May 132011
 

Live Collection brings together every live cover we can find from an artist. And we find a lot.

Remarkably prolific by today’s standards,  Ryan Adams has released 12 albums (some solo and some with The Cardinals) since the breakup of his seminal alt-country band Whiskeytown in 2000. Not like your typical modern artist with three or four year gaps between releases. He’s also made friends in high places, including Elton John, Willie Nelson and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. Not just a hard-working studio musician, Adams also tours extensively, with an upcoming European tour marking his return to the stage after his 2009 ‘retirement.’

Never one to hide his influences, Adams regularly includes cover songs as part of his live show. We’ve compiled a selection of his covers for our latest Live Collection. Remember this is no one-album artist. Given his back catalog, Adams chooses covers that, for the most part, really mean something to him. Country and ‘70s rock figure heavily in his choices: five songs associated with Gram Parsons, three classics by The Rolling Stones, and the obligatory Neil Young nod.

Playing with a band as talented as The Cardinals allows Adams to have a little fun as well. Check out the impromptu “Summer of ’69” by almost-namesake Bryan Adams, or the Billy Ocean classic (ahem) “Caribbean Queen.” He also shows the depth and breadth of his interests, picking tracks by Sonic Youth and Spacemen 3, hardly typical alt-country or singer-songwriter stuff. Then again, he did release a heavy metal album, Orion, last year, so he doesn’t really do “typical.” Check out the collection – 46 songs worth – below.


Live Collection: Ryan Adams

A Song for You (Gram Parsons)
Asleep (The Smiths)
Bird Song (Jerry Garcia)
Bitch (The Rolling Stones)
Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones) [Band version]
Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones) [Solo version]
Burning Bed (The Backsliders)
Caribbean Queen (Billy Ocean)
Cold Steel Brace (6 String Drag)
Come Down Easy (Spacemen 3)
Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones)
Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground (The White Stripes)
Disco Duck Rap (Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots)
Down in a Hole (Alice In Chains)
Everything In Its Right Place (Radiohead)
Expressway To Yr. Skul (Sonic Youth)
Freight Train (Elizabeth Cotton)
Helpless (Neil Young)
He’s Gone (Grateful Dead)
Head Over Heels (Tears for Fears) [NEW]
Hickory Wind (The Byrds)
I Still Miss Someone (Johnny Cash)
I Wanna Be Your Dog (The Stooges)
I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys)
Last Nite (The Strokes) [Band version]
Last Nite (The Strokes) [Solo version]
Like a Virgin (Madonna)
Long Black Veil (Lefty Frizzell)
Lovesick Blues (Hank Williams)
Mississippi (Bob Dylan)
Nervous Breakdown (Black Flag)
Ooh Las Vegas (Gram Parsons)
Play with Fire (The Rolling Stones)
Return of the Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons)
Rocket Man (Elton John)
Saturday Night Special (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Sin City (The Flying Burrito Brothers)
Stella Blue (Grateful Dead)
Streets of Baltimore (Harlan Howard)
Summer of ’69 (Bryan Adams)
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Sweetest Decline (Beth Orton)
The Headmaster Ritual (The Smiths)
Tiny Dancer (Elton John)
Wharf Rat (Grateful Dead)
Wonderwall (Oasis)
You’re Still on My Mind (Luke McDaniel)

DOWNLOAD THE FULL SET HERE!

Check out more Ryan Adams on his website.

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  8 Responses to “Live Collection: Ryan Adams”

Comments (5) Pingbacks (3)
  1. Thanks, Ryan Adams is always interesting, and there are some good interpretations here. I like the Bob Dylan impression for “Mississippi.”

  2. So fun. THANKS! Such a fan of Grams as well as of Ryan. Such a different take on “A Song For You” than his Whiskeytown one. Love “Hickory Wind” also. Laughed through the BSB one. Love it!

  3. Thanks for pulling this together! I never think of myself as a Ryan Adams fan, yet when I do listen to his stuff, I certainly seem to find myself doing it for at least a couple of hours. I love his cover of Wonderwall so I’m looking forward to checking the rest of these out.

  4. Dudes, your “Head Over Heels” is actually Burning Photographs from Rock N Roll- a Ryan original (& classic). Try again? Looking forward to it!

  5. Can you post the download link for this again please? Thanks!

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