I've always kind of vaguely assumed that one day I would probably listen to Ryan Adams, and probably quite like his music (but probably not love it) - based mainly on the excellence of Faithless Street and Pneumonia and the likelihood of diminishing returns amidst his more recent, disconcertingly prolific solo output. Anyway, Ashes & Fire is a recent one (2011), and it's a pretty nice wistful alt-country singer-songwriterish record, a handful of good songs and the rest not unpleasant, but without the spark of near-greatness that animates the best moments from those two Whiskeytown records.
