Whiskeytown - Forever Valentine (1997)

After performing punk rock with a band called The Patty Duke Syndrome, Ryan Adams founded Whiskeytown in 1994 in Raleigh, North Carolina, with the music of country-rock artist Gram Parsons serving as his inspiration. The band initially consisted of Adams, violinist Caitlin Cary, drummer Eric "Skillet" Gilmore, bassist Steve Grothmann and guitarist Phil Wandscher, and after signing to Mood Food Records, they released their debut album, 'Faithless Street', in 1995, establishing the group as one of the genre's leaders, thanks to glowing reviews in publications such as No Depression, This helped the band score a major-label record deal with the Geffen Records imprint Outpost, who re-released 'Faithless Street' in 1998 with nearly a dozen bonus tracks from the era, including previously unreleased tracks, and songs that had been released on earlier albums and EPs. One track, 'Oklahoma', was removed, and Adams claimed that the reason for the re-release was the muddy sound of the original version, and his distaste for 'Oklahoma', which was added to the album despite his objections. Whiskeytown's 1997 major-label debut, 'Strangers Almanac', helped to establish Adams' reputation as a songwriter, but in the midst of the album's recording, Gilmore and Grothman left, with Wandscher following soon after the album's release. 

The band cycled through numerous members throughout the next year, including Jeff Rice and Steven Terry, both of whom were involved in the recording of 'Strangers Almanac' but left later that year. Despite the band's internal strife, '...Almanac' was a successful album with critics, with the tracks '16 Days' and the Replacements-esque 'Yesterday's News' receiving significant radio play, and Rolling Stone magazine praised them as the Nirvana of alternative country. During the tour to promote the album most of the band was fired or quit at a concert in Kansas City, with the only people who started and finished the tour being Adams, Caitlin Cary, and tour manager Thomas O'Keefe. The band managed to add a new core member in multi-instrumentalist Mike Daly, who contributed significantly to the band's sound. This new line-up quickly recorded an album without their record label knowing about it, since it fell outside of the terms of their contract at that time. 

Produced by Chris Stamey, it also featured his his bass-playing, alongside Ben Folds on piano and ex-Firehose member Ed Crawford on guitar, 'Forever Valentine' was recorded between their 'Strangers Almanac' and 'Pneumonia' albums, and music critic Steven Hyden of Grantland ranked it with Adams's best Whiskeytown material. Work then began on their third album, 'Pneumonia', but possibly because of the band's constantly changing dynamic, the traditional country was largely replaced with a more sophisticated country-rooted pop sound, very similar to Wilco's 1999 album 'Summerteeth'. Despite the album's completion and Whiskeytown's sizable fanbase, Outpost Records closed during the merger between Polygram and Universal, and as a result the album stayed in limbo for nearly two years, effectively ending the band. Lost Highway Records, the roots-minded label imprint of Universal Music, picked up the album after signing Adams, following the recording of his highly acclaimed debut solo record 'Heartbreaker' on indie label Bloodshot Records, and they released 'Pneumonia' in May 2001. 'Forever Valentine' remains one of Ryan Adams's great lost albums, and so here it is so that you can hear what could have been Whiskeytown's official third record. 

Track listing

01 Anyone But Me 
02 Don't Wanna Know Why
03 Easy Hearts
04 Sittin' Around
05 Rays Of Burning Light 
06 Ghost Without Memory
07 Runnin' Out Of Road
08 Can't Take A Lover
09 I Don't Care What You Think About Me
10 Crazy Lonesome (A Memory Away)
11 Caroline