams play this kind of music if that’s not what he was into? Why did he do those damn collaborations with country music legends? I am just sputtering here…
October 14, 2014 @ 11:24 am
Who gives a shit? Either the records are good and speak for themselves, or they’re not and they don’t.
October 14, 2014 @ 12:12 pm
He’s a big freaking dork!
October 14, 2014 @ 12:14 pm
Lord!…unquestionable leader of punk-infused country music is Chuck Ragan! 🙂
October 14, 2014 @ 12:29 pm
David Byrne said that he felt that he was merely playing the role of a rock star while with the Talking Heads. While it’s easier to see Byrne’s work as parody than what Adams did, (Is art that isn’t sincere in the way I’d like it to be parody?) , I see both men as brilliant artists that found interesting mediums for their work. It’s somewhat saddening that Adams would make such comments, because it isn’t the way that I would like it to be. I can’t say that it’s a surprise that he would see country music as an interesting discipline to work in, but not one that he enjoys.
October 14, 2014 @ 12:43 pm
This doesn’t affect me anymore than the numerous musicians whose music I love but whose airheaded, leftist politics I detest. Think what you want to think, say what you want to say and, so long as you don’t expose yourself to be a despicable person, I’ll consume your music based on whether my ears like it.
It speaks to a flaw in Adams if he devoted that much time and effort and soul into something that he was faking and didn’t like. I guess it does color the music somewhat to know he “didn’t really mean it.” But if the music’s good, it’s good. If I like it, I like it.
October 14, 2014 @ 12:54 pm
Meanwhile, Son Volt, featuring Jay Farrar from Uncle Tupelo, released a straight-up traditional country record last year and not many people noticed.
October 14, 2014 @ 2:33 pm
This isn’t the first time he has made comments like this. He said similar things here in the UK on the BBC ‘s flagship country radio show back in 2007, and I remember being disappointed then (for much the same reasons Trigger identifies).
October 14, 2014 @ 3:20 pm
Doesn’t effect that I have and will always support his music. Whatever genre it falls into or out of.
October 14, 2014 @ 3:24 pm
I saw Ryan Adams as a young teenager. My dad took me to a concert and he was the opening act. Just him on the acoustic guitar. I said then that I thought he was better than then two acts that followed him. Almost went up to the table and bought a CD. Wish I had cus it’s probably worth some money now. That being said, Trigger is right, he has made many a bad career choice and in a world of hit or miss he is mostly miss in my book. I wish someone would ask him if he still hates country music when that check from Tim McGraw shows up every month….
October 14, 2014 @ 4:31 pm
I can’t believe 50 comments and not one “Summer of 69”!
October 14, 2014 @ 7:40 pm
Artists say all sorts of stupid things about their own music that they later regret. After country radio stopped playing her records, and after Wrecking Ball was released, even Emmylou Harris was giving interviews in which she stated, “I smoked country music but I didn’t inhale.” She later gave interviews in which she apologized for that line. Who cares?
October 14, 2014 @ 9:19 pm
Why care who cares?
October 15, 2014 @ 5:00 am
The nasty this side of Taylor Swift. Swift just declared her new album is purely pop. If she didnt do so i think she would still be played in country radio or considered country artists by
lazy media. In a way he did a nastier version. a
October 15, 2014 @ 6:33 am
Funny Ryan Adams story from Chuck Prophet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-XKouNquYM
October 15, 2014 @ 6:49 am
So here we have 2 country singers, a rock legend who’s crazy about country music, and some hipster jackass who’s doing this “ironically”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tuphRVH82k Good one, Ryan…
October 15, 2014 @ 7:12 am
Or maybe starfucking.
October 15, 2014 @ 7:26 am
Just my opinion…. lack of success after putting one’s heart and soul into a venture can lead to heartbreak. He sounds more jilted and in denial than truthful. Reality has hit; He never got past alt status, he never will, he’s not that good.
Even after playing with Willie, Emmylou, and other iconic performers it never took off for him. Much like H3 he is maxed out and that reality has set in. He is a scorned lover of country music, make no mistake and he is now empty inside. His options are limited and its to late in life to start doing something else.
October 15, 2014 @ 8:55 am
I am a fan of Whiskeytown and a lot of Ryan’s solo stuff. However, we know he’s a contrary character. He’s that Arctic Monkeys album title personified: “Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not”. So much so, he will turn his back on himself. Maybe just to spite people. Maybe it’s confusion.
The alt.country music Ryan Adams made was heartfelt and tender. I was touched by many of the songs. Still am when I hear them, I would guess. (Though maybe some of it has worn off with time. Like, that pain I felt when I would hear “When will you come back home” shortly after I had been through a separation is alright now)
If he is now saying that he actually never really liked Country it’s like he’s saying “That girl I wrote love letters to 18 years ago? Well I never was that much into her anyway!” But is he telling the truth? Well, he may wonder what he saw in that girl today and shake his head. He may convince himself he never liked her in the first place. “Actually I’m NEVER into Blondes!” But his love back then – it may just as well have been true.
Anyway. I would say this comment is mostly about not wanting to be put in a box, and having come to resent being put in one very box for what is now two decades so much he will lash out and kindof overcompensate. It will not put me off the art Ryan has created over the years, for I have come to be aware that he’s a kind of oversensitive, jumpy, wayward, stubborn and confused character – which in turn is very much what I like him for, because it’s very human and it is what drives his art.
October 15, 2014 @ 10:39 am
Where is Chris Gaines during all of this? Anyway, I rocked out to Summer Of 69 back in the day so long live rock!
Wait, huh?
October 15, 2014 @ 12:20 pm
Honestly Trig, I wouldn’t worry too much on this brother. Some folks have already hit on it and I agree: he most likely is trying to distance himself/his music (prior and present) from today’s title of “country music”. He used the most extreme words he could to make sure that thought was convayed and I agree with you, it was a poor choice. When people say ” country music” these days, it evokes thoughts of : Aldean, Luke Bryan, FGL, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum; the list goes on and on. I myself am a “hard core traditionalist” country musician and when I talk to people about my music, I make sure I say that when describing what I sing and play. I wouldn’t want my music labeled as Today’s country either. I think he was just looking for a sure way of not getting that label!
October 15, 2014 @ 1:02 pm
If only.
Ryan Adams quote from “the VVolf” post above:
People used to say to me, “Yeah, you”™re into country,” and I”™m like, “I am so not into country music that you have no idea.” And they”™re like, “Dude, you”™re into the good kind!” And I”™m like, “I don”™t even fucking care about the good kind.”
http://www.spin.com/articles/intimate-portrait-ryan-adams/
October 15, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
Yeah, even the quotes above make it pretty clear he’s talking about ALL country.
October 15, 2014 @ 3:15 pm
Summer of ’69 was my favorite (and before you go ahead and flame me, I know it is a different artist but I’ve heard that he hates it when he and Bryan Adams are confused. Fuck him!)
October 15, 2014 @ 5:37 pm
this is just to make himself seem more cool to the punk and metal world… it’s funny he still hasn’t noticed that he plays soccer mom rock… i wish he would finally start dressing like james tayor and really just get into it.
October 16, 2014 @ 6:54 am
which should really be the starting point for these kinds of interviews: “So Ryan, you’ve long been associated with soccer mom rock, how do you feel this new album fits into that legacy?”
October 16, 2014 @ 6:57 am
and I don’t think this is going to endear him to the metal world any more than Orion did: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(album) Glad you discovered Voivod, dude. You’re songs are still a snooze.
October 18, 2014 @ 4:43 am
VOIVOD!
October 16, 2014 @ 4:50 am
This may have already been stated because I didn’t read every single comment, but I’ve found that Ryan Adams tends to say whatever he feels like at the time. It’s hard to say what he thought and felt when he was with Whiskeytown and made JCN. He’s even said less than great things about the Cardinals compared to what he’s doing currently. So I’m not going to let it affect how I feel about his Whiskeytown material. It’s irrelevant.
October 16, 2014 @ 12:37 pm
Just another example of country music taking in people that had no business singing country in the first place. They use the genre for what they can get out of it……….who cares, Ryan who?????
October 17, 2014 @ 5:06 am
lol this guy blows chunks
who the fuck cares? sorry if i come off as irreverent, but everything I look up by this guy is boring ass bullshit, if you’re really concerned about saving country music, stop wasting your time with jackoffs like this ryan adams guy
October 18, 2014 @ 4:40 am
I just wished he would play Summer of ’69 more often.
October 18, 2014 @ 10:43 am
The most offensive thing about Ryan Adams to me is the hair. Clearly he works hard to achieve the look remeniscent of an angry 7th grade kid that just discovered Robert Smith and The Cure. Only problem is he’s not a 7th grader any more, but continues to be about as mature as one. Two big thumbs down. Country music doesn’t like you either so go back to listening to your Emo records and crying yourself to sleep at night, wondering why no one understands you. (Was that too harsh 😉
October 19, 2014 @ 12:38 pm
all his records went in the bonfire
October 19, 2014 @ 11:14 pm
I have always hated Ryan Adams with a passion. Partly because he is one of the only established musicians from my part of the state and has continually made us look bad. Heard he was a douche before he dropped out at Jacksonville from a couple of people. Seems like nothing ever changed.
October 20, 2014 @ 7:12 am
I think it’s funny he’s married to Mandy Moore.
October 20, 2014 @ 8:39 am
The actual irony here is that a guy sitting around lamenting the fact that he never really was the man we thought he was all those years is an IDEAL subject for a country music song.
October 20, 2014 @ 9:59 am
Saw him last night for an amazing show in St. Louis. True to recent shows, there was nothing from the Whiskeytown catalog, but plenty from most everything back to Heartbreaker. I’m sorry, but you can’t play an album with Welch and Rawlings, backing vocals by Emmylou and Kim Richey and call that ironic. It’s just him popping off. If by country music you mean what’s on radio today, yep, none of that was present at the show. But what I know as country encircled every song he played, and penetrated the heart of half of them.
If we’re going to save country music, we’ll need help from Ryan Adams and those like him, despite themselves and what they say.
October 21, 2014 @ 12:02 am
As someone for whom Ryan’s country stuff was my gateway into more traditional and mainstream country, I say who cares. He’s an artist in the best and worst senses of the word, but in the mainstream country world very few of the people who are referred to as “artists” actually are. If mainstream country had the commitment to actual artistry and honesty that Adams’ music does most or the time, this site wouldn’t exist because the quality of country music would be a lot better than it is.
October 21, 2014 @ 7:08 am
Saw him here in KC last night. Between songs he mentioned that he had done an interview and, as he recalled it, had said he thought “most modern country music” is bullshit and that the songs could be written with the auto-complete feature on an iPhone.
He ranted about some people on twitter giving him hell about the quotes, but never mentioned a website, until ….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsM8D6KSJNc
As he’s known to do, he made up a random song in the middle of the set. Around the 2:06 mark he tells a nonsensical story of being in a desert and having a cactus throw up a swarm of bees and finishes that with the line “put that on your fucking country music website.”
This isn’t my video, I just happened to find in out youtube after going to the show last night.
And for the record, his thoughts on country music, modern or otherwise, don’t make me like his music any less.
He put on one hell of a show last night (as did Butch Walker) and he genuinely seemed to be having fun playing an interacting with the crowd.
October 24, 2014 @ 12:06 pm
I would’nt go as far as writing off someones entire catalog, only makes us as narrow minded as his comments. he’s recorded some solid records..ones that were probably influenced by things he doesnt like,but required by his label, to create these new catagories they try to box him in-calling him alt country/or a “heartland rocker” lol..now today because the decision makers wanted those approaches on those early songs/records, he thinks he’s got clout be outspoken as to what he’s really about as a songwriter. but it only comes off as biting the hand that fed him, due to the money spent marketing him into his current target audience. his latest record is pretty shallow.. I cant get as far as the 4rth track before my A.D.D. kicks in. but thats usually always the case when rolling stone grades reviews anything over 3 stars. hes gotta long consistent habit in one thing=saying stupid shit.
May 6, 2015 @ 5:05 pm
Country music hates Ryan Adams.
May 19, 2015 @ 2:45 pm
Why was it punk rockers, exactly? Did it seem cool to play the real stuff when the mainstream began to shun it or something?
This is exactly how I felt after reading the quotes and your coverage of them, Trigger, and that’s coming from someone that didn’t know who this blowhard was until the controversy erupted. I reserved my tongue until I could experience a bit of his music; I have Forever Valentine, Rural Free Delivery and The Freightwhaler Sessions behind me, with Faithless Street, Pneumonia and the deluxe edition of Strangers Almanac coming in the mail. However, even without all of those albums under my listening belt at this exact moment, I feel as though I can speak my piece: Ryan Adams, no matter whether he ever liked country music or not, is on the losing end of this little tirade.
Bold claim, I know, but think about it: as you say, he spent a dozen years living and breathing the scene. From the sound of his music and the inflammatory nature of his personality, it seems to me that Adams has grown resentful of country music, not that he “always hated it.” After all, it stands to reason that he’d get tired of constant comparisons with past work in a genre he no longer considers himself associated with, and what better way to distance yourself from those associations and former fans than to lash out in anger and attempt to chalk everyone’s perception up to “irony.” That little comment speaks volumes about Adams’ personality, as has his frequently Axl Rose-lite behavior in the past, and also illustrates just what type of fanbase he is trying to cultivate with his newer musical output: the “I’m smarter than everyone else and up my own ass” pretentious hipster crowd. Just look at the way he dresses and carries himself: he isn’t trying to be country and certainly doesn’t pass the eyeball test, so why would he not get his feathers ruffled by portraying himself one way but having everyone else take it another? It makes perfect sense that he’s just attempting to create controversy to finally distance himself, and possibly even get cred from the crowd he’s trying to appeal to.
Even then, the only one who could definitively answer this query is Adams himself, so let’s assume for a moment that he wasn’t just trying to shake up his standing. Firstly, no matter his intentions, Adams strikes me as someone that shoots off his mouth but hasn’t had to pay the consequences in a capacity that lets him understand why he needs to have restraint. But let’s say he DID do it all for “irony” and nothing more: well Ryan, you’ve still lost. You spent over a decade trumpeting a joke all the way to the top and working with an icon of the genre. Good for you. Anyone laughing? Anyone think that’s cool? Sure, some of those hipsters will, but they’ll also abandon you to the wolves once again the second you violate their circular and contradictory sense of art. Where does that leave you then? As the 12 year interloper whose best music was made as a “joke” while under the influence? Work that you haven’t been able to surpass since in terms of impact and appeal? More pats on the back for you. Since you have so much vitality to waste, why don’t you send some to some folks that might actually use it for something useful?
As I said, Adams has lost either way, and all this does is make him look like even more of an ass that can’t be trusted in any capacity. If he was trying to create a scene, he’s just an ungrateful brat that needs discipline. If he was being sincere, the “irony” is at his expense, not anyone else’s. He could have left at any time or not ever done anything like it to begin with. And that really stinks, because his country music (from what I’ve heard) is pretty good, but that might just be the irony talking.
Has Caitlin Cary commented on this at all?
July 3, 2015 @ 7:40 pm
Ryan Adams has a right to his opinion. He makes good music but anyway I don’t consider him as a country singer.
June 7, 2016 @ 2:03 pm
Way late to the party, but some quick thoughts:
Simply put – I think this is exactly what an americana rock/ alt country singer should say. It’s the most punk rock, hard-headed thing to say. It’s a total lie and he knows that.
He’s never been the most likable artist, but you can’t deny his talent!
AC