29 (album)

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 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'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.

Adams' comments on the album

In a pre-release interview, Adams described the album: "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 noticable disagreement with Lost Highway Records after the initial rejection of Love Is Hell.

Personnel

Ryan Adams: Vocals,electric & acoustic guitar and piano.
Ethan Johns: Producer, string and brass arranger, conductor, drums, bass, acoustic guitar, harpsichord, ukulele, kee bass, chamberlain, juno 4, pedal steel guitar, jupiter 4, juno 60.
J.P. Bowersock: Electric guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, guitarone, electric mandolin.
Jennifer Condos: Bass on "The Sadness".
Alan Kaplan: Trombone on "Blue Sky Blues".
Wayne Bergeron: Trumpet on "Blue Sky Blues".
Phil Levy, Lisa Sutton, Anatoly Rosinsky, Bruce Dukov, Endre Granat, Rafael Rishik: Violins on "Blue Sky Blues".
David Low, Dennis Karmayzn: Cellos on "Blue Sky Blues".

Track listing

All songs written by Ryan Adams.

"29" – 5:48
"Strawberry Wine" – 7:58
"Nightbirds" – 3:51
"Blue Sky Blues" – 5:18
"Carolina Rain" – 5:25
"Starlite Diner" – 3:51
"The Sadness" – 6:43
"Elizabeth You Were Born to Play That Part" – 5:07
"Voices" – 4:53