REVIEW: The Goods, Ryan Adams

By Frank De Blase on September 30, 2008

You could've called The Goods "The Greats" after the band's set at new venue Lovin' Cup. This quartet, now shaved down to a trio, is lightheartedly polyrhythmic, and despite the music's electronic rendering, it comes on rootsy and honest. The trio is technically flawless and sounds - for lack of a better word - happy.

Did I ever tell you about my love affair with Ryan Adams? We were just two crazy kids running from our pasts, and still wildly in love with the music that got us to where we stood. It was the early 2000's and I had bailed my touring band of almost 20 years and was in need of some direction. Adams had split Whiskeytown, a primo, albeit somewhat volatile alt-country ensemble that infused catastrophic amounts of soul and post-Nashville twang into an ever-fickle, how-come-nobody's-stepped-up-to-replace-Parsons audience. Here was a musician whose music dictated his every move and composition, as he trudged ahead, not concerned with whose expectations he did or didn't live up to. The music was great, lyrically staggering at times, without a single glance over the shoulder or in the mirror. He became a hero.

Saturday night's show at the Auditorium Theatre proved Adams ain't never going back to Whiskeytown. Not because it's a sour memory or anything to be ashamed of, but Adams is still cranking out albums at a staggering rate. If he were to die tomorrow, it wouldn't be long before folks started qualifying his name with "prolific" or perhaps even "legendary."

He touched upon a good deal of this catalogue, staying relatively true to the recordings. Raggedly unpretentious and almost shy, Adams let the music talk as he spent a good deal of time in the shadows. He did let his stellar band, The Cardinals, flex a bit though, and the sound in the Aud was atypically good. And it was Adams' crowd. You know, I always cringe for these moments in Rochester, when a really cool act finally comes to town and winds up playing to a half-empty room. The Silos played here last year and how many people were there? Thirty? Thankfully, Adams practically filled the place and everyone there was on their feet and singing along. Apparently the love affair is not mine alone.