173 Quotes by Ryan Adams

I think it would be wrong to consider ‘Ashes and Fire’ a love album. The record is obsessed with time. I believe that there is a kinder view of the self on this record.

When I start working on a batch of tunes – like roughly 10 solid tunes – I always know there’ll be another 10 to follow, because for every song I invest a lot of time in, there’s another song waiting behind it.

On Heartbreaker, I had to sing those songs. I drank the way I did those songs. I ate the way I did those songs. I communicated the way I did those songs.

I can sort of will that stuff to happen to me if I put myself in the right headspace. Then I can actually get to a space where it won’t just be one song that comes through, but a series of them.

I don’t think, that all my stuff could’ve been records. Some, maybe. The ones that I really wanted to be records, those are the ones that are going into the box.

For any producer I’ve ever worked with, their toughest job is to convince me to not to obscure my vocals. A lot of people don’t like the sound of their own voice on, like, cassette tape or something. It’s like that for me, and other songwriters I know. Like, “Oh God, that’s what I sound like?”

Most of my songs are pretty sketchy. There’s not a lot of bass sections. I don’t write big bridges. Sometimes I’ll try. But it’s hard for me to focus that way, because I always think it’s more interesting to just see what will happen next.

I’m actually a pretty upbeat person outside of playing music.

It’s hard to view myself sometimes as even in the same league as other musicians, mainly because there’s so much music before me. I feel overinformed by different styles and different possibilities.