new album Ryan Adams, 'Ashes & Fire'

Which Ryan Adams is it this time? Crazed punk provocateur? Uncloseted metal fan? Classic-rocker? Happily, it's the latter, in a largely unplugged mode. Out is his twangy backing band, the Cardinals, and in is an A-list pickup team, with Tom Petty veteran Benmont Tench on keyboards and Norah Jones on piano and harmonies. The mood is quietly apocalyptic: "Let the needle move the record round/Until the walls cave in," Adams sings in "Dirty Rain," one of a number of beautifully weary human-wreckage surveys. The hush on this mellow set may be due in part to Adams' recent hearing problems. Either way, it proves he doesn't need noise to blow you away.

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