Ryan Adams & the Cardinals: A View of Other Windows reveals an unprecedented, intimate look at Ryan Adams and his band the Cardinals through the evocative photography of lead guitarist, Neal Casal.

An intensely personal collection of 200 photographs, Casal has captured the exhilaration of the stage and studio while sometimes exposing the solitary aspects of the creative process and life on the road. With an introduction by Ryan Adams and an afterword by legendary musician Phil Lesh, this collection will be revered by fans and is the official documentation of the beloved band.

About the author
Neal Casal is the lead guitarist for Ryan Adams and the Cardinals as well as a singer/songwriter who has released nine solo albums.

Ryan Adams is a celebrated singer/songwriter who has released six solo albums as well as five albums with his band the Cardinals.

Phil Lesh is a founding member of the iconic Grateful Dead.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: A View of Other Windows
By Neal Casal
Abrams Image
May 2010
US $24.95
160 pages
200 full-color photographs
Hardcover
ISBN 978-0-8109-8266-6

Click here to pre-order now at Amazon.com

» www.buymusichere.net

» music.aol.com

» www.blackcabsessions.com

The House of Guitars in Rochester, New York has been a beacon to any musician worth his or her salt since it was founded in 1964. Adams and his Cardinals are no exception, as guitarist/second vocalist Neal Casal and pedal steel player Jon Graboff trickle in before him, gazing upon the guitars three high throughout the store.

Adams quickly snaps up a Kramer guitar, most likely from the early to mid ‘70s that he likens to those made by Doug Irwin for Jerry Garcia. He also snags a late ‘60s Ampeg scroll bass, the kind that Rick Danko played in The Band. As he makes his way back toward the front of the store after giving each a test run, he stops in his tracks with one of the store clerks.

**Want to read more? There are three ways to get the goods: 1) Pick up a copy of the December/January issue of Relix magazine with RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS on the cover at a newsstand near you; 2) subscribe to Relix by clicking HERE; OR 3) get a lifetime digital subscription to Relix for FREE! All you have to do is go to www.relix.com/digital and register.

» www.relix.com

FOR FANS OF:
Neal Casal – No Wish to Reminisce
Jesse Malin – The Fine Art of Self Destruction
Jeff Buckley – Grace

» www.performingsongwriter.com

» www.filter-mag.com

CLICK HERE to LISTEN to ADAMS on MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO

» minnesota.publicradio.org

» www.blender.com

New York’s Ryan Adams returns exactly a year and five days after releasing ‘Follow The Lights’ with an eleventh instalment.

Though his fancy for a drink has earned him a spot on the list of rock’s notorious scamps, ironically he’s fast becoming a somewhat canon for heartfelt American rock. With no new tricks expected from a fellow who’s gradually consolidated with the severely gifted The Cardinals, ‘Cardinology’ rocks through a lyrically lush folk-scape, from the hankering ‘Fix It’ and the lustrous ‘Evergreen’. ‘Magik’ resurrects the sneer of ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll’ though devoid of those subtle assortments that were core to the marvellous ‘Heartbreaker’. Overall, 'Cardinology' is an expectedly great listen.

» www.clashmusic.com

» www.bbc.co.uk

With "Cardinology," North Carolina-born singer/songwriter Ryan Adams and his accompanying band, The Cardinals, deliver one of their best albums to date--12 tracks of easy-going, alt-country reflections, poignant ballads and rockabilly moments.

"Cardinology" is replete with unforgettable hooks and poetic details. A master of articulating loneliness and broken hearts, Adams uses his raspy, honest vocals to convey pain, joy and isolation. Some of his finest lyrics are contained within "Fix You." "I know it’s not a game / but it feels like losing when someone you love throws you away," he croons. Other heavier thoughts can be found in "Stop," a beautiful, melancholy piano tune; "Crossed Out Name," an acoustic number about living alone; and "Natural Ghost," a sweeping blend of backup vocals and steel guitars.

Just because there are reoccurring themes of insecurity and the dark side of love doesn't mean "Cardinology" is a downer. Sure, a lot of the album is low-key, but the band revs things up on tracks like the foot-tapping, tambourine-shaking "Let Us Down Easy" and the reverb-hard "Magick," which is the closest it gets to Adams' "Rock N Roll" style. The bright guitars and uplifting movement of "Cobwebs" make it one of the standout selections. "If I fall will you catch me? / If I'm sorry, sorry enough / If I fall will you pity me? / Will you confuse my love for the cobwebs?" Adams repeats for most of the song, driving home his point though high-pitched wails and pleas.

"Cardinology" is the kind of album that makes just as much sense being blared from a bedroom window as it does at the neighborhood bar, and it's certain to re-energize longtime listeners while earning new fans.

» www.livedaily.com

» www.boston.com

If Ryan Adams ever opens a restaurant, it’ll probably serve high-end meals with the speed of a fast-food restaurant. Despite the almost–ridiculous frequency in which he releases his work — the latest, “Cardinology,” is his fifth studio album since 2005 — the prolific Adams manages to maintain a high level of quality through it all.

“Cardinology,” recorded with Adams’ backing band The Cardinals, draws heavily from both the straight-ahead rock of his debut, “Heartbreaker,” and the twangy country of “Cold Roses.” Opening with the gospel-tinged “Born Into A Light,” Adams and the Cardinals quickly shift to the snappy guitar rock of “Go Easy.” Usually introspective and sometimes passive-aggressive, Adams turns outward this time, singing, “I will always love you, so go easy on yourself.” But he does preface that with “If only to say this to myself.”

The opening rhythm guitar line of “Fix It” bounces like a bass line by the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh, an Adams collaborator and admirer. The chorus is pained and cathartic. “Magick” survives scrutiny despite trite lines like “Turn the radio up, turn the radio up loud and get down” and “Listen to the music play, it’s magic” due to the strength of the music. In the meandering “Cobwebs,” Adams is back to his needy and self-obsessive self: “If I fall will you catch me? If I’m sorry, sorry enough.”

Indeed, feeling sorry for himself is something Adams pulls off in a very adult, non-emo way, like in “Crossed Out Name,” one of “Cardinology’s” peak moments. It starts with a repetitive acoustic guitar riff, and that’s all it needs thanks to Adams’ arresting vocal delivery.

“Natural Ghost” is richly textured, with slide, electric and acoustic guitars sounding more like one instrument, and there’s a mini improv jam at the end that allows the Cardinals to stretch their wings. “Evergreen” is another star, a song as light as a feather with the impact of a jackhammer. The quiet intensity recalls the late-night, red-eyed folk of the Dead’s “Workingman’s Dead”/“American Beauty” period. “Stop” wraps things up, bringing things to a whispery end.

Adams is the former frontman of alt-county band Whiskeytown, grew up a skate punk and a Deadhead and wore an Iron Maiden T-shirt during a recent TV appearance. His musical interests are all over the map, but with “Cardinology,” Adams again molds those sources into something uniquely interesting and listenable. And distinctly his own.

» www.theweekender.com

» cgi.ebay.com

Things are really coming together for The Cardinals. Billed as Ryan Adams' backing band, what Cardinology (released October 28 on Lost Highway) reveals is a five-piece of overlapping pleasures and focused, no bullshit purpose, a rock 'n' roll band in the classic gatefold sleeve, hard touring model. The great comfort level of their stirring live performances has finally found some footing in the studio, and while perhaps not as instantly knock-you-back on your heels as Cold Roses or Jacksonville City Nights, there's a succinctness and clarity to Cardinology that distills their more rangy concert persona into one very fine rock album.

Need proof? Put on "Magick," simply one of the nastiest, catchiest rockers Adams has ever penned but bettered in many ways by the spiky electric guitar and vocal foil provided by Neal Casal (who also provides the booklet's boffo interior photography – dude has a seriously great eye for capturing musicians). A tremendously gifted singer-songwriter in his own right, Casal permeates the proceedings, oozing into all the right cracks and providing beautiful counterpoint to Adams' six-string playing and increasingly together singing. Adams really soars with a '50s Sinatra-esque oomph and dexterity here, particularly on "Born Into A Light" and "Crossed Out Name." There's just a lot of honey in his delivery and phrasing now, perhaps an embrace of his natural instrument or merely increased facility in accessing all the parts within his range. Something has occurred and Adams, ably aided by Casal throughout, sings his ass off on Cardinology.

A refining process has occurred with the compositions on Cardinology, where nothing tops six minutes and most cuts hover around four. While Adams is better able to fill longer ruminations than most out there, it's exciting and engaging to find these tightly packaged gems. The energy of the quick recording session (most captured in just a few days according to drummer Brad Pemberton) infuses tunes that hang their hats on often simple but very effective lines ("Let us down easy, Lord," "Will you confuse my love for the cobwebs?") The poetry here extends past the words to the music, which ever-dovetails with the lyrics, accented and commented on in non-verbal ways, music lived and lingered over with real care.

The apex of The Cardinals' togetherness on the new album may be "Natural Ghost," which finds Jon Graboff's pedal steel and Chris Feinstein's bass providing the glistening muscle that moves along a unified musical body, each participant giving themselves to a larger vision, a greater outcome than any single player could achieve informed by great understanding of the guys plugging away next to them. The mood on "Natural Ghost" is the sort of rough n' tumble contemporary gospel vibe The Cardinals often stir up live, asking rhetoricals that need asking and giving us the celestial sway to answer even if we don't exactly want to. They carry this feeling into "Sink Ships," which hangs on the darkly hopeful line, "The war is over, and I am wading in the sinking ships." Things brighten on the strummy, pop tinged "Evergreen," which seems like a love letter to Mother Earth as much as any person. "Like Yesterday" is gorgeous, dangling melancholy, and closer "Stop" is simply put one of the most moving, spot-on songs about human addiction ever. The stillness, sadness and longing of the piece simply can't be fully wrangled into a review. If you've ever knowingly done yourself great wrong because you were just too weak to stop yourself, well, this one is gonna crawl inside you, pulled along by Graboff's softly orchestral steel and Adams' perfectly underplayed vocal delivery.

Cardinology is a grower, likely to sneak up on you after a half dozen spins or so but once it's jumped in your bed you won't be anxious to kick it out. Even more than last year's Easy Tiger, this album points to the togetherness and huge potential of this band. Chemistry like this doesn't come along every day and it's heartening to see them evolving such a substantive and satisfying creative relationship.

» www.jambase.com

Ryan Adams’ fourth album with the Cardinals—but only the third to officially bill the band—glides by smoothly, even if it fails to truly soar. Cardinology has a stronger first half than second, and could have used some more variation from the leisurely mid-tempo groove, only really shaken up by the garage rocker “Magick” and the closing ballad “Stop.” Still, as tipped by the titles “Go Easy” and “Let Us Down Easy,” there’s a nice ease to it all that’s downright comforting.

THREE STARS
Download This: “Fix It,” the soul-soothing first single

Country rock’s enfant terrible cleans up his act and makes a near-classic record...


Ryan Adams’ drug problems and public tantrums have often overshadowed his music. But Cardinology may put an end to that. His first release in a year – notable for a guy who put out three (albeit spotty) full-lengths in 2005 – it’s the record he has spent he past few years promising but never quite delivering. Drunk on melody, high on musical history, but all his own, the record throbs with great playing and singing, and thrums with hope without pimping easy platitudes. It’s one of the best things he’s ever done.

Cardinology is a classic-rock record to the bone, nodding to the influences that Adams has conjured before but never so well: the country rock of the Grateful Dead and Gram Parsons, the arena anthems of U2. It begins with four killers in a row: “Born Into a Light” prays for faith amid troubles over a Tex-Mex melody, weepy pedal steel and gospel-tined vocals; “Go Easy” is a breathless love pledge with heartland-rock hooks; “Fix It” is a plea for psychic repair that meshes a slithery R&B groove with a soaring Bono-style chorus; and “Magick” is pure mindless garage-rock pleasure, with notwithstanding the geopolitical apocalypse lurking in its lyrics (“You’re like a missile strike/Government goes underground/Warhead on legs/What goes around comes around”). Then thing settle down a bit -- but despite overcooked nautical metaphors on “Sink Ships,” they never slack. Cardinology’s riveting finale is “Stop,” a fragile piano ballad sung in a shaky voice that slowly gains strength and takes flight. It’s clearly about rehab, and while rehab rock may be a bit of an oxymoron, Adams – who has reportedly cleaned up – defines a genre here. If it helps undermine some of the bogus junkie myths about hard drugs and creativity, all the better.


Cardinology - FOUR STARS

Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams hates being called prolific. This despite the fact that he's released 10 albums in nine years -- and wrote and recorded rough versions of 70 songs before choosing the 12 tracks that made it onto his album "Cardinology," due out Tuesday.

Mr. Adams says he's just doing his job. "Writing songs is what I do," he says. "I'm sure professional tennis players hit balls on their days off. If an oceanographer took a vacation he might paint his boat."

While some artists struggle with writer's block, others, such as Mr. Adams, seem to have an uninterrupted creative stream. Some might argue that his productivity has a downside. Over his career, some critics and music fans have taken Mr. Adams to task for not editing his work more closely. However, his latest album, "Cardinology," has been greeted with enthusiastic reviews.

Born in Jacksonville, N.C., Mr. Adams says he wrote his first song soon after he first picked up the guitar when he was a teenager. He says his fingers naturally moved to places on the guitar frets that would create patterns of sound that made sense to him.

The 33 year-old Mr. Adams writes songs that combine the unvarnished appeal of alternative rock with the warm twang of country music. He's been nominated for three Grammys, and his compositions have been recorded by such performers as Bono of U2, the Coors, and Tim McGraw. In 2007, contestant Blake Lewis sang Mr. Adams's song "When the Stars Go Blue" on the TV show "American Idol."

"Cardinology" was recorded with Mr. Adams's backing band, the Cardinals. He says the members of the group helped him winnow the numbers he had written. When he played the songs with the band, he says, "It became pretty clear which songs were worth keeping."

A resident of New York City, Mr. Adams generally writes songs by himself. Lyrics and melodies come to him at the same time. One song from the new album, "Let Us Down Easy," was based on something he heard in conversation. "I'm not just impressed by the number of songs he writes -- I'm impressed by how good they are," says Tom Schick, who produced "Cardinology," and two of Mr. Adams's previous records. Mr. Schick says creating a large number of songs is simply part of Mr. Adams's writing process. "It helps him get to the good stuff," says Mr. Schick.

Next year, Akashic Books will publish "Infinity Blues," Mr. Adams's first book. His publisher calls it a book of poetry, but Mr. Adams refuses to label the book as fiction or nonfiction because, he says, in life one can never tell what's real. One thing he says he does know for sure is that writing a book, in part because of the number of words involved, can be tougher than songwriting. "All I have to do is put a few chords together," says Mr. Adams.

» online.wsj.com

In fact, the alt-country/rock singer-songwriter is so happy with the evolution of his band, the Cardinals, over the course of five albums in the past three years that he says he'd be content if his name was dropped entirely from the packaging. "The stuff we do communally is 10 times better than the stuff I come up with," he says.

Adams may be overstating things a little, and such comments should be taken with a grain of salt from a guy who moments earlier was going off on a tangent about '80s pop metal ("Hey, if Def Leppard started a cooking school, they'd be Chef Leppard!"). But there's no question the camaraderie he shares with guitarist Neal Casal, drummer Brad Pemberton, pedal steel player Jon Graboff and bassist Chris Feinstein has helped him create one of the most focused albums of his career.

On "Cardinology," which fulfills Adams' contract with Lost Highway, the label for which he has recorded since 2000, the artist details his battles with substance abuse and his struggles to sustain relationships with remarkable clarity, best heard on the anthemic "Cobwebs," the drumless "Crossed Out Name," the harmony-rich "Natural Ghost" ("You make me feel like I'm not here/But I am/More than you think I am") and the soft, Wilco-esque ballad "Evergreen."

"We did a really great record that sounds totally like the Cardinals," Adams says with pride. "It's pretty much live on the floor. I think we did it in a really brave way. We did it raw, like we were doing a gig."

ALL GROWN UP

Adams' newfound clarity is music to the ears of Lost Highway chairman Luke Lewis. "He's acting grown-up right now," he says with a laugh. "I kind of miss the petulant child occasionally."

Adams offers an amusingly unfiltered look into his life at Cardinology.com, where he posts everything from set lists and live clips to fan mail, rants about his favorite Sonic Youth albums and corny fake hip-hop songs he wrote on the tour bus while bored.

After a Halloween show at Harlem's Apollo Theater, the band begins a short European tour November 8 in Dublin. Eleven December dates opening for Oasis in North America will close out the year, with more headlining shows on tap for February.

With "Cardinology" ready to hit the market, Lewis is somewhat wistful about the likely end of his often rocky working relationship with Adams. The pair fought frequently over how much music Adams could -- or should -- release. Through it all, though, Lewis remained the musician's "biggest fan."

"We took some pretty harsh criticism for putting out so much music, but we could have put out more," he says. (In 2009, Lost Highway will issue an Adams anthology featuring several new songs.) "As much as we've tried to accommodate him by putting out a lot of records, a major-label deal is probably a bit restrictive for Ryan. My sense is he'd be better served by being independent, and by that I mean totally independent."

Indeed, Adams is already looking past "Cardinology" and dreaming about where he and his bandmates will go next. "S--t's going to get weird and awesome," he says. "Because we're into bands like Oasis and Foo Fighters: big, monolithic rock bands who really explore all those areas. That's what Cardinals is. That's the work I want to do."

» www.reuters.com

Back in 2005, Ryan Adams was left for dead-artistically and otherwise-by fans and critics who felt that stylistic departures like Rock N Roll and Love Is Hell had squandered the goodwill engendered by his folksy 2000 debut, Heartbreaker. That year, Adams released two records, Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights, that cemented his status among naysayers as a shallow, overly prodigious pastiche artist. But for true believers, the records signaled a turning point as well as the emergence of a great new backing band, The Cardinals. The loose-limbed Cardinals relaxed and humbled Adams, drawing out his natural gifts as a melodicist and vocalist within the safe, friendly confines of a band. Last year's Easy Tiger and the new Cardinology confirm that Adams has found a creative comfort zone in The Cardinals that probably saved his career, if not his life.

Adams wanted to credit the unfortunately titled Cardinology solely to The Cardinals, which is curious considering it's the least Cardinals-like record he's made with the band. If the first half of Cardinology resembles any record in Adams' discography, it's the unfairly maligned '80s arena-rock tribute Rock N Roll, particularly on the addictively mindless radio blaster "Magick" and the U2 knock-offs "Go Easy" and "Cobwebs." Later on, Adams and The Cardinals settle into the sprawling, spaced-out country rock they're known for on the epic "Natural Ghost" and the sweetly poppy "Sink Ships," but if not for the occasional Neal Casal backing vocal or steel-guitar lick from Jon Graboff, Cardinology could easily pass for something from Adams' genre-hopping period.

Not that that's a big thing, necessarily. Even at his slightest-and Cardinology is pretty slight-Adams always turns out likeable ear candy. But Adams already proved he could make a well-behaved pop-rock record with Easy Tiger, and Cardinology feels like another self-consciously consistent, concise effort from one of the few bands that gives jamming a good name.

» www.avclub.com

» www.courier-journal.com

» men.style.com

» www.stltoday.com

The most prolific man in rock makes his return - we were getting worried about him. After all, it's been 16 months since his last album, Easy Tiger. Back in the drug-addled days of yore, that would have been enough time to release 3 or 4 records, and leak an unofficial bootleg onto a website.

Yet the former wild child is a man in his 30s now, and he seems to be benefiting from some stability. Cardinology follows very much in the vein of Easy Tiger, Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights - if slightly less sprawling and more focused than the last two albums.

Backing band the Cardinals make an official return here (they weren't credited for Easy Tiger, but were still on the record), and it's clear that they're now the perfect foil for Adams. There's no showy guitar solos, just a group of finely tuned musicians obviously having the time of their life. They give the songs here a warmth and comfort which makes the album very listenable.

Those songs are some of the strongest that Adams has written for some time. Easy Tiger gave an impression of treading water, with several songs reworked from old bootleg recordings, but on Cardinology Adams sounds like a man re-energised.

That's demonstrated on the opening salvo of songs - the easy roll of Born Into A Light with its mournful pedal string guitar is a lovely opener, but Go Easy is the first real gem. Reminiscent of Cold Roses, it's a contemplative look at a broken relationship, with Adams' voice nearly cracking on the emotional chorus of "I will always love you, so go easy on yourself".

Fix It is in a similar mould, if even better, with a glorious chorus of "it feels like losing when someone you love throws you away....I'd fix it if I could". Admittedly you could see it replacing Coldplay in an particularly poignant moment in an ITV comedy-drama, but just bask in its beauty for now.

After this blisteringly good start, Cardinology settles down into a languid country-rock groove - beautiful at times, intensely listenable and professional, but probably not breaking any new ground. Magick showcases Adams' longstanding love of U2, while Crossed Out Name is just superb: taking a familiar Adams lyrical motif of wandering round New York City on his own and creating some memorable lines ("I don't pray, I shower and say goodnight to myself") to tug at the heartstrings.

The intimate Evergreen is another highlight, although the last third of the album is dragged down a bit by too many laidback country-ish ballads. Still, the stately piano of Stop makes for a perfect closing track, presumably about addiction and recovery with lines like "I know a sickness so ancient and cross, a crucifix can never fix enough". The fragility even brings to mind Adams' finest solo album, Heartbreaker.

Widely thought to be his last album for Lost Highway, Cardinology marks the end of an era for Ryan Adams. He's spoken of moving into a Foo Fighters/Oasis direction, which would be disappointing - he's too good to just churn out stadium rock. After all, when he's on form, nobody can touch the soul as perfectly as Adams. If this does mark the end of his sometimes troubled relationship with his record label though, it's a pretty good swansong.

» www.musicomh.com

Despite his famously combative public persona, as an artist he often takes the high road, sending well wishes to those he’s left by the wayside (“Go Easy”), or more impressively, to those who’ve done the same to him. Humility hasn’t always been Adams’ strong suit, which makes it so touching when he connects with it in “Let Us Down Easy.”

The songs are built largely on a potent interplay of ringing electric and steel guitars over lock-tight bass and drums, echoing the classic rock of the Allman Brothers at times, Crazy Horse at others, with occasional swings into the pulsing modern rock of Coldplay story and U2. If that makes it sound like Adams and company aren’t pushing musical boundaries this time, it’s true, but they’ve settled into a groove that works just fine for now.

» latimesblogs.latimes.com

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals celebrated today's (Oct. 28) release of their new Lost Highway album, "Cardinology," with a surprise eight-song acoustic performance at Soho's tiny Cafe Select.

"We're going to play some music while you're having lunch," Adams joked before he, guitarist Neal Casal and drummer Brad Pemberton launched into "Born Into a Light," the first of five straight songs from "Cardinology."

At one point, Adams could be heard asking Casal, "What else is on this record? I don't have it yet," and the cafe's espresso machine was also audible during "Magick," adding to the unusual vibe.

Eventually, Adams began taking requests from the crowd, who were alerted to the gig via a posting on the fan site RyanAdamsArchive.com. He played "If I Am a Stranger" and "Cherry Lane" from his 2005 album, "Cold Roses," and wrapped the set with a rambling version of the new "Let Us Down Easy," with made-up lyrics about a waitress turning into a robot and vaporizing him with a laser.

The Cardinals will continue the celebration Friday with a show at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. And although "Cardinology" just came out today, Adams is already dreaming about where he and his bandmates will go next.

"Sh*t's going to get weird and awesome," he tells Billboard. "Because we're into bands like Oasis and Foo Fighters: big, monolithic rock bands who really explore all those areas. That's what Cardinals is. That's the work I want to do."

Here is Ryan Adams' set list:

"Born Into a Light"
"Evergreen"
"Fix It"
"Magick"
"Natural Ghost"
"If I Am a Stranger"
"Cherry Lane"
"Let Us Down Easy"

» www.billboard.com

Cardinology, the Cardinal’s latest collection of all-new studio material.

This limited edition package includes: Cardinology on Vinyl, a set of 17 Postcards from the current US tour, and a limited edition T-Shirt featuring the artwork of Leah Hayes.

This first run of Cardinology was pressed on translucent red vinyl. Leah Hayes gives an incredible aesthetic to the packaging art as well as an included Lyrics/Comic Book. Her artwork will only be used in this first vinyl pressing. This release will also include a Bonus 7" and digital download code (download US only).

» www.allmusic.com

Staggeringly prolific troubadour Ryan Adams couldn't soldier on alone forever. There was bound to come a day when his seemingly endless stream of ideas would need support, a band of crack professionals who could augment his creativity.

That day came in 2005, when Adams began assembling the Cardinals for the double-disc album Cold Roses. Since that recording, Adams and his flock of Cardinals have fashioned six albums, the latest of which, Cardinology, will hit stores Oct. 28.

"It's really refreshing to be doing it the old-school way, the way bands used to," says Cardinals guitarist Neal Casal from an Iowa tour stop. "Not to be nostalgic for the old days . . . (but) as far as a band being able to . . . thrive and continue to grow, I think making records every three or four years is really stifling. It feels great with the band to be able to flow like we have these past few years."

Last year, Adams and the Cardinals -- Casal describes it as a "formidable lineup" -- played a nearly three-hour gig at Southern Methodist University's McFarlin Auditorium.

"We do that every night. We're pretty unique in that regard, in that we have incredible endurance and stamina when it comes to performing," Casal says.

"It took this lineup to do that; it took this group of people that had this mind-set to be able to do that on a nightly basis."

Average Joes aren't the only ones slightly awed: The 39-year-old New Jersey native nonchalantly points to the Cardinals' recent stint as an opening act for Oasis.

"We noticed that their entire band would watch us from the side of the stage every night," Casal says.

"We figured the band would come out and watch its opening act a few times, but six or seven times. . . . We got to be friends with them (and) they related to us how fascinated they were with how we operate . . . (and) how we blend all these different styles of music into one. We got a lot of appreciation from those guys for that. That's when it dawned on me how special this band is."

There's also the matter of working with and alongside Adams, an often astonishing, raging torrent of songcraft and an artist, at least in his younger days, infamous for being incredibly protective of his work. Casal, befitting the member of a very talented collective, is simultaneously diplomatic and proud.

"It is a very collaborative process sonically and as far as the sound of the band," Casal says. "Very obviously, Ryan is an incredibly prolific songwriter and has no shortage of ideas. . . . It's really a matter of interpreting them and applying our unique band sound to his ideas. Once that happens, the songs grow into something he never could have envisioned before."

But it all comes back to the stage, the Cardinals' lifeblood, and Casal doesn't hesitate when asked what people should take away from the quintet's live performances.

"That we're one of the best bands in the world," he says. "I hope that they get the sense of completeness in a band and by that I mean, I hope they get a sense of all the different facets the Cardinals bring to the table. We're not a one-trick pony -- we have it all."

» www.canada.com

» www.billboard.com

» lateshow.cbs.com

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals and leading social music discovery service iLike announced that Cardinology, the band’s highly-anticipated and critically acclaimed collection of all new studio material will stream in its entirety for 48 hours exclusively on iLike beginning today (October 22), which is a week before the album’s release (on October 28).

In addition to being available on iLike.com and iLike’s leading Facebook app, Cardinology will debut through the iLike Sidebar for iTunes (www.iLike.com/download), as well as on iLike’s leading apps on Orkut, Bebo and hi5 (the biggest social networks in Latin America and Europe).

To listen to Cardinology, go to: www.iLike.com/ryanadamsandthecardinals beginning on October 22. 

» www.iLike.com

» www.amazon.com

Ryan Adams talks about music the same way he writes songs: abundantly. Sitting in his New York apartment one autumn evening, Adams — whose classic-rock-indebted new album, Cardinology, recorded with his band, the Cardinals, is out October 28th — spent three hours discussing his heroes and showed that he's been a passionate and omnivorous listener since his early teens. "Growing up," says the 33-year-old Adams, "I had a Grateful Dead Steal Your Face sticker on my skateboard next to a pentagram logo and a Danzig sticker. I couldn't differentiate."

Black Flag
"What the fuck is this shit?" Adams quipped after a friend gave him a tape of the hardcore pioneers when he was a teenager. "Soon afterward, I got my first tattoo: the Black Flag 'bars' logo on my left shoulder," he says. "For me, Black Flag represented what the Grateful Dead represented for an earlier generation. Listening to them, I had this moment where I said, 'I accept this music and this idea of fucking being yourself.'"

The Strokes' Is This It
While recovering from painful oral surgery and a bad breakup, Adams married his love of country music and the Strokes' first record: "I made a four-track recording of me covering Is This It on banjo, mandolin and pump organ. Fab [Moretti, the Strokes' drummer] begged me for a copy of it. I declined — some of it's bad, and some of it's just weird."

Emmylou Harris
Adams first heard the singer through his grandmother, who was a big fan. "[Emmylou] was one of my first crushes," says Adams. "I've always been into intellectual and artistic gals." Adams finally met Harris when she sang on his first solo CD, Heartbreaker. "I was overwhelmed by her voice and who she was," he says. "Thankfully, I managed to act low-key around her."

Sonic Youth's Sister
The band's 1987 release is the first cassette Adams bought with his own money. "When I heard this, I remember thinking, 'I have to get a guitar,'" says Adams. "I traded a skateboard and $70 for a Hondo Les Paul. I never paid the guy the entire $70. I still owe him."

Nas' Illmatic
Adams turned to this Nineties rap classic to help him weather a brutal split last year. "My ex turned me on to it," he says. "Every one of Nas' lines has some sense of hunger, survival and realism. At the time, I felt like my heart was physically damaged. Whenever I had that feeling, I would walk to Central Park listening to this."

Jerry Garcia
After falling off a stage and breaking his wrist in 2004, Adams had to readjust his guitar-playing style. "During my recovery, Jerry Garcia was a big influence, because he wasn't afraid to fuck up," he says. "There's such a playful nature to Jerry's guitar. He's a spiritual American who dove so deep into our culture."

Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade
"It's an album about leaving home, and I related because I left at, like, 17," he says. He got a big hug from Hüsker Dü frontman Bob Mould when they met this year, but another of his heroes from Minneapolis wasn't that into him. "Paul Westerberg said in an interview that someone should knock my teeth out," Adams says. "I left home because of things like that. I can't listen to his music again, ever."

Mariah Carey
Not only is Adams a huge fan of the R&B singer, he named an album after a Mariah Carey cut. "My manager called and said, 'You have 15 seconds to name this record,'" he says. "My eyes focused on this poster of Mariah wearing a T-shirt that said HEARTBREAKER. I just shouted, 'Heartbreaker!' Daydream is one of my most played records. People need to reinvestigate Glitter. I'm settled enough in my masculinity to say I don't see anything wrong with Glitter."

» www.rollingstone.com

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals will play a hometown Halloween show Oct. 31 at New York's Apollo Theatre. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Oct. 18) via Ticketmaster.

The group concludes a North American headlining tour tonight in Atlanta; as previously reported, its next Lost Highway album, "Cardinology," arrives Oct. 28. Fans who pre-order through iTunes will receive an immediate download of first single "Fix It."

A limited first red vinyl pressing of "Cardinology" will include an alternate cover and a graphic novel/lyric book by artist Leah Hayes, as well as a 7-inch single with two previously unreleased songs.

The Cardinals will tape a "Sessions @ AOL" during release week, and will perform Oct. 29 on "The Late Show With David Letterman."

Adams tells Billboard he feels more comfortable than ever with the Cardinals, who are rounded out by Neal Casal, Brad Pemberton, Jon Graboff and Chris Feinstein. The group has re-learned "40 to 50" songs from Adams' back catalog for potential inclusion in the live shows.

"I do feel like we're celebrating an old song by making it new with the Cardinals," he says. "But also what we're doing is saying, hey, here's the song Joe wanted to hear. Say goodbye! There's no chains on the machine now. We're going to kick it out and it's going to be louder and more rock, and much more sophisticated than anybody probably expects."

The Cardinals begin a short European tour Nov. 8 in Dublin, followed by 11 December dates opening for Oasis in North America.

» www.billboard.com

» www.tuscaloosanews.com