Today, Ryan Adams releases his first true album in nearly two years, and his first without the Cardinals in far too long.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed a good portion of his work with his backing band, but I long for the solo years of Heartbreaker.  We’ll likely never get an album as solidly beautiful as that from Ryan again, but Ashes and Fire is pretty damn close.

Stripped down and free of the Grateful Dead affectations, this is Ryan at his purest, and man does it work.

I’ve been listening to the free preview for a couple weeks now, so I’ve already had time to fall in love with the album.  I’m not going to do a full write up of it (a la “The King of Limbs“), but I feel pretty confident in saying that if you’re a Ryan fan, you’ve been waiting for this album for quite a few years.

I’ll leave you with the first video single from the album, the excellent (though not even best track) “Lucky Now.”

A good day to you all.