Ryan Adams
EXILE ON MERYL STREEP
Ryan Adams
I WAS HERE (2022)
---Side 1
Rollercoaster
In the Blue of the Night
Nightmare* [DRA 2023 IG post]
Throw It Away+ [Self Portrait]
Poor Connection
Run
---Side 2
I Was Here
Manhattan in the Rain
Thunderstorm Tears+ (f.k.a. "Who is Gonna Save Me Now") [Self Portrait]
Nuclear War
Blizzard in the Room
---Side 3
Don't Follow* [CHRIS bonus track]
Earthquake
Hold Me Together
Losers
They Will Know Our Love
---Side 4
Pacific Line* [DRA 2021 IG post]
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| Songs taken from Romeo & Juliet and Sword and Stone; "Nightmare", and "Pacific Line" have been streamed on RA's IG stream 2021-23. The latter is easily found on YouTube. |
The long awaited final installment of the projected 2019 trilogy with the original Big Colors and Wednesdays albums. As we know, history did not unfold as it originally was intended to be by the music's author. Both aforementioned albums were belatedly release in opposite order (December 2020 and July 2021, respectively) with different artwork and tracklists. The original CHRIS album has been described by RA as 'Cold Roses style tunes his late brother, Chris loved'---also as 'inauthentic' or something similar to paraphrase--as justification for scrapping the planned 18-song double LP and 're-doing it'. The end result is suspiciously sounding like the previously 'aborted' Prisoner 2/3 double LP that RA teased in 2018 (in the same paragraph promising the finished version of Blackhole; as well as a couple live albums-- Live at The Capitol Theatre with The Stringdusters and Exile on Meryl Streep).
Most of the songs indeed can be traced back to the eighty or so songs reportedly recorded from the 2014-16 sessions for Prisoner. However, we have enough songs from the July 2018 session (and tracks most likely done at Pax-Am leftover from the sessions for s/t and Prisoner) to make an album that clocks in around 65 minutes---plus, the 17-minute "Pacific Line" (from the April 2019 session with The Wolf Bros.) taking up a whole side on the second LP, like Dylan's Blonde on Blonde.
I've also created an album for L.A. Rain Music using tracks from FM and Romeo & Juliet; the remaining tracks on the former (recorded with The Shining at Pax-Am during 2013-14 and later scrapped) can be put aside to go on their own album with the non-Prisoner tracks on CHRIS ("Aching For More", "Flicker and Fade", "Schizophrenic Babylon"; "Lookout"; "Chris").
Several more tracks from these sessions would appear on RA's Devolver digital LP release in late Sept. 2022 (released for FREE to celebrate one year of his sobriety). Congratulations to him!
Ryan Adams
ROMEO & JULIET (2022)
I Can't Remember
Free Yourself+ [Devolver]
Lovers Under the Moon+ [Self Portrait]
Something's Missing
Romeo & Juliet
Desperate Times
This Is Your House
Bye Bye Balloons+ [Self Portrait]
What is Left+ (n.k.a. "Theo") [Self Portrait]
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RA recorded several new tracks following his stepping back from old habits and beginning work on a proposed double album (' with a "Thank You Louise" similar production style') for 2022. New tracks on here include "At Home with the Animals", "Desperate Times", "Something's Missing", "Theo is Dreaming", "This Is Your House", "I Can't Remember", and the title track (source from RA's IG postings from the time). Other songs were recorded as well with a darker humorous tone including "Saturday Night Forever", "What is Left" and "My Life Before the War"--the latter which has recently been fleshed out as the Jan 2023 demo, "Brighter Than Heaven" (a.k.a. "Shut the Fuck Up"); streaming on RA's Instagram.
I originally included three songs he recorded last year as part of a 'side-writing' experiment to respond to songs from his album, Heartbreaker (two of those songs were released in 2025 on Self Portrait). RA also attempted re-recording songs from Gold in Sept. 2021 with a drummer friend (Matt Tecu) in a more raw stripped-down style (before taking a 'break' from streaming on 23 September).
Ryan Adams
DEVOLVER (2022)
- Don't Give It Away
- Stare at the TV
- Alien USA
- Banging on My Head
- Marquee
- Eyes on the Door
- Too Bored to Run
- Get Away
- I'm in Love with You
- Why Do You Hate Me
- Love Me Don't+ [FM]
- Flicker in the Fade [CHRIS]
- Schizophrenic Babylon [CHRIS]
- Burn in the Night ["Burn in the Night" 7-inch]
- Do You Feel+ [FM]
- Fantasy File+ [FM]
- Revelations
- On My Life+ ["Burn in the Night" 7-inch]
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 |
| Demos for a double album concept that never came to be. The band at this point consisted of RA, original drummer, Brad Pemberton, singer-guitarist Chris Stills, bassist and producer Don Was, and keyboardist Daniel Clarke (from The Shining). Ryan posted on social media about "having written the next Cardinals double in Paris"---as well as titles like 'Summer in America'. Ryan began sharing unreleased songs on his IG like "Mercy" and "I Can See the Light" and speaking on releasing more Cardinals albums from the vault (getting the hype up only to not deliver). There was also talk of the ALIVE trilogy---capturing performances from the band's 2023 tour that would have included new songs along with some covers-- and new arrangements of the older Cardinals songs. After RA 'took ill' on the tour, the rest of it was cancelled along with ALIVE, vol. 2 and 3--and any more talk of the band, period. |
Ryan Adams and The Cardinals
MkIII DEMOS (2023)
- Mirror Man
- Miracle
- Starcrossed
- Lover, I'll Try
- Love Sick (Bob Dylan cover)
- ?
RYAN ADAMS
Born in the H.O.S.P.I.T.A.L. (2024)
- Blown Away [Sword and Stone]
- Virginia in the Rain [Self Portrait]
- Self-Defense [Star Sign]
- Never Run [Sword and Stone]
- Be Wrong [Star Sign]
- I Lost My Place [Star Sign]
- Lies [Heatwave]
- Mercy [Heatwave]
- I'm Sorry [Heatwave]
- Why [Heatwave]
- Angel [Heatwave]
- Too Late [Heatwave]
- I Can See the Light [Sword and Stone]
- At Dawn [Self Portrait]
Compilation of 2024-25 albums
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Released on 31 Nov. 2025
2xLP compilation of unreleased demos and a few covers
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RYAN ADAMS
Self Portrait (2024)
01. Too Old to Die Young
02. I Am a Rollercoaster
03. Castles in the Sand
04. Saturday Night Forever
05. Counting to Zero* [2021 IG demo]
06. Look What You Did
07. Amethyst* [2024 IG demo]
08. Please, Shut the Fuck Up (previously recorded as "The Crystal Skull")
09. Stormy Weather
10. I Am Dracula
11. Clown* [2024 IG demo]
12. Trash Man* [2024 IG demo]
13. Try Again Tomorrow
Ryan's latest 'dump' of songs left sitting in a folder on his computer. Twenty-four tracks that are basically leftovers from Romeo and Juliet and the 'side-writing experiment / writing answer songs' to Heartbreaker---along with "Not Trash Anymore" (Alien USA demo); "Someone on My Mind" (Cardinology demo); "Take the Money", "Thunderstorm Tears" (2018 ELS session); "Fool's Game" (Wednesdays demo);"Throw It Away", "At Dawn", and "Virginia in the Rain" (Big Colors demos) and more cover songs ("The One I Love" and "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M. / "Honky Tonk Girl" by Loretta Lynn / "Blue Monday" by New Order).
Other songs initially teased for the compilation include, "Trash Man", "Clown", "Amethyst", "Take Me Home", and "Lonely is As Lonely Does"---where is the rest of the 2018 ELS sessions??
1985:- Most of these tracks are likely from sessions for "1984," "1985" and any of the other '80s hardcore EPs he's worked on.
- “Down the Drain” was one of twelve “Diary Songs” Ryan posted to Instagram back in 2021; short songs (most of them less than a minute) that delved into some of the issues that he was dealing with mentally at the time.
- “Stoned Alone” was originally issued as a b-side to the 2015 Pax-Am 7” No Shadow. However, this version is much more fleshed out and fully-realized, and feels like it was recorded during another session (same can be said for "On a Side").
Heatwave:
- “Mercy” was originally a Cardinology-era demo (a snippet of which Ryan posted to his website) that was then re-recorded during the L.A. Rain Music sessions in 2018 (and is the version found here).
- “The Blue Canoe” was recorded during the Tom Schick “Cold Roses’ evil twin” sessions and originally released as a digital bonus track for III/IV back in 2010.
- The other songs here could have come from any of the following sessions: the Tom Schick “Cold Roses’ evil twin” sessions; the original Prisoner sessions from early 2014 that produced "Do You Still Love Me?" and "Love Me Don't," "Fantasy File" and "Do You Feel" from FM; sessions for "1984," "1985" and any of the other '80s hardcore EPs he's worked on ("Lies" comes to mind here); and maybe as early as the Rock N Roll and Stratosphere Studios sessions (which would make those tracks by far the earliest he's released since his post-2019 output). It's also possible that some of these could be relatively recent home recordings, as well.
Star Sign:- “Self-Defense” was originally thought to be “Nobody Wins,” the outtake that was originally set to appear on Wednesdays and was posted to Ryan’s Instagram back in 2023. Most likely from the Jamie Candiloro sessions.
- “So Lost” is a song that was originally given away in December 2010 to Pax-Am subscribers in two versions; a version recorded during the Tom Schick “Cold Roses’ evil twin” sessions, and a version labeled as a “Dirty Power demo” version. This is a slightly re-worked version of the Dirty Power demo version.
- “Darkness” was also recorded during the Tom Schick “Cold Roses’ evil twin” sessions and originally released as a digital bonus track for III/IV back in 2010. This song is also slightly reworked, mostly adding strings that Ryan says were recorded in London in April of 2023.
- This version of “Shinin’ Through the Dark” --- the live sounding take was likely recorded during sessions for Ashes & Fire---based on the arrangement. There was also a solo demo version released on a 2011 various artists compilation, Live From Nowhere Near You, Vol. II.
- “Be Wrong” was likely recorded during the Jamie Candiloro sessions.
- “Tomorrow Never Comes” was also likely recorded during the Jamie Candiloro sessions, and it made its debut during one of RA's solo acoustic IG performances from the summer of 2021 (where it was called “Elm Street”). A different mix with a different vocal track (perhaps even a different version altogether?) was released on the cassette release of FM as a bonus track.
- “Speeding Car” also made its debut during one of RA's solo acoustic IG performances from the summer of 2021, where he says this was an Ashes & Fire-era demo. It was likely also recorded during the Jamie Candiloro sessions, with strings also potentially recorded during the April 2023 session in London.
- This is the third version of Star Sign Ryan has released, and likely comes from either the Tom Schick “Cold Roses’ evil twin” sessions or the “Dirty Power” demo session. This song was also released as an iTunes bonus track for Ashes & Fire (in a version from that album’s session) and as a Pax-Am 7” release (in a version from the Jamie Candiloro sessions)
- “Stay Alive” was written for the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and was recorded by Jose Gonzalez for its soundtrack. This version has some similarities to the soundtrack version in its arrangement, and therefore could be the same basic track that was used for the soundtrack version.
Sword and Stone: 
- “I Was Here,” “Manhattan in the Rain,” and “Blizzard in the Room” were all recorded during the Summer of ‘69 sessions.
- “Sword and Stone” was originally recorded during the L.A. Rain Music sessions.
- “Nuclear War” and “I Can See the Light” were recorded during the Alien USA sessions. “I Can See the Light” was also used in a video to promote the Cardinals 2023 reunion tour.
- “I’ll Wait” was originally recorded during the Prisoner sessions.
Ryan Adams recorded a trilogy of cover albums starting with Nebraska and Blood on The Tracks (by Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, respectively). He released a re-make of the 1995 Oasis classic album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory. Covers of the Sex Pistols' one and done classic, Never Mind the Bollocks were also streaming on his IG that spring.
He did a 'comeback' solo tour performing three-hour shows in North America and Europe (recorded by producer Don Was for the live album release, Return to Carnegie Hall). Following that, RA and drummer Brad Pemberton reformed The Cardinals *(with the noted absence of the late Neal Casal and Chris Feinsten, R.I.P.---plus Graboff's pedal steel can't be replaced) for a tour and live album. A 'new' Cardinals single, "Dreams of the Working Class" was released to streaming services.
In 2024, he released six more studio albums from the vaults (including Blackhole) with others teased for later release including Darkbreaker; Haywire (2013 Glyn Johns sessions); Cardinology 2/3; 4-Track Mind Sessions; JCN Demos (featuring the original Cardinals line-up); and Exile on Mainstream (2018 Rolling Stones live tribute). As of 2025, still nothing.
Outside of a couple songs I liked better now--the Heartbreaker '25 version was a misfire for my ears. Along with Heatwave, Sword and Stone, 1985, Prisoners Live, Another Wednesday, Blackhole, and Changes (the 'live covers with strings' double album).
The 2025 release of Self Portrait gives us at least "Fool's Game", "Take the Money" and "Virginia in the Rain" from the 'Big Colors / Wednesdays / original CHRIS' trilogy album sessions from 2018-19. Where the other album or two of songs from that project still remains missing. He's definitely scraping the bottom of the ol' barrel with this one. It was supposedly going to be a triple album, itself. I feel at this point, someone else will be taking care of his back catalogue in the near future---but who knows, really.
Better luck, next time?
Cheers!
-Smash Addams.
This page is only possible to be as informative as possible because of good folks who are willing to contribute (off the record---though credit will always be given upon request). We don't want a repeat of 2005...Rob from tobeyoung.org (one of the O.G. Ryan sites along with AnsweringBell.org--to name another off the top of me head) went through some bullshit legal snafu trying to share some sweet tracks that were about to be released (Jacksonville City Nights). I'm not going out like that! Just a music lover who also makes music and find Ryan's prolific songwriting ability great inspiration and a high watermark for what an artist could aspire to be. That being said; feel free to reach out to me at the posted email for any questions. Always interested in discussing trading; info; various ramblings and speculations; etc.
I'm not selling anything or wishing to harm the artist's musical plans / vision. Ryan's continued health, well-being and of course, the success he has achieved is not a thing we wish to undermine. We just want to hear the music...and there's a LOT of it collecting digital dust, yeah?
Here's to the future.
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