Before his semi-hit “New York, New York” in the fall of 2001, Ryan Adams once focused on faithless streets, mining towns, and empty baseball parks. And on occasion, he would sing about his southern hometown of Jacksonville, North Carolina, the city—as he described it--with “hopeless streetlights.” It was a dead-end of place for Adams, mostly forgotten in his lyrics after his album Gold hit the record stores.
Jacksonville City Nights, Adams’ second album released this year (a third album,
29, will emerge in the winter), not only takes the singer-songwriter back to writing about his hometown (“Oh Jacksonville, how you burn in my soul”), but it also brings out the pedal steel and country influences of his sweet Carolina upbringing. No doubt it’s a shift from the jam-based and free-flowing
Cold Roses, but there is a certain rawness to
Jacksonville that lets loose and makes the listener smile. From the playful “Trains” to the somber “September,” this is an album that will keep your attention despite many of its flaws. Although the harmonies fall flat on “Hard Way to Fall” and a guest appearance by Norah Jones on “Dear John” raises an eyebrow, Adams’ unrestrained vocals on “Peaceful Valley” help define this album as a project full of natural mistakes that are surrounded by enough strokes of genius which allow it to survive and still flourish.
Lyrically, Jacksonville has Adams in fine form. Perhaps nothing comes close to the magical heights of “La Cienega Just Smiled” or “Cry on Demand,” but he still proves to be a master storyteller on tunes like “PA” and a heartbreaker on “Withering Heights.” All in all, it’s another honest effort by Ryan Adams and The Cardinals.
