Strangers Almanac

Whiskeytown: David Ryan Adams (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, piano, percussion); Phil Wandscher (vocals, electric guitar, organ, percussion); Caitlin Cary (vocals, violin); Jeff Rice (bass); Steven Terry (vocals, drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Alejandro Escovedo (vocals); Rick Latina (pedal steel guitar); Greg Leisz (pedal & lap steel guitars, mandolin); John Ginty (piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond B-3 organ, church keys); Kurt Bisquera, Jim Scott (percussion).
The Pocket Horns: Dan Navarro (trumpet); Crecencio Gonzalez (trombone).
Recorded at Woodland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee and Ocean Way Studios, Hollywood, California.
Issued 11 years after STRANGERS ALMANAC's 1997 release, this two-disc deluxe edition features a bevy of Whiskeytown bonus tracks. In addition to live performances and studio sessions, the expanded ALMANAC presents the haunting "Wither, I'm a Flower" from HOPE FLOATS and the spare, twangy "Theme for a Trucker" from END OF VIOLENCE, both of which showcase singer-songwriter Ryan Adams's moody sensibilities.
STRANGERS ALMANAC was Whiskeytown's penultimate album. The band is still steeped in the sounds of country and Gram Parsons-inspired country-rock here, but one can hear the music moving toward the pop of their final effort PNEUMONIA. Everything still centers around the voice and excellent songwriting of Ryan Adams (who was still only 22 at the time of this album's release).
The song "16 Days," for example, with its breezy, open-road, country vibe and the lovely interlocking harmonies between Adams and violinist Caitlin Cary, was released as a single, and rightfully so. There is also the beautiful, melancholic weeper "Dancing With the Women at the Bar," and a revisitiation of "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight," which appeared on the band's debut. Adams's talent shines so brightly here, in fact, that it is little wonder he would soon be pursuing a solo career (the internal tensions in the band would hasten its dissolution as well), but STRANGERS ALMANAC captures this fine, short-lived, alt-country band in full effect.