How Ryan Adams Saved His Career With ‘Heartbreaker’
For Adams, the reissue, which includes a remastered version of Heartbreaker, a collection of outtakes and demos, and a DVD of unreleased footage of Adams’ full solo acoustic show at New York’s Mercury Lounge in October 2000, provided an opportunity to reflect on the past – something the famously prolific musician rarely allows himself to do. (The DVD notably includes Adams’ first live performance of a cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” which, he says, eventually ended up on 2004’s Love Is Hell due to an in-joke with his Blur-obsessed then-girlfriend.) “I just have this unspoken rule with myself where I don’t allow myself to be self-critical about things I’ve recorded,” he explains, “because at the time there’s no way I’m going to record it if I don’t mean it. It’d be foolish to go back and punish myself or get myself into a place where I felt like I needed to nitpick.”
Though he acted as a consultant on the project – rounding up outtakes, finding old tapes or CDs – Adams says revisiting Heartbreaker remains an emotional undertaking. His friend Allen Midgett, whose house he’d demoed the songs at in Jacksonville and who later played drums on “Come Pick Me Up,” died in 2014. Additionally, Adams’ grandmother, who inspired several songs on the LP, also recently passed away. To that end, even 16 years after releasing the LP that would launch his solo career, “it’s really hard for me to want to listen to it,” Adams admits. “It’s still very hot to the touch.”
How Ryan Adams Saved His Career With ‘Heartbreaker’, Page 3 of 3