Tuesday Music Roundup

New York slayed me in the best possible way. I had only seen a few parts of it before on a trip in 2003 to the Grammy Awards (I saw mostly the tall buildings of the Financial District, the neon Times Square area, and Madison Square Garden) so I missed out on so much of its character before this past weekend. My friend’s boyfriend James is a walking New York history book, like even better than those headsets they give you at Alcatraz. Spurred by a childhood interest in Spiderman and other superheroes from NYC, he soaked up just about as much trivia about the city as anyone I know, so James was the perfect guy to hang around with this weekend as he would spout random historical facts in flawless form. We walked through almost every neighborhood in Manhattan, and some of Queens. We missed out on Brooklyn and Bronx and Staten Island this time around, but I’ll be back.

This week’s belated Monday Music Roundup (after a red-eye home on Sunday night) is a loose collective of the sounds I’ve been hearing and relating to these last couple days. It’s not a “New York Mix” (you already got one of those), it’s “My Weekend, Sonically.” There’s a constant hum and pleasant cacophony in that city and I loved absorbing it all.

MC2 (Theme Realidades)
Willie Colon/DJ Le Spam & The Spam Allstars
Our first night in New York started with a ferocious, sexy bang at the SOB’s (Sounds of Brazil) club in Greenwich Village. My friend Zein recommended meeting there to see a certain DJ Le Spam and The Spam Allstars who were in town from Miami, and remixed old 45s with a live band fronting. It was a Latin/Jamaican/African/funk extravaganza, and I loved it. In addition to the DJ (Le Spam himself, nee Andrew Yeomanson from Montreal), they had a guy on African & steel drums, an electric guitar, 2 saxophones, and a spry flutist. They gave out free CDs too, so this is kind of how it sounded. From the Fania Records: Live 02 From Miami//DJ Le Spam CD.

Positively 4th Street
Bob Dylan
So the next time I go back to NYC I want to take a big fat map and plot on it all the musical references from bands I love, and then do a 100% admit-you’re-a-dork walking tour. I am sure such a guide already exists; I saw this crazy map once about Hold Steady references in the Twin Cities and loved it. I could do the same thing with Bob Dylan and all of his continuous references to streets and avenues. This is the song that was winding its way through my head during the entire meander we made through the lovely Village on a rainy Saturday.

Love Me Or Leave Me
Nina Simone
We were enjoying bibimbap –or “bippitybop” as one of us endearingly called it– at a very dimly-lit Korean place called Dok Suni’s in the East Village (near St. Mark’s) on Saturday night when I happily picked the distinctive piano interlude of this song out over the din. I have long loved the growly sass and smoky perfection that Nina Simone brings to this song. The DJ was mixing it in with present-day dance grooves, and it perfectly held its own among more modern company. Certain sentiments are always in style.

To Hell With Good Intentions
McLusky
We stumbled into the “bring your laptop and required intelligentsia reading” Think coffee shop near NYU, and this was blasting over the speakers. At the very moment that I was wondering, “Who is this?” the fuzzy guy working the registers yelled to the other bearded/spectacled guy making the espressos, “Hey, who is this?” McLusky was a Welsh band that released this hard, fast, catchy Britpunk album McLusky Do Dallas in 2002 (produced by Steve Albini) and now seem to have kind of vanished. They don’t even have a MySpace, if you can fathom that. But how fantastic is this tune? I just can’t get enough.

Hotel Chelsea Nights
Ryan Adams
My first night in NYC, we had been careening through the dark streets at some ungodly hour and I caught a fleeting glimpse of the Hotel Chelsea around a corner, and then it was gone. We finally made it back into that neighborhood Sunday evening before my flight for a quick pilgrimage to this hotel that has housed a whole lotta musical and literary history. This song perfectly encapsulates the vibe of the neighborhood, and the bohemian feel of the hotel that Ryan called home for a time. I listened to this tune on repeat as I took off from NY over a huge yellow harvest moon rising.

Happiness is a warm E.P.

Happiness is indeed a warm EP, so says reader Russell in his entry (one of 90) on my Ryan Adams contest to win the new EP Follow The Lights. I’ve randomly drawn 2 winners (I couldn’t possibly pick based on the “best” answer for this one) and contacted lucky readers Matt C. and Jon from Dance Hall Hips. Congrats guys, and I absolutely loved reading all the entries.

Wanna hear snippets of the two “new” songs on the Ryan Adams EP?

Follow The Lights (streaming clip)

My Love For You Is Real (streaming clip)

Now onto this “favorite EP” madness from the contest. Guess what, I made you a mix. These are lots of your suggestions, all songs that appeared on great EPs. One listen through this bad boy and you’ll see why I celebrate and love and adore the EP format.

“HAPPINESS IS A WARM E.P.” MIX
Feeling Better – Sugar [from Beaster EP]
Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars) – R.E.M. [from Chronic Town EP]
Lush and Green – Grandpaboy [from Grandpaboy EP]
Shocker in Gloomtown (GBV cover) – Breeders [Head to Toe EP]
Gimme Shelter – Keith Richards [from Eileen EP]
Twisting By The Pool – Dire Straits [Twisting By The Pool EP]
Michigan – Josh Rouse [from Bedroom Classics Vol 1 EP]
Stull (Part 1) – Urge Overkill [from Stull EP]
Meet Me In The City (Junior Kimbrough) – The Black Keys [from Chulahoma EP]
Stranger Than Fools – Jesse Malin [from The Wendy EP]
Nothing – Pedro The Lion [from Whole EP]
Bad (live) – U2 [from Wide Awake In America EP]
Come See About Me (Supremes cover) – Afghan Whigs
[from Uptown Avondale EP]
Sugar Pill (demo version) – Ambulance LTD [New English EP]
Passenger Side (live) – Wilco [from All Over The Place EP]
Butterfly Nets – Bishop Allen [from May EP]
Panama – Casados [from Passages EP]
I Got Id – Pearl Jam (with Neil Young) [from Merkinball EP]
Cosmopolitan Pap – M. Ward [from To Go Home CDS]
Round Are Way – Oasis [from Wonderwall EP]
Woman King – Iron & Wine [from Woman King EP]
Last Nite (early version) – The Strokes [from Modern Age EP]
Technicolor Girls – Death Cab For Cutie [Forbidden Love EP]
The Man – Pete Yorn [from Westerns EP]
Just A Memory – Elvis Costello [from New Amsterdam EP]
Black Star (live, Radiohead cover) – Gillian Welch
[like the one on Black Star EP]
Born To Run (live, acoustic) – Bruce Springsteen
[from the chill-inducing Chimes of Freedom EP]

WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T ZIP HAPPINESS?
(zip only re-upped)

For a full and robust appreciation of the impact these EPs have had in our own little corner of the music ocean, you gotta read the original comments from the readers who suggested them. And there were enough suggestions for a full second mix – sorry I couldn’t fit all of them on here. Maybe someday.

Rock on, in compact 4-to-7 song packages.

Another contest: Win Ryan Adams’ new EP

Never one to let the dust settle under his boots, Ryan Adams‘ newest release with The Cardinals is coming on October 23.

The Follow The Lights EP (Lost Highway) will offer a brand new tune, an official studio version of his Willie-Nelson-loaned “Blue Hotel” (LOVE that song), and a couple older songs re-recorded & an Alice in Chains cover. Tasty.

Follow The Lights EP tracklist
1. Follow The Lights (new song)
2. My Love For You Is Real (older song, never released)
3. Blue Hotel (first official Ryan release, recorded live in studio)
4. Dear John (from JCN, new version live in studio)
5. This Is It (Cardinals version, live in studio – originally on RnR)
6. Down In A Hole (Alice In Chains cover, live in studio)
7. If I Am A Stranger (originally on Cold Roses, live in studio)

Forget girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, EPs really are one of my favorite things. I love how the best ones possess that perfectly digestible sense of flow and pull throughout the six or seven songs. Like one of those mini-desserts in a shot glass, or tapas.

To win the new Ryan EP, let’s talk in the comments what your favorite EP is and why you love it. Make sure I have a way to contact you (and you may want to spell out the email addy — not sure if that fools the spambots, but it’s worth a try), and the contest will go until Tuesday, so the winners might even get the EP before the street date? We’ll see.

TWO winners will be chosen; I haven’t yet decided whether to pick winners on merit or randomly. But you can’t win unless you enter, so DO IT.

Ben Kyle of Romantica duetting with Ryan Adams: “The Dark” (live in Minneapolis)

Briefly revisiting the “not a meltdown” topic, here is a fantastically delicious duet from the 9/27 Minneapolis Ryan Adams show, during opener Ben Kyle’s set when Ryan joined him onstage.

Ben is the Belfast, Ireland-born frontman for Minneapolis band Romantica [see previous mention] and this collaboration is absolutely superb, full of bittersweet harmonies. So, so, sooooooo good!

The Dark (with Ryan Adams) – Ben Kyle of Romantica

BUY: Romantica’s album America (2007)
[photo of Romantica by Paige DeWees]

Meltdown frickin schmeltdown: Ryan Adams has a cranky day

You’d think he’d rent his clothing in agony, rubbed mustard on his face, and thrown live maggots on the audience or something from the emails I started receiving on Thursday. “Ryan Adams: Brilliant or Brat?” read one, “Total meltdown by your guy.” said another. While I genuinely appreciate tips keeping me on the ball (because I’m actually off it most of the time, left to my own devices), once I started clicking the links –the CNN homepage, the NME, from there to news outlets everywhere– I started shaking my head, saying to myself “These people do not know meltdown.”

I was not there so maybe I am missing something, but it seems hyperbolic to call what happened Wednesday at the Ryan Adams show in Minneapolis a meltdown, based on the facts I’ve heard. Perhaps it’s indicative of a slow news day combined with preconceived notions of Adams’ difficult persona in the past and a desire to resurrect that fun news angle. He’s unleashed way better vitriol, and way crazier ramblings than that during his off-the-wagon years. Sounds to me like he just got pissy with the sound levels, which is not a new thing. We know he cares passionately and fervently about his music, and seems to want the songs to get fair footing to be heard the way they’re intended. Now, regarding the pissiness towards the sound guys and the abbreviated set for the excited fans, I personally would probably follow my dad’s adage, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar” (yes, he actually says that) but it hardly sounds like front page international headline news that he has some irritability and doesn’t play an encore.

One writer nailed it after seeing him play a spectacular show in Madison the following night, and reflected on all the hoopla:

“Throw Ryan Adams a little slack. This is a guy whose bad day becomes a ticker tape item on CNN. He wants what the audience hears to be perfect, not some contorted version of his sound. Call it whiney, call it anal retentive, but really, it’s more like caring.

Adams is the first artist I’ve come across whose desire to do it right musically outweighed his desire to be superficially fawned over.”

AMEN, sister.

On a brighter note, here’s what the new Ryan Adams EP Follow The Lights will look like when it comes out in three weeks:

Ryan Adams EP due October 23

According to the folks at Lost Highway, Ryan Adams fans accustomed to prolificacy will not be disappointed in 2007 — a seven song EP is due to hit shelves in a mere six weeks.

The excellent Paste Magazine (who will feature Ryan on the cover of their November issue) reported today:

The EP will include two brand new songs, “Follow The Lights” and “My Love For You Is Real,” both of which will be featured prominently on the upcoming season of ABC’s October Road.

Also on the EP are live-in-the-studio versions of “Blue Hotel,” a song Adams wrote for Willie Nelson that appeared on the country legend’s Adams-produced album Songbird; new versions of previously released tracks “Dear John” (Jacksonville City Nights), “This Is It” (Rock N Roll) and “If I Am A Stranger” (Cold Roses); and a cover of Alice In Chains’ “Down In A Hole.”

This joins the purported box set of unreleased Ryan goodness now due sometime in 2008. Yeehaw!

To get you all excited-like, here is what you can expect to hear on the EP (well, five-sevenths of it) — these are a few live + alternate versions of songs that will be featured:

My Love For You Is Real (live in Sweden 2001, great version)
Blue Hotel (live at the End Of The Road Festival, 9/17/06)
This Is It (live 5/6/05, Columbus, OH)
Down In A Hole (Alice in Chains cover, live 5/16/07)
If I’m A Stranger (alternate version; a delicious crackly rip from the Now That You’re Gone 7″ vinyl)

Shake me down and make me see monsters

This is absolutely insane, seeing double, face-melting stuff. If you didn’t believe me with all the flowery superlatives about how good Ryan Adams’ Berkeley show was last month, just listen to the way he closed the set, with “Shakedown on 9th Street” (from Heartbreaker) flawlessly into “I See Monsters” (from Love Is Hell).

Both songs could stand alone in their own right as excoriatingly blistering performances here, but the way they flow one into the next, like standing on the edge of a precipice as Shakedown ends, drawing in a sharp intake of breath on the four cymbal crashes — and then we hold our breath and plunge into I See Monsters.

Sweet beard of Zeus, I’m sated.

Shakedown On 9th Street (live in Berkeley)
I See Monsters (live in Berkeley)

The entire Ryan Adams show from 7/24 in Berkeley is now up for download and streaming at the Live Music Archive as well. Thanks to the tapers for making my day.

It’s just madness. Boulder madness.

Freshly back from the annual summit of record label and radio folks up in Boulder (I didn’t fit into either category; I just happily observed and chit-chatted, gratefully partaking in a bunch of good showcase shows).

First up was the side-achingly-hilarious Matt Nathanson, rocking through a solid set of mostly new material which sounded fantastic. Even though he had to face an oddly pugilistic audience, he handily slayed them all with his sharp wit, leaving one golf-shirted middle-aged heckler kind of speechless (the guy made some random crack about Matt “giving it up” in prison, to which I believe Matt called him a big hairy beast and told him to wear something frilly so he had something to grab on to).

Despite all the distractions (or maybe because of them), I thought it was a great show. The full band sounds tight and energetic, and the new material has a razor-sharp emotional edge to it that smacks with a welcome realism about long-term relationships. I hope to have a little interview-dealie with him sometime this week, for those of you playing along at home. Matt’s new album Some Mad Hope comes out August 14th — here’s one song off it that alternately sounds like his own special Prince nu-wave ditty, mixed seamlessly with the Ryan Adams song “Gimme A Sign.” I like it.

MATT NATHANSON: To The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts
(new, live 8/1/07)

And this one always, always gets me. A perfect little song, which the audience appreciated and sang along with:

MATT NATHANSON: Angel (live 8/1/07)

After Matt Nathanson the place kinda cleared out to go across the street to the sweet little digs of Lulu’s Kitchen, a teensy venue with a warm vibe from the owner of Albums On The Hill. Fionn Regan had just completed his set (all I can say is he looked the rockstar part with floppy satin vest and skinny jeans) and Willy Mason was performing an affecting little tune that I understand is new, called “I’ve Been Waiting For You” (maybe). I’d seen him back at Noise Pop (come to think of it, on a night where I also saw Josh Ritter and ran into Matt Nathanson. WHOA glitch in the matrix).

So yes, then Josh Ritter had a late-night set back at the spa/hotel thing where the conference was based, in the Xanadu conference room no joke. I was extremely excited to see this show as the new album is rocking my socks. I sat there all barely-contained with friend Bodie, who was just as excited as me. Bodie lavishes credit upon me for helping to introduce him to Josh’s music with Thin Blue Flame back in 05. He owes me.

So Josh was circulating through the crowd (dapper, as usual, in his white suit — he said he likes to “dress for the occasion”) and I got a chance to talk to him. What a wonderful, happy human being. He glows with excitement about what he is doing.

He also TOTALLY copped to the similarities between new song “Rumors” posted in last week’s Monday Music Roundup) and Britney Spears’ Toxic. I wouldn’t have believed it –I thought it was just me hearing things and being a little too fond of the video– but I asked and he concurred. His new album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is out August 21 and Amazon just wrote that it “may be the best album of 2007, hands down, by the most under-accorded American musical genius.” He blew the crowd away with a set of mostly new material (aka rocking) but also the fantastic “Wolves” and desired “Kathleen” — oh, and “Girl In The War,” which I never tire of.

JOSH RITTER: Rumors (new, live 8/1/07)

In addition to Some Velvet Blog‘s Bruce Warren enjoying all the conference festivities alongside me (from the astoundingly good WXPN radio station out in Philly), Wednesday ended with me staying the night, coincidentally enough, at a hotel in Denver with lovely blogger C from Scatter O Light. She was taking a break from her Bono-spotting in NYC to come to Denver for work. It was a blogger bacchanalia.

Thursday brought more good live performances, first a luncheon with Robbers on High Street (more from them on Monday) and melodic and wistful Australian rockers Augie March. I mentioned Augie March this past Monday, and they were excellent live – nuanced and passionate and inventive. Their song “One Crowded Hour” fairly takes flight in live performance, and I absolutely adored it and the feelings it evoked in me. I think that song could be huge this summer (it was incidentally re-recorded for the U.S. release at the same studios in San Francisco that Creedence used to work at).

After the show Glenn Richards from Augie March used my cell phone to call my little brother at work in San Diego, as he’s a huge fan. “Hello Brian? This is Glenn, from Augie March.” Officially consider me the world’s best big sister now.

More pics from that luncheon and the conference here.

And finally, why not a third Ryan Adams show in two weeks? Why not. This one was shortened, acoustic, and OPENING FOR PAULA COLE. How did that happen? Maybe the artist with the most underarm hair got the top billing. Or something.

Ryan and The Cardinals delivered a very musically solid, professional, enjoyable set which is exactly what I think he needed to show these folks. Although the concert was open to the public, probably at least half the audience were records and radio folks, many of whom saw Ryan last in Louisville at another convention where he was apparently Silent Ryan again, not speaking, wearing a hoodie and allegedly a shower cap for the whole performance in the almost-complete darkness. So I was really glad that he demonstrated (again) for the doubters how good he can be. The setlist (thanks Mandy!) was:

Let It Ride kicked in the gorgeous slow way and I didn’t start recording fast enough, but look how well the band gels together for the rest of it:

RYAN ADAMS: Let It Ride (live 8/2/07)

The setlist was many of the same songs he’s been playing lately, none of The Big Hits. There was no face melting, no extended jams, but we did get some wonderfully self-effacing banter — this clip picks up with Ryan talking about some of the traits that have been associated with him over the years: “Professionalism, happiness….”:

RYAN ADAMS: Blue Hotel (live 8/2/07)

[direct link]

I ripped an mp3 of that video, it looked and sounded gorgeous:
Blue Hotel (live in Boulder) – Ryan Adams

UPDATE: The whole Thursday night show is now streaming at archive.org.

I was bone-crunchingly exhausted after the event was over, partly from the many shows and partly from just the constant talking to interesting people, but I am recovered now. Let’s do it next year.

Ryan Adams in Berkeley: Yeah, I can’t even pretend to be cool about this

I’ll try and be nonchalant, but that’s pretty much the best picture I’ve gotten to be in this year. Maybe ever. I got to meet Ryan after the Berkeley show last night, and we talked about some interesting stuff. He seems somehow smaller in real life, with very penetrating eyes. Keep readin’, keep readin’. . .

The show itself was absolutely fantastic, and that surprised me because the venue is all seats (which I thought equaled sedate; I was wrong). Plus I thought I’d already gotten the very best from the Santa Cruz show (again; wrong). The Berkeley Community Theatre is a high school auditorium and had the distinctive feel of such, down to the drinking fountains and some undefinable quality to the bathrooms – I was almost expecting pink powdered handsoap. The difference between my own high school and this one, though, is that my high school never hosted Jimi Hendrix, The Clash or Ryan Adams.

As I was walking into the auditorium from the lobby, the usher was checking my ticket, and the guy standing right in front of me in a very anticlimactic way was Ryan Adams, setlist and Sharpie in hand. He was relaxed and amiable, wearing some sort of death metal t-shirt, a black hoodie with a denim jacket over it, and a pair of tighter jeans than any I own. He was walking around the hall conducting a “First Annual Audience Poll” for the setlist. This, compared to what I had heard about his virtual refusal to speak a single word to the crowd in San Francisco the night before was pretty astounding, and boded well for an engaging evening.

As I stood there with him in the lobby, on such short notice the first thing I could think of that I’d love to hear was the b-side “Halloween.” He looked up at me with an encouraging smile and said excitedly, “No, think big. Think full band electric, me and the Cardinals!” I couldn’t think deeply on such short notice, standing next to Ryan, so the moment passed and he went on to the girl next to me who asked for “Come Pick Me Up.” I spent the next two hours thinking off and on of what I should have said. There are so many of his songs that I’d love to hear them incorporate into the Cardinals’ current sound. Very nice idea from Ryan.

From where I was sitting (with a camera with no flash) the sound was excellent, and Ryan and The Cardinals took the stage close to 9pm with massive amounts of energy. They played over two hours with a quick intermission –so Ryan could go drink some juice, he said– and no encore. He was definitely the most chatty and entertaining between songs as I’ve heard in a long time. From singing an impromptu custom birthday song to a girl a few rows up from us named Summer Rae Brown (it’ll be the smash hit of her summer for sure) to making up poems about his love for Cheez-Its (me too, Ryan, me too) it was hilarious.

Someone in the front said something to him and in a stage whisper he replied, “Dude, I totally can’t talk right now, I’m WORKING.” He also joked about having a camera in his tie and being on “lady patrol,” with the priceless aside of “I would never trust a woman who would tolerate my shit.” But the best part was — he kept the banter strictly between songs instead of right in the middle of them like he kept doing at the acoustic show last year at the Palace of Fine Arts. This was very good.

The energy and cohesiveness of the band was a force that kept me glued to the show even though I was seated. The three personal highlights of the setlist were an unexpected & searing electric version of “When The Stars Go Blue,” a gorgeous performance of “Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part,” which may have hit me like a fist to the gut and made me cry (maybe, just hypothetically), and an absolutely electrify-me-down-to-my-toes closer of “I See Monsters,” which was even better than the one we got in Santa Cruz. Ryan writhed and pulled every note of that song out of his guitar like he was battling a demon, or wrestling with an angel. I felt it too. I left that show completely sated.

Full setlist:

A Kiss Before I Go
Please Do Not Let Me Go (smolders)
Goodnight Rose
Peaceful Valley
Two
Easy Plateau
Beautiful Sorta
Mockingbird
Happy Birthday Summer Rae Brown
When The Stars Go Blue
I Taught Myself How To Grow Old
Everybody Knows
Let it Ride

*break*

Blue Hotel
Elizabeth, You Were Born To Play That Part
Dear Chicago
Wildflowers
What Sin Replaces Love
band intros
Cold Roses
Shakedown on 9th Street
I See Monsters
(the seamless combination of Shakedown directly into I See Monsters was astoundingly awesome)

My friend Sharif and I decided to hang around a little bit nonchalantly on the sidewalk behind the venue, just because we like doing that and you never know who you’ll run into. In this case, for instance, we saw Ryan in the park right across the street from the high school, walking alone in the empty fountain and balancing on walls. He crossed back over to the venue side of the street and was sitting, leaning against the wall in the shadow of an enormous bouncer when we stopped to chat for a few minutes.

The box set of unreleased material is definitely happening, he tells me, and all next week they are working on finishing up the artwork. It’s up to seven discs now, and he assures me that it’s a lot of stuff that even us crazy fans have not heard. For instance, he said that the Suicide Handbook material that we have (and love) is leaked from the studio and only contains his acoustic guitar and vocals, but that we’ve never heard it as we soon will — with a 16 piece string section, among other things. Also, I asked him if the lusted-after Elizabethtown Sessions will be included on there and he said he thought so, that that “album” is actually called Darkbreaker.

The logjam in my brain also finally had cleared during the show when it hit me that an awesome addition to his current setlist would be “Hotel Chelsea Nights” from the Love Is Hell album. It could fit nicely into the intense electric vibe, and add some swagger and cool class. I suggested it and his face lit up. He told me that they had actually been working that very song out recently to start playing in their Cardinals shows and that he was excited about it. Maybe we’ll get it in Boulder?

I really couldn’t ask for more. It was an excellent show and I drove home with an indelible smile on my face that won’t go away.

Ryan Adams melts the collective face of Santa Cruz

Ryan Adams was back in fine form last night in Santa Cruz, playing a relentless three-hour electric set and rocking the plaid pants and a Celtic Frost t-shirt. The show at the Catalyst Club was general admission, so I was most excited about this show (the other ones to come this week are all seats); my favorite kind of show energy comes from a packed-in standing audience.

On our way over the hill to the show, we were discussing what era Ryan was our favorite, and what kind of show we wish we could have seen in incarnations of years past. The three of us in the car were apparently all rockers at heart, and the consensus went back and forth between Love Is Hell, Rock N Roll and Demolition if we had to pick just one era to see live.

On the way home my muddled mind was going over the show as I watched the yellow divider lines on the highway flick past, and I felt satisfied with the set because it was kinda the rocker Ryan coming back out in the jam-country he’s favoring lately, if that makes sense. He was on it, in his element. Playing that electric guitar with reverence and fire. Even though there were some prolonged jams, which (last night at least) I lack the attention span for, he took the rocker vibe, blended it heavy in with the Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights material, and just let it ride all night long.