29 (album)

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29
29 cover
Studio album by Ryan Adams
Released December 19, 2005
Recorded Three Crow Studios, L.A. CA.,
August 2004
Genre Alternative country
Folk
Length 48:54
Label Lost Highway Records
Producer Ethan Johns
Professional reviews
Ryan Adams chronology
Jacksonville City Nights
(2005)
29
(2005)
Easy Tiger
(2007)

29 is Ryan Adams' eighth official album, and his third album released in 2005. The album was produced by Ethan Johns, who also produced Heartbreaker and Gold. Recorded without (and in fact, prior to) the country-rock sound of the Cardinals, this album's sonic and emotional predecessor is 2003's Love Is Hell. Critics were mixed on the album: Cokemachineglow gave it a 90%, while Rolling Stone only gave it 2.5 stars (out of 5). The album has sold 81,000 copies in the United States and 153,000 worldwide (according to Q Magazine, September 2007, Page 63).[1]

The album's cover art was drawn by Adams. Art appears to be one of his major non-musical interests: In the September DVD accompanying Jacksonville City Nights, he can been seen working on numerous sketches in between writing/recording sessions.

Contents

[edit] Chart positions

Country Position
Austria Albums Chart 73
UK Albums Chart 91
U.S. Billboard 200 144

[edit] Adams' comments on the album

In a pre-release interview, Adams described the album:[citation needed]

That one's really fucked up. It has nine songs, and all the songs are nine minutes long, they're all story-songs. And it's basically just me and a piano, me and a guitar, with (producer) Ethan (Johns). It's really cerebral. The theme of it was that I wanted to write a record where I could write myself out of my twenties. So for each year of my life, in my twenties, I kind of assigned different parts of my character, I gave them names. The last song is a song from the perspective, believe it or not, of a ghost. When it's just passed out of a body, and it goes 'Don't go to the light/ I'll show you how to haunt.' This spirit is trying to conjure this dead child, this dead person, back to the house where they died. So they can haunt it. It's really fucked up.

In fact, not one song clocks in at nine minutes; they average around four and a half minutes in length. Two tracks are shorter than four minutes, and the longest, "Strawberry Wine," clocks in just under eight minutes. Apparently, the record label didn't see nine 9 minute songs very marketable, a second noticeable disagreement with Lost Highway Records after the initial rejection of Love Is Hell.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Ryan Adams.

  1. "29" – 5:48
    • Ryan Adams - electric guitar and vocals
    • Ethan Johns - drums and bass, acoustic guitar and harpsichord
    • JP Bowersock - electric guitar
  2. "Strawberry Wine" – 7:58
    • Ryan Adams - acoustic guitar and vocals
    • Ethan Johns - ukulele
    • JP Bowersock - 12 string and guitarone
  3. "Nightbirds" – 3:51
    • Ryan Adams - piano, noise guitar and vocals
    • Ethan Johns - drums, kee bass and chamberlain
    • JP Bowersock - electric mandolin
  4. "Blue Sky Blues" – 5:18
    • Ryan Adams - piano
    • Ethan Johns - juno 4
    • Violins - Phil Levy, Lisa Sutton, Anatoly Rosinsky, Bruce Dukov, Endre Granat, Rafael Rishik
    • Cellos - David Low, Dennis Karmayzn
    • Alan Kaplan - trombone
    • Wayne Bergeron - trumpet
    • Strings and brass arranged and conducted by Ethan Johns
  5. "Carolina Rain" – 5:25
    • Ryan Adams - acoustic guitar and vocals
    • Ethan Johns - drums, bass and pedal steel
    • JP Bowersock - electric mandolin and electric guitar
  6. "Starlite Diner" – 3:51
    • Ryan Adams - piano and vocals
    • Ethan Johns - jupiter 4 and juno 60
  7. "The Sadness" – 6:43
    • Ryan Adams - electric guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals
    • Ethan Johns - drums and chamberlain
    • Jennifer Condos - bass
    • JP Bowersock - electric guitar
  8. "Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part" – 5:07
    • Ryan Adams - piano, acoustic guitar and vocals
    • Ethan Johns - drums, bass and pedal steel
    • JP Bowersock - electric guitar
  9. "Voices" – 4:53
    • Ryan Adams - vocals and acoustic guitar

[edit] Personnel

  • Ryan Adams - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Electric Guitar
  • Wayne Bergeron - Trumpet
  • JP Bowersock - Electric Guitar, Mandolin, Acoustic 12-String Guitar, Guitarone
  • Jennifer Condos - Bass
  • Bruce Dukov - Violin
  • Endre Granat - Violin
  • Ethan Johns - Drums, Bass, Pedal Steel Guitar, Chamberlin, Synthesizer, Acoustic Guitar, Ukulele, Harpsichord, String Arrangement, Brass Arrangement, Conducting
  • Alan Kaplan - Trombone
  • Dennis Karmayzn - Cello
  • Phil Levy - Violin
  • David Low - Cello
  • Rafael Rishik - Violin
  • Anatoly Rosinsky - Violin
  • Lisa Sutton - Violin

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hasty, Katie (2007-06-03). Busy and bored, Adams tames "Tiger". Reuters/ Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-06-04. “The first of the trio, "Cold Roses," has sold 159,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "Jacksonville City Nights" has moved 100,000, and "29" has shifted 81,000.”
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