Song of the Day: Ryan Adams - Magnolia Mountain

There is something about Ryan Adams that either drives people to become obsessed with his output or think he's the world's biggest asshole - one who sneezes and thinks it's a song.

Me?  I celebrate his entire catalog.  Unfortunately, I didn't become obsessed with him until after Whiskeytown had come and gone, and when I think of all of the opportunities I missed to see him solo and/or with Whiskeytown, I become despondent.  I would venture to guess Whiskeytown played at least 10 times in Raleigh and Chapel Hill when I was growing up, and that's probably underestimating by a factor of 2 or 3.  And I went to a total of zero shows.  In fact, the only time I've seen Ryan Adams perform is when he played the Wiltern in LA, which was probably 4-5 years ago.

Luckily, I have his records.  While his first solo record, Heartbreaker, is my favorite, he has so many great songs that it's impossible to choose just one.  Pretty much all of his post-debut albums are inconsistent, with a couple of clunkers here and there.  But I'd say the guy is batting about .800, and his good songs are often great.  He's probably due for a greatest hits compilation, but that would likely interfere with the 18 other albums he probably has planned (including his sci-fi metal opus Orion, which is hopefully on its way to me now).  This song, played with his band the Cardinals and released on Cold Roses the same year as two (!) other albums, has got to be among his best.