A 20 minute conversation with Ryan Adams

After being discharged from the hospital a few weeks ago I wondered home in the rain. On my way home I decided to stop by the Virgin Mega Store in Union Square to buy some new DVDs to watch while I rested for the remainder of the weekend. I was in a weird mood having seen a new side of American Health care, still being sick, and kind of bummed to have missed Pearl Jam and My Morning Jacket , but at the same time relieved to have avoided surgery. So I am wondering around the DVD section of Virgin Mega Store, when Katy points out a clean-shaven, denim clad Ryan Adams in the book section. I make my way over to Ryan and introduce myself. I mention I am a big fan and so on and so on. But instead of getting the regular ambiguous “thanks” I begin a 20 minutes conversation with Ryan. We spoke of the upcoming Cardinals tour. Dates have slowly begun to leak out so check your local venues. He mentioned that Neal Casal would be playing lead guitar for the tour. We also spoke of his upcoming album that he produced for Willie Nelson. Ryan seemed very excited about this album and he mentioned he was really excited to play with Willie at the Hollywood Bowl in September. I also talked about his playing with Phil Lesh and about how hard it is to fill in for Jerry. I also asked Ryan what had brought him to the Virgin Mega Store and he told me he was looking for the tablature books to Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks” and for the Stones “Exile on Main Street”. Ryan said that he was hoping to go into the studio and cover both of these albums in their entirety. Just him and a guitar. I said I was impressed and he said it was because he was bored. After this our conversation moved towards the Internet and how his new website would have a drive in movie theater feel and feature live tracks from previous shows. After a while I thanked Ryan for taking the time to talk with and I said I should probably get going.

A few tour dates:
7/20 The Starland Ballroom, Sayerville, NJ
7/21 Sonar, Baltimore
7/22 The NorVa, Norfolk
7/27 House of Blues, Myrtle Beach
8/1 The Ryman, Nashville
8/2 The Pageant, St. Louis
8/4 Lollapolooza, Grant Park, Chicago, IL
9/10 Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA(with Willie Nelson and Neko Case)