Though Ryan Adams has form for covering artist's songs live and on record, until now Taylor Swift's 1989 is the only time he's covered an album in full. But that's about to change; he's covered the whole of Bruce Springsteen's 1982 record Nebraska.
It's clearly been a huge influence on Adams' work. Springsteen's sixth album saw him working solo with a four-track record with astonishing results; it's rightly regarded as one of his finest works, and indeed a classic in the canon of Americana. Now Adams has decided to release his take on it as a free download on his
Pax-Am Records store here.
"Here’s a rough mix of the title track of Nebraska," Adams wrote on Instagram with a stream of his recording of Nebraska's haunting title track.
"I’ll be emailing you the whole thing as an early Xmas present for free in a day or two. What a special album that taught me so much about songwriting. Go listen to the original if you haven’t, you’ll love it forever.
"Many surprises to come. Thanks for being on this ride with me. It means the world. I’m very Thankful for you all."
The songwriter has since updated fans on Instagram that he's planning to record the last few songs for his version of Nebraska on the last leg of his tour – including a date in the city of Omaha, Nebraska on Tuesday 29 November.
"Thank you for your patience waiting on Nebraska," wrote Adams. "I’ve decided the last few tracks should be recorded live on this last leg – most likely in Omaha as it should be."
It's not even the first free album Adams has put out this year – back in September he gave away his 22nd studio album Devolver via his website. It's part of a particularly prolific year for the songwriter that has also seen the release of albums FM, Chris and Romeo & Juliet. And the latter two were double albums.
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