DRA played three tracks, including a cover of Ratt’s “Round and Round” that’s on some Cormac McCarthy shit. Stream and download ‘em on NPR. 2012!

BEST OF 2011: Photos | Live Videos/Bootlegs | Discoveries/Heavy Rotation | EPs/Singles | Songs | Albums

The brightest spot of 2011′s music for me was that I could’ve happily watched handsomely crafted live videos and downloaded radio sessions and bootleg recordings all year and never reached for an actual record. It’s both a tribute to modern technology and a sign that we have a welcome surplus of quality videographers and engineers. Hopefully they keep it up. Here are six essentials. Read the rest of this entry »

If you missed Ryan Adams on tour this year (I saw him three times, four counting the Bob Mould tribute — not a humblebrag, just a regular one), this is a pretty great document of his 2011 setlist/magnificent performances/A+ banter. If you like acoustic guitars and can watch this set without heading directly to the record store to buy the man’s back catalog, you’re probably reading the wrong blog. Ryan Adams, performer of the year? I think so.

Here’s Ryan Adams playing one of the better songs from this year’s Ashes & Fire, showcasing once again that this has been the best year in DRA performance history. Here’s my review of the show; look for the full session on KCRW tomorrow.

DRA and a number of rock heroes (Britt Daniel, Craig and Tad from the Hold Steady, No Age, Jon Wurster, Dave Grohl, etc.) paid tribute to Bob Mould (Sugar, Husker Du) last night at Disney Hall, and it was as great as you would hope. I’ll spare you a full review since I’m frankly oblivious to most of the Mould catalog (the fiancee brought me along), but here’s Ryan sounding as spectacular as ever on “Heartbreak a Stranger.” That voice! (Via Stereogum)

This is as amazing as you think it’s going to be. After the jump, a considerably more serious clip of his recent performance of 29 mega-jam “Carolina Rain” on BBC4′s Songwriters’ Circle. Read the rest of this entry »

photo via Facebook

The notion of objectivity is always a convenient ruse in pop criticism, but I have to admit I’m probably not emotionally equipped to tell you what I saw last night with any degree of reality. I might as well have been watching the Beatles. Yes, dear reader, I am a Ryan Adams Fan, and last night he played maybe the best concert I’ve seen in my life. It helped that the performance came at Largo, the only club in Los Angeles — maybe the world — where there are no cell phones, no cameras, no conversations, no clinking drinks, where artists truly let their hair down and take their shoes off and play the kind of shows you wish they’d play every night. Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Adams’ long-awaited latest is streaming on NPR. It’s excellent and dad-friendly.