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Ryan Adams: 'Jacksonville City Nights'

Published on: 09/27/2005

AMERICANA
Ryan Adams
"Jacksonville City Nights." Lost Highway. 14 tracks.
Grade: B-

For his second album of 2005, this Carolina-raised singer-songwriter has made his countriest record since leaving Whiskeytown. The result is an uneven but ultimately endearing collection that channels no one so much as Gram Parsons. Like Parsons, Adams is a small-town boy who left for the big city, and "Jacksonville" feels like an extended visit home. Adams' voice is wobbly, and (as usual) the disc could use a loving prune from an editor. But the best songs here sparkle like rhinestones.