Whiskeytown Strangers Almanac: Deluxe Edition on Two Slabs Of Audiophile Quality 180 Gram Vinyl With 4 Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks

Whiskeytown, a highly acclaimed founding band of the alt-country/No Depression scene, launched the solo career of four-time Grammy®-nominated singer-songwriter-guitarist Ryan Adams as well as that of fiddler-singer-songwriter Caitlin Cary. Now the group’s 1997 major label debut album, an overlooked gem from a band considered one of the genre’s most promising, is being released for the first time ever on vinyl.

1997's Strangers Almanac was Whiskeytown's major-label debut and the album that first introduced Ryan Adams to a wide audience, but at the same time it marked the beginning of the end for the group. When Whiskeytown went into the studio to record Strangers Almanac, the band had undergone the first of what would become a long line of personnel shakeups, and in addition to Ryan Adams, the only proper members of the group on hand for the sessions were violinist and vocalist Caitlin Cary and guitarist Phil Wandscher; session musicians filled out the lineup, while the new rhythm section, Jeff Rice (bass) and Steve Terry (drums), was hired only two weeks before recording began. Despite its chaotic creation, Strangers Almanac sounds stronger and more cohesive than its ragged but forceful indie predecessor, Faithless Street, and there's a deeper resonance in Ryan Adams' tales of wasted nights and wasted lives, such as "Inn Town," "Losering," and "Dancing with the Women at the Bar." Strangers Almanac doesn't rock as hard as Whiskeytown's earlier material, but when the guitars kick into high gear on "Yesterday's News" and "Waiting to Derail," it reveals just how good a match Ryan Adams and Wandscher were, and "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight" and "16 Days" are as strong and moving as their country gestures got. Strangers Almanac captures Whiskeytown when they still had some business calling themselves a band rather than just Ryan Adams' backing musicians, and the glorious world-weariness of its best moments makes it a far more satisfying listen than most of what would follow once Ryan Adams struck out on his own.

Whiskeytown Strangers Almanac: Deluxe Edition Track Listing

1. Inn Town
2. Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight
3. Yesterday’s News
4. 16 Days
5. Everything I Do
6. Houses on the Hill
7. Turn Around
8. Dancing with the Women at the Bar
9. Waiting to Derail
10. Avenues
11. Losering
12. Somebody Remembers the Rose
13. Not Home Anymore

Live in the Studio Radio Performances September 1997 Houses on the Hill*
14. Nurse with the Pills*
15. I Don’t Care What You Think About Me*
16. Somebody Remembers the Rose*
17. Turn Around*

*previously unreleased