Heartbreaker (Ryan Adams album)
Encyclopedia
Heartbreaker is the debut studio album by alternative country
musician Ryan Adams
, released September 5, 2000 on Bloodshot Records
. The album was recorded over fourteen days at Woodland Studios in Nashville
, Tennessee
. It was nominated for the 2001 Shortlist Music Prize
. The album is said to be inspired by Adams's break-up with music-industry publicist Amy Lombardi.
According to Adams, the album's title originates from a poster of Mariah Carey
: "My manager called and said, 'You have 15 seconds to name this record,' "My eyes focused on this poster of Mariah wearing a T-shirt that said HEARTBREAKER. I just shouted, 'Heartbreaker!'"
English DJ Mark Ronson
remixed the song "Amy" for his 2007 album Version
, of which singer Kenna
provides vocals. The song "To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)" is featured in the 2006 film Accepted
, the 2002 film The Slaughter Rule
, and the 2003 film Old School
. A version of this song was also released in 2009 by David Rawlings
on the Dave Rawlings Machine album "A Friend of a Friend." "Come Pick Me Up" is featured in the film Elizabethtown
(which also featured two other Ryan Adams songs) and in a Series 2 episode of Skins
. It was also named #285 on Pitchfork Media
's "Top 500 songs of the 2000's."
band No Justice
's Live at Billy Bob's album in 2007.
"Oh My Sweet Carolina" has been covered at least twice. The song can be heard on the deluxe edition of Zac Brown Band
's 2010 album You Get What You Give
, as well as on the 2008 Portastatic
release Some Small History.
. Allmusic's Mark Derning wrote that the album "is loose, open, and heartfelt in a way Whiskeytown's admittedly fine albums never were, and makes as strong a case for Adams' gifts as anything his band ever released", concluding that "the strength of the material and the performances suggest Adams is finally gaining some much-needed maturity, and his music is all the better for it." A.V. Club's Keith Phipps wrote: "Adams has recorded an intimate, largely quiet record that indisputably establishes his identity as an independent singer-songwriter". Pitchfork Media's Steven Byrd called it "an album of astonishing musical proficiency, complete honesty and severe beauty.". Rolling Stone's Anthony Decurtis was less enthusiastic, stating that "Adams' songs too often fail to rise above their plain-spoken details to take on the symbolic power he yearns for".
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
musician Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter, from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Initially part of the group Whiskeytown, Adams left the band and released his first solo album Heartbreaker in 2000...
, released September 5, 2000 on Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot Records
Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois which specializes in roots-inflected indie rock, punk blues, and a Chicago brand of outlaw country...
. The album was recorded over fourteen days at Woodland Studios in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. It was nominated for the 2001 Shortlist Music Prize
Shortlist Music Prize
The Shortlist Music Prize, stylized as , was an annual music award for the best album released in the United States that had sold fewer than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination...
. The album is said to be inspired by Adams's break-up with music-industry publicist Amy Lombardi.
According to Adams, the album's title originates from a poster of Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
: "My manager called and said, 'You have 15 seconds to name this record,' "My eyes focused on this poster of Mariah wearing a T-shirt that said HEARTBREAKER. I just shouted, 'Heartbreaker!'"
English DJ Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
remixed the song "Amy" for his 2007 album Version
Version (album)
-iTunes digital edition:-Japanese CD edition:-Chart performance:-Release history:-External links:* at MetaCritic...
, of which singer Kenna
Kenna
Kenna Zemedkun, known professionally as simply Kenna, is an Ethiopian-born American musician. His track "Say Goodbye To Love" was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in the 2009 Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...
provides vocals. The song "To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)" is featured in the 2006 film Accepted
Accepted
Accepted is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Steve Pink and written by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, and Mark Perez. The main plot centers around a group of would-be college freshmen who, after being rejected from all the colleges and universities to which they had applied, proceed to create...
, the 2002 film The Slaughter Rule
The Slaughter Rule
The Slaughter Rule is an independent film, released in 2002 and starring Ryan Gosling and David Morse. The movie, set in contemporary Montana, explores the relationship between a small-town high school football player , and his troubled coach...
, and the 2003 film Old School
Old School (film)
Old School is a 2003 American comedy film released by DreamWorks SKG and directed by Todd Phillips, director of the documentary Frat House. The story was written by Court Crandall, and the film was written by Phillips and Scot Armstrong...
. A version of this song was also released in 2009 by David Rawlings
David Rawlings
David Todd Rawlings is a professional guitarist and singer. He is best known as the longtime musical partner of bluegrass singer-songwriter Gillian Welch.David attended the Berklee College of Music and studied with guitar professor Lauren Passarelli....
on the Dave Rawlings Machine album "A Friend of a Friend." "Come Pick Me Up" is featured in the film Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown (film)
Elizabethtown is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Alec Baldwin has a small role as a CEO of an athletic shoe company and Susan Sarandon appears as a grieving widow...
(which also featured two other Ryan Adams songs) and in a Series 2 episode of Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
. It was also named #285 on Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's "Top 500 songs of the 2000's."
Track listing
Musicians
- Ryan Adams - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, banjo
- Ethan Johns - drums, bass, glockenspiel, B-3, Chamberlain, vibes
- David Rawlings - backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, tambourine
- Gillian Welch - backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric bass, banjo
- Pat Sansone - piano (4, 9, 11), Chamberlain and organ (6), backing vocals (2)
- Emmylou Harris - backing vocals (5)
- Kim Richey - backing vocals (9)
- Allison Pierce - backing vocals (11)
Production
- Ethan Johns – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineer, mixerAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Patrick Himes – assistant engineer
- Doug Sax – mastering
- David McClister – photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
- Gina Binkley – designDesignDesign as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
Other Information
"Shakedown on 9th Street" was covered on the Red DirtRed Dirt (music)
Red Dirt Music is a music genre that gets its name from the color of soil found in Oklahoma. Although Stillwater, Oklahoma is considered to be the epicenter of Red Dirt music, there's a Texas Red Dirt sound as well. Outlaws Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson are associated with that distinctive...
band No Justice
No justice
No Justice is a Red Dirt/Texas Country band which is originally from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Stillwater has also produced musical talents such as Jimmy LaFave, Garth Brooks, The Great Divide, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stoney LaRue, Mike McClure and Jason Boland & the Stragglers...
's Live at Billy Bob's album in 2007.
"Oh My Sweet Carolina" has been covered at least twice. The song can be heard on the deluxe edition of Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music, southern rock, and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown , Jimmy De Martini , John Driskell Hopkins , Coy Bowles , Chris Fryar and Clay Cook...
's 2010 album You Get What You Give
You Get What You Give (album)
Upon its release, You Get What You Give received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable...
, as well as on the 2008 Portastatic
Portastatic
Portastatic is an American indie rock band founded in the early 1990s by Mac McCaughan. Portastatic began as a solo project for McCaughan, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Superchunk...
release Some Small History.
Album
| Country | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Ireland Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
67 |
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
183 |
Critical reception
The album was considered to be a fresh start for Ryan Adams after the demise of his previous band WhiskeytownWhiskeytown
Whiskeytown was an alternative country band formed in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1994. Fronted by Ryan Adams, other members included Caitlin Cary, Phil Wandscher, Eric "Skillet" Gilmore, and Mike Daly. They disbanded in 2000, with Adams leaving to pursue his solo career...
. Allmusic's Mark Derning wrote that the album "is loose, open, and heartfelt in a way Whiskeytown's admittedly fine albums never were, and makes as strong a case for Adams' gifts as anything his band ever released", concluding that "the strength of the material and the performances suggest Adams is finally gaining some much-needed maturity, and his music is all the better for it." A.V. Club's Keith Phipps wrote: "Adams has recorded an intimate, largely quiet record that indisputably establishes his identity as an independent singer-songwriter". Pitchfork Media's Steven Byrd called it "an album of astonishing musical proficiency, complete honesty and severe beauty.". Rolling Stone's Anthony Decurtis was less enthusiastic, stating that "Adams' songs too often fail to rise above their plain-spoken details to take on the symbolic power he yearns for".