reCap :: Ryan Adams :: 2016.07.24
One of the hallmarks of any truly great songwriter is unpredictability, and if anyone has rightfully earned the title of our generations most gloriously unpredictable songwriter its Ryan Adams. Fifteen years after releasing his debut solo masterpiece ‘Heartbreaker’ there aren’t many artists producing quality songs at the consistency and range of styles as Adams. So it’s no wonder that his show at The Cap, billed as a solo acoustic show, sold out several months in advance.
Living up to that unpredictability Adams revealed online the day of the show that he’d have some help at The Cap from his newest collaborators The Infamous Stringdusters and Nicki Bluhm. Having just played with them the previous day at the Newport Folk Festival many people were buzzing about this new supergroup of sorts. One quick search on Youtube was enough for anyone to see how perfectly the Stringdusters’ bluegrass instrumentation and Bluhm’s harmonies lent themselves to Adams’ songbook.
To start off this special affair Adams took the stage to introduce the night’s opening act Amanda Shires. Adams hyped up Shires by praising her joke-telling abilities and joked that if we disrespected her not only would he kick our ass but [Shires’ husband] Jason Isbell would also kick our ass. With that fair warning in mind The Cap crowd sat in reverence as Shire’s opened her set with the acapella track “Kudzu.” Not only did her voice captivate the crowd, but her endearing stage personality also served as a good icebreaker for an audience largely unfamiliar with her work.
It was quick to see that Adams was right about her comedic skills as she told the crowd the witty story behind her track ‘Bulletproof,’ which involved a colorful character in Tampa FL named Tiger Bill handing her a bag full of what he claimed were Siberian Tiger teeth and claws. These funny introductions were the perfect contrast to the songs themselves; steeped in as much great storytelling, sarcasm and prose as many of folk or country music’s greats. By the time she sang out her last refrain of ‘When You Need a Train it Never Comes’ it was obvious that she’d earned the crowd’s admiration and nobody was getting their ass kicked.
Anticipation ran high as the stage was set up with only stools, condenser and ribbon mics for Adams’ set. Would Ryan start the set solo? Would the Stringdusters play the whole set with him? When Adams and the Stringdusters did take the stage nobody could have expected the initial wave of shock factor they delivered (unless you looked at their setlist from Newport the day before). With one heavy strum from Adams’ guitar, the Stringdusters launched into the main riff of ‘South of Heaven’ by Slayer. Adams has never shied from his love of metal music, having put his own spin on classic metal songs in the past. What was amazing about this cover though was how they were able to transform it into what sounded like a genuine bluegrass foot-stomper. If you were unfamiliar with thrash metal you would’ve thought Del McCoury originally sang the song.
After the surprise dose of thrashgrass Adams and the Stringdusters tore through three straight tracks from Heartbreaker: ‘To Be Young,’ ‘My Winding Wheel,’ and ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina.’ Adams left plenty of room in each tune for the Stringdusters to take solos, showing each member’s virtuosity on their respective instruments. What stood out above all though were the stunning three-part harmonies between Adams, Bluhm and bassist Travis Book. When Bluhm nailed the high note at the end of ‘Sweet Carolina’ originally sung by Emmylou Harris some hairs definitely stood on end.
Between songs Adams’ was particularly talkative, telling the crowd that he was in the process of making a sock puppet version of Star Wars and that The Cap’s balcony would be a perfect set for the Death Star. Whether he knows it or not Adams has also mastered the art of comic improv. While some members of the crowd yelled out song requests, Adams cleverly countered them with punchlines and jokes about everything from “banjo butts” to asking a guy on his iphone if he was bidding on a shirt from the metal band Carcass on Ebay. All jokes aside Adams’ number one form of improv was his ability to transform his own songs into completely different songs stylistically. Giving the Stringdusters a break he sat alone at a piano to deliver a haunting ballad take on his usually up-tempo anthem ‘New York New York.’
The Stringdusters returned for another series of songs spanning Adams’ career including Ryan Adams & The Cardinals tracks ‘Let it Ride, ‘The End’ and a folky take on Adams’ recent rocker ‘Gimme Something Good.’ The biggest surprise of the night however came when Adams, alone with his guitar, announced that he was going to play some brand new songs. The crowd fell silent as he premiered three tracks: ‘To Be Without You,’ ‘Haunted House’ and ‘Tightrope’ by himself. Adams poked fun at some of his more down-tempo numbers by quipping “Hey happy times means happy songs!”
For any longtime fan another major highlight of the night came when Amanda Shires came back to the stage to duet with Adams on “Jacksonville Skyline,’ a song he wrote with his former band Whiskeytown. Adams and Shires’ voices were a haunting match for such an intimate song. The Stringdusters returned for takes on ‘Ashes & Fire’ and ‘Carolina Rain’ (from often underrated album ‘29’) before closing the set with a harmonica-heavy version of Black Sabbath’s ‘The Wizard.’ Much like ‘South of Heaven,’ the Sabbath cover was another brilliant attempt at making a hootenanny out of a headbanger.
Without even leaving the stage the entire crowd’s standing ovation brought the whole band back to their stools. Adams thanked the sold-out crowd and remarked that since there were no bad hecklers he didn’t have a chance to make up a song about them. Of-course this brought on a barrage of loud requests including several shouts of ‘Freebird.’ That was enough to inspire him to make up a song centering on the line “There’s already a song called Freebird…but that doesn’t mean I can’t rip it off.”
Now with the ‘Freebird’ hecklers put in their place, Adams and the group closed out the night with ‘Come Pick Me Up,’ arguably his most well known song. After being reverently quiet for most of the show, many people in the crowd finally joined in on the chorus of the song. Judging by the crowd’s reaction at the end, it was pretty obvious that we’d all witnessed a special night of music at The Cap. This was an audience ready and willing to accept any surprises Ryan Adams threw at us, and its safe to say that we were all along for the ride on his bluegrass-fueled Millenium Falcon.
