Returning refreshed after a three-year hiatus Ryan Adams dives headfirst into early-70s Dylan with Ashes & Fire, his first record since disbanding the Cardinals. Adams developed an easy, graceful chemistry with the Cardinals, a connection as apparent on loping homages to the Grateful Dead as it was on approximations of honky tonk, a connection absent yet still felt on Ashes & Fire, which retains a similar relaxed gait as the Cardinals at their softest. Unlike all his albums with the Cardinals, this isnt a record where the musicianship is placed at the forefront, this is a singer/songwriter record, the music serving as a warm bed for Adams rambling words. Tempos are never quick and the melodies remain fuzzily in focus, so Ashes & Fire winds up as ever-shifting mood music, sustaining an appealingly lazy haze residing somewhere south of melancholy. Adams may have his sad moments, he may look outside his window and see signs of doom, but he is not torturing himself, he is finding comfort in being blue because most of the time, hes relaxed within his skin.

Released: October 11, 2011
Genre: Country
Style: Alt-Country, Folk
Source: CD
Codec: FLAC
Channels: Stero
Sample Rate: 44,100 Hz
Bit Rate: ~800 kbps
Bits per Sample: 16
Covers: Front

Tracks: 

1. Dirty Rain
2. Ashes & Fire
3. Come Home
4. Rocks
5. Do I Wait
6. Chains of Love
7. Invisible Riverside
8. Save Me
9. Kindness
10. Lucky Now
11. I Love You But I Dont Know What To Say

More Info:
 
http://allmusic.com/album/ashes-fire-r2282360/review