About

A stone cold classic. The sine qua non of Ryan's albums. Where promise met execution head on.

As life piles on the weirdness and hardships, this album gets nothing but better.

Heartbreaker is a near perfect record, the kind that never gets dated, with songs that slowly work themselves into our subconscious musical heritage. It's also our best seller ever.

Upon its release in 2000, it was IMMEDIATELY apparent that Ryan had taken a momentous leap forward with his songwriting and songcraft, abilities that had been merely hinted at in his days with Whiskeytown. For such a fully formed, confident set of songs to come out of nowhere, with their easy amalgam of country and rock stylings, seemed impossible. Heartbreaker almost single handedly re-defined what was possible for roots music and moved in firmly into the mainstream without a whiff of compromised quality.

This raggedy folk-punk confessional, with its stripped down band and sparse arrangements combine to create a record full of soul-baring songs. Get yourself together because Ryan climbs all over your emotions with these tunes of desperation, loss and hope. It's a record you'll want to put on late at night when you're too drunk to fall asleep, but too sober to face staying awake.

Features some hefty guest appearances from Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Kim Richey. – Press Release

“Heartbreaker shows Ryan Adams sweeping all of the clichés of mass- produced, "new country" under the rug and tapping into everything that makes genuine country music unique and beautiful: raw emotion, deep groove and clever storytelling. There are no simple, melodramatic, commercial-ready ballads here; the music is too deeply rooted in old-school country music, folk-rock songs and bluegrass jams to produce anything that predictable. With that musical philosophy firmly in place, it stands to reason that each track on the album is a gem, showcasing Adams' considerable songwriting ability and a way with words that most musicians would sell their spines to possess.” – Pitchfork

“Adams’ ramshackle confidence still amazes, belying the fact that it was his first solo shot. He proved right off the bat that he could find that sweet spot between Bob Dylan’s brattiness (“To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High”) and Gram Parsons’ tenderness (“My Sweet Carolina.”) It’s also interesting to hear Adams at a time when he didn’t narrowcast his albums; Heartbreaker finds room for departures like the Elliott Smith-like intensity of “Amy” and the wild rumble “Shakedown On 9th Street.”” – American Songwriter

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