Ryan Adams – “Jacksonville,” “I Keep Running,” & “Walkedypants”

Ryan Adams - Jacksonville

Ryan Adams – “Jacksonville,” “I Keep Running,” & “Walkedypants”

Ryan Adams - Jacksonville

Ryan Adams is having a pretty great year: His new self-titled LP is one of 2014’s highlights, and that was preceded by the excellent 1984, a punk/hardcore 10-song 7″ from his PAX-AM singles series. Today, we’ve got the next installment in that singles series, the “Jacksonville” 7″, which features three new songs: “Jacksonville” on the A-side b/w “I Keep Running” and “Walkedypants.” None of this material would fit on either of the aforementioned records; “Jacksonville” and “I Keep Running” have a rustic country feel; “Walkedypants” is a late-night blues goof. You’ll probably listen to “Walkedypants” once and never come back, but the other two are keepers. Check ‘em out.

Buzzfeed recently published an excellent interview with Ryan Adams, in which he talked about his connection to Jacksonville, North Carolina, the city in which he was born and grew up. Here’s some of what he had to say:

“On the very edge of [Jacksonville] there used to be a line,” he explains, making imaginary marks along his desk, “where it was pawn shop, tattoo shop, strip club, pawn shop, tattoo shop, pawn shop, strip club, car dealership, pawn shop … like all the fucking way down. Then, there were all these big pine trees, and behind them was the military base. And the base was between us and the beach. They took all that land.”

Adams’ childhood in the “old city” of Jacksonville was a more idyllic vision. “I lived in this beautiful neighborhood that had a duck pond and I just remember big open spaces and big thunderstorms — I’m talking, like, massive bright daytime clouds. Right around there was a Piggly Wiggly, a local pharmacist, a tobacco shop that … just saying that makes me want to weep. ‘Cause I remember my grandfather smoking a pipe and the smell of his tobacco.”

Read the whole thing over at Buzzfeed.

The “Jacksonville” 7″ is out today via PAX-AM.

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