Ryan Adams: "Gimme Something Good" (Acoustic, Austin City Limits)
The performance of "Gimme Something Good" on Austin City Limits speaks for itself. This acoustic version is emotional perfection and deserves your full attention.
The Setting
Adams taped the session in October 2014, a few weeks after his self-titled album arrived. It was not his first time on that stage. He first appeared on ACL in the late 1990s with Whiskeytown and opens the episode by joking about that 22-year-old version of himself. The taping was a double bill. He played a solo acoustic set, then returned with his band, The Shining, for a loud electric set that opened with a fully amplified "Gimme Something Good." PBS broadcast the acoustic version on January 16, 2016, as part of Season 41, paired with Austin's own Shakey Graves.
Why the Acoustic Version Works
On the record, the song is a bright, hook-heavy rocker. Alone with a guitar, it becomes a different piece of music. The title stops sounding like a demand and starts sounding like a plea. Every lyric has room to land. The melody, which can hide inside the album's production, carries the whole performance. The song earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance, and this version shows why it holds up without amplifiers.
The Set Around It
The broadcast set moves through his catalog with the dry humor Adams is known for. He opens with "My Wrecking Ball," then plays "Oh My Sweet Carolina" from his 2000 solo debut Heartbreaker and warns the audience it only gets sadder from there. After "Gimme Something Good" come "Please Do Not Let Me Go" and "Desire," the latter from 2002's Demolition. It is a compact tour of fifteen years of songwriting in five songs.
A North Carolina Artist Worth Having at Home
Adams grew up in North Carolina, and Heartbreaker and the Whiskeytown years remain the foundation of his reputation. His catalog is deep, and this ACL performance is a great place to start or return to. Ryan Adams is a worthy NC artist for your home collection.
Ryan Adams is a worthy NC Artist for your home collection
Every time Ryan Adams thinks he’s out, he pulls himself back in. It turns out the follow-up to 2011’s Ashes & Fire isn't the completed album he made with Glyn Johns but a self-produced collection of songs recorded at Adams’ recording studio, PAX AM. (Some tunes were coproduced with Mike Viola.) The mercurial singer/songwriter who broke up his band (The Cardinals), flirted with retirement, and formed a punk group sounds plenty much like the Ryan Adams we’ve come to expect. The alt-country sounds are scrubbed down for an electric guitar-based heartland rock that gets a touch of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, thanks to the involvement of longtime Petty organist Benmont Tench. “Shadows” is the loudest cry in the dark, with Adams’ guitars ringing and clashing over Tal Wilkenfeld’s stalking bassline. “Feels Like Fire” follows up the existential ache, with Johnny Depp playing guitar and adding a backing vocal. “I Just Might” pulses with a hint of Bruce Springsteen’s “State Trooper.”
RYAN ADAMS: Live on Letterman (2011) WEBCAST
Live on Letterman Webcast promoting the album "Ashes & Fire" (2011)
Music in this video
Song
Oh My Sweet Carolina
Artist
Ryan Adams
Album
iTunes Session
Writers
Ryan Adams
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Song
If I Am A Stranger (Live At Carnegie Hall / 11/15/2014)
Artist
Ryan Adams
Writers
Ryan Adams
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Song
Dirty Rain
Artist
Ryan Adams
Album
iTunes Session
Writers
Ryan Adams
Licensed to YouTube by
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Song
Lucky Now
Artist
Ryan Adams
Album
iTunes Session
Writers
Ryan Adams
Licensed to YouTube by
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Song
Black Sheets of Rain
Artist
Ryan Adams
Album
iTunes Session
Writers
Bob Mould
Licensed to YouTube by
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Song
Let It Ride (Single Version)
Artist
Ryan Adams
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Ryan Adams with Cardinals in London (2/2)
Ryan Adams - Live In Het Chasse Theater Breda
