If you have tickets for the upcoming Ryan Adams concert, consider yourself lucky. Just when it looks like Ryan Adams has hit the top of the folk-rock genre, he turns around and releases another critically acclaimed album. This time it’s “Ashes & Fire,” that Rolling Stone hails as his best album in years. It’s likely no surprise to many that he added dates to his current tour to meet demand.
“So much of the record deals with impending loss,” Adams told Rolling Stone about “Ashes & Fire.” “Not necessarily death but more the unraveling of the perfection of your perceptions.”
| Onstage |
| Ryan Adams with Jason Isbell |
| Where: Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday |
| Info: $45, 202-397-7328, ticketmaster.com |
Adams knows something about such unraveling, after having to take a musical hiatus in January 2009 after a rare inner ear disease permanently robbed him of some hearing in his left ear. As he began to record “Ashes & Fire” he learned that his grandmother, who had raised him in North Carolina after his parents broke up, was seriously ill.
It has been a somewhat rocky but ultimately positive decade for Adams, who battled and overcame addictions. When he was diagnosed with the inner ear disease, he quit smoking, went on a stringent diet and sought ways to overcome stress. That regimen helped him regain enough health to return to music.
Despite the setbacks, Adams seems to be riding high both professionally — his latest single “Lucky Now” reached No. 1 on the Adult Album Alternative radio charts — and personally with his love for black metal, a passion that is supported by his wife, singer-actress Mandy Moore.
Adams hosts a YouTube metal show called “Night Sweats” and tells KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, Calif., that he’s a huge fan of the genre.
“I love it,” Ryan, wearing a Slayer T-shirt, told the radio station, according to Rolling Stone. “There’s all these musicians in the world, and anybody that takes enough time to create a record or even think about the fantasy of rock ‘n’ roll, it’s a vulnerable place to be in, it’s a huge thing to do. I hear that when I listen to black metal.”
He also said he’s a fan of AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne and gave hearty thumbs up to “Infestation,” the newest album by Ratt.
“It is so good. Put track two on, sit down on your couch, and wait for the … Memorex hair,” he said. “The sickest guitar parts ever. It’s like every song is [the band’s major hit] ‘Round and Round.’ Every song is that good.”
