These albums "elevate his art form to a whole new stratosphere"

Ryan Adams has announced that he will once again release three albums this year – starting with ‘Big Colors’ and ‘Wednesdays’. Check out the release date and tracklists below.

The ever-prolific singer-songwriter released his acclaimed 17th studio album ‘Prisoner‘ back in 2017. The last time he released three albums in a year was back in 2005 when he dropped the favourites ‘Cold Roses’, ‘Jacksonville City Nights’, and ’29’. Now, after teasing that he had a lot of new material in the bag, Adams looks set to go for another hat-trick of releases.

“Remember that year when I released three records?” he wrote on Twitter late last night, along with a photo of his Pax-Am studios. “Let’s do it again.”

He also shared the artwork for the first of the new records, ‘Big Colors’, along with some studio footage. Meanwhile, CBS’ Anthony Mason shared the artwork and tracklist for the second, ‘Wednesdays’.

As revealed in The Washington Post‘s Power Up newsletter, ‘Big Colors’ has been produced by Adams along with Beatriz Artola and Don Was and will be released on April 19.

“I wish everyone could witness the awe-inspiring sight of Ryan Adams recording in the studio… the endless flow of brilliant ideas is mind blowing and he’s clearly tapped into the deepest reaches of the Creative Ether,” Was told Power Up, reports Pitchfork. “His forthcoming album(s) elevate his art form to a whole new stratosphere and it’s an honor and a thrill for all of us at Blue Note Records to work with him. Oh yeah… one other thing: He’s the most underrated guitarist in rock’n’roll.”

As claimed by CBS’ Anthony Mason above, the second record features Emmylou Harris, Jason Isbell, and Benmont Tench. A release date has not yet been set.

The tracklist for ‘Big Colors’ is:

1. Big Colors
2. Do Not Disturb
3. It’s So Quiet, It’s Loud
4. (Expletive) the Rain
5. Doylestown Girl
6. Dreaming You Backwards
7. I Surrender
8. What Am I
9. Power
10. Showtime
11. In It for the Pleasure
12. Middle of the Line
13. I’m Sorry and I Love You
14. Manchester
15. Summer Rain

The tracklist for ‘Wednesdays’ is:

1. Walk in the Dark
2. Who Is Gonna Love Me Now, If Not You
3. So Anyways
4. Wednesdays
5. Lost in Time
6. It’s Not That Kind of Night
7. Somewhere It Is Spring
8. Poison & Pain
9. Nobody Wins
10. Momma
11. When You Cross Over
12. Birmingham
13. Like a Heatwave
14. Red & Orange Special
15. Magic Trick
16. Pennsylvania Moon
17. Take Me Home

Last year, the alt-folk legend told fans that he had several albums ready to release, including the long-lost record ‘Blackhole’.

“I wrote this album,” he wrote alongside the sleeve for solo debut ‘Heartbreaker’. “I have 17 new songs. I have 4 records on a shelf. Does anyone want to hear ‘Prisoner’ 2 & 3, ‘Black Hole’? ‘Live at Capitol Theater w @stringdusters’, ‘Exile On Main Street’ cover live & rehearsal?”

He continued: “I’m just asking to see if maybe I’m crazy & no one does.” The two live albums he mentioned in the message referred to a show recorded in Port Chester, New York in July 2016 with The Infamous Stringdusters, and his Rolling Stones tribute from New Orleans Jazz Fest last month respectively.

‘Black Hole’, meanwhile, dates back to over a decade ago. Adams reportedly considered releasing it to celebrate Record Store Day in 2015, but it has remained unreleased. Speaking to NME in 2014, he revealed that he had different versions of the record.

“There’s one where the vocals and the performances are really fucked up,” he said. “Then there’s a second version, which was the last thing I did when I was still messed up. Bits and pieces of that had to be stitched together to make the final product, like a patchwork quilt, because some of its vocal takes are too fucked up to release.”