Being constantly on the move can come off as restlessness. Yet there's a difference. One offers progress; the other is more akin to walking in circles. Ryan Adams, who has been roaming far and wide in his latest incarnation as a solo performer, knows this well. These days, he controls the momentum.
At 4pm on a "spring-like" day in St Louis, Missouri, Adams has interrupted a brief tour that includes stops in Louisville and Colorado to apply his American drawl to a range of topics, from his forthcoming shows in New Zealand (including Dunedin on March 6) to songs past and present, his health and headspace.
"Hello? Can you hear me? I'm just walking back to the bus ...It's a little quieter back here ...I'll close this window ... "
Although Adams has previously (and on various occasions) expressed disdain when the term "prolific" has been used to describe his musical output, there's no denying the torrent of words that follow even the simplest of questions. An avid walker who likes to stretch his legs in the wilder spaces beyond his new home in Los Angeles, he clearly enjoys rambling in other ways, too.
Late last year Adams completed his 13th studio album Ashes & Fire, the first of his solo albums to be released on his own PAX-AM label (jointly with Sony's Columbia Records).
Many critics have hailed Ashes & Fire as Adam's best work in a decade. However, it is put to him that such praise could also be construed as something of a backhanded compliment in that it overlooks, or at least diminishes, all those other albums since 2000's Heartbreaker, Adams' solo breakthrough, a work regarded by some as his finest hour.
"I agree with you in many ways," Adams (37) says. "It's interesting that people say it's the best work in many years. I guess one of the ways I think about that is I try to remember that it is not meant to be a slight; maybe they didn't buy the other ones or they weren't for them.
"I've made some albums in the past few years that have been the kind of records I've hoped to make. They are the kind of albums that basically don't need a widespread audience to find their place."
Adams is referring to various works, including the three-albums-in-one-year burst that resulted in 29, Jacksonville City Nights and Cold Roses in 2005. There are others, too (among them 2003's Rock N Roll and 2010's metal-influenced Orion that differ wildly from the gentle Ashes & Fire or the folk-rock highlights of Heartbreaker, released following his departure from respected alt-country outfit Whiskeytown, with whom he'd released three albums and several EPs - as well as built a reputation as a hard-partying "hell-raiser".
"Records like 29, or Cold Roses mean specific things to people," Adams says. "That, to me, is charming. I feel that way about them, too, not just because I wrote them but because I lived them ... Those records that are a little more challenging speak to people in a way a more widespread record would never speak to them. And I love that."
His latest effort was produced by industry veteran Glyn Johns, whose credits include The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Clash, The Who and The Rolling Stones, and features keyboardist Benmont Tench, of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as well as Norah Jones, who sings backing vocals on several tracks.
Overall, Ashes & Fire offers 11 relatively laid-back, introspective tracks framed in a quiet palette of acoustic guitars, organ and piano and close harmonies; from the gentle country-rock of opening track Dirty Rain to the beautifully spare, closing ballad/lament I Love You But I Don't Know What To Say, Adams keeps things simple. With his voice well to the fore, the songwriter conjures both a sense of optimism as well as reflection.
Significantly, Ashes & Fire was recorded following a tumultuous period in Adams' life. He disbanded his group The Cardinals in 2009, taking a three-year break from music, a hiatus largely prompted by Meniere's disease, an inflammation of the inner ear that has affected his hearing and balance.
In a 2009 blog, he announced an end to smoking, insomnia, "narcissistic over-indulgent behaviour" and a relationship with "someone I loved". Now, he is married to actress-singer Mandy Moore and has moved from long-time home New York to Los Angeles, where his approach to de-stressing involves nothing stronger than tea and long walks.
However, don't describe Ashes & Fire as some sort of recovery album.
"There is more stuff happening on the record than just the idea of having an inner-ear problem. I had some very personal stuff going on with a member of my family who was very sick," Adams says, referring to his late grandmother, who raised him from the age of 5.
"In a very quiet way, there is an element [on the album] that's not mine. I think there is an acceptance of loss on the record.
"The way this album is written - whether it be in the first or second person - it's a bit like the stuff that would go into a short story. That appealed. I like the idea that the heart of this record is there without being viewed, so to speak. There is a sort of silent viewer.
"This album and this period of my life ... I couldn't treat it as fiction. To write and be honest about it, I had to treat it as actual and visceral.
"I take care of myself in a different way than I used to. One of the things I've learned is that with symptomatic illness, stress is the killer; lack of sleep is the killer; expectation is the killer. I don't go to war with those things in myself.
"I've gone through my life and I've learned that it is a gift. And I've learned that in a really strange way. It's been interesting to me to be able to say, 'I can survive on the road; I can have fun playing these shows'. I just use what I have on that day. I've found that works better than anything I did in my past."
Adams says although his current live set includes a few songs from Ashes & Fire, there's likely to be enough to satisfy fans of his older work, too. Certainly, he has no shortage of material that suits a quieter approach.
"I usually play about 22 songs a night. There might be some Heartbreaker stuff, some material from Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights ... I've been playing songs that I think are beautiful; they just felt right to me.
"Since I started playing music again, the shows have all been solo and, strangely, the shared vibe is always the same. I like to start with the harder songs first, the quieter ones. I think that's always an interesting way to go."
Asked if he feels more exposed performing without a band, Adams pauses. "I think the right word is ... I feel a little more free. I actually feel more comfortable.
"I've always had to dig into the work anyway. With the kind of music I make, it has always been about the work first. There is usually this vibe when I sit down and pick up the guitar and get into this space of 'what's going to happen?'
"When I hit the first notes of Oh My Sweet Carolina [the single Adams recorded with Emmylou Harris for Heartbreaker], which I always start with, I just go to this other place in my mind. Then I let the show steer itself.
"By the time that happens I feel the place is illuminated in a different way: it's not because of me; it's not because of my work; it's music working its magic. We are in this realm where we are all listening and participating. It's a very different energy to a rock show."
He may be receiving applause for the stripped-back nature of both his latest album and his live sets, but Adams is cagey when asked if current form provides a clear signal of a future direction. Still, that should come as no surprise from an artist whose taste ranges from the heavy rock of Slayer and AC/DC to the Brit-pop of Morissey and Oasis (Adams' cover of Wonderwall earned him a Grammy nomination in 2005).
"The show I'm doing and the record I've done ... that's what I'm on about now, but to me music is a free space. I don't believe human beings have to only participate in one kind of music or literature, or belong to one set of ideals.
"There has never been a part of my career - even when I was in Whiskeytown - when I haven't been an avid metal-head, wearing hardcore heavy-metal T-shirts.
"I think we are here to learn and experience life. I love music too much to say I'll only try one thing. There's no one set way for things to work.
"I mean, I love AC/DC so much, right? But those songs are probably not going to hold up on acoustic guitar - unless maybe the right person was doing them. But, for the most part, that's not the realm they're in.
"I don't really think the Orion thing was that unusual," Adams says of his 2010 foray into heavy metal, an album released on his PAX-AM imprint.
"Orion was so much fun; it only took three days to make - basically, the days we had off in the middle of recording Easy Tiger. What's funny is that it happened during the making of one of the mellowest albums ever.
"I think it is much more important to make music for the love of it than to worry about how I'm perceived. It's not about perception; it's about having fun."
Giveaway
The Otago Daily Times has three double passes to Ryan Adams' Dunedin concert and three copies of his album Ashes & Fire to give away. To go in draw, write your name, address and daytime phone number on the back of an envelope and send it to Ryan Adams, ODT Editorial Features, Response Bag 500010 Dunedin, or email playtime@odt.co.nz with Ryan Adams in the subject line, to arrive before Thursday, February 23.
The concert
Ryan Adams performs at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, on Tuesday, March 6. He is supported by Jason Isbell (Drive-By Truckers).
Fact file
Ryan Adams (37) is a multiple-Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Jacksonville, North Carolina.
His critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums include Heartbreaker (2000), Gold (2001) and Easy Tiger (2007).
Adams is also the chief executive of his own PAX-AM label, on which he has released numerous singles as well as some of his own albums. He has also written two books, Infinity Blues and Hello Sunshine, comprising poetry and short stories.
Adams recently made the news in New Zealand (and elsewhere) when he and Neil Finn had a spat during a live television performance for the BBC's Songwriters' Circle in October.
The show's format typically involves singers sitting together on a stage, helping on each other's songs.
Playing alongside American folk singer Janis Ian, Finn reportedly told off Adams after the younger singer refused to sing backing vocals during Finn's encore, Fall at Your Feet.
Adams went online to vent his frustration at Finn and Ian for playing guitar during his songs.
"I was never asked to play on that song. It was not mandatory to play on each other's songs and I was respectful to both Neil and Janis by way of listening and enjoying their tunes," he said in a blog.
Adams said things got "ugly" when Finn started yelling to let him know he wasn't happy with his lack of participation on backing vocals.
Finn has not joined in the debate, other than posting a tongue-in-cheek message on Twitter: "Well, Songwriters' Circle on BBC will be interesting ... watch out for lovely backing vocals on Fall at Your Feet from Ryan," he wrote.
