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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Jacksonville City Nights
by Ryan Adams


7.9

based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 46 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

Norah Jones guests on the second (and most straight-ahead country) of a planned three 2005 releases for Adams, who is once again backed by The Cardinals. Tom Schic produced.

LABEL:	Lost Highway
RELEASE DATE:	27 September 2005
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Alt-Country, Rock

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Spin

This completely non-shitty '70s-Nashville country record reminds you why Adams was once a big deal. [Nov 2005, p.101]

Q Magazine

Where Cold Roses was dense, narcotic rock... this is a country album in the tradition of Neil Young's Harvest and, notably, Grievous Angel by Gram Parsons. [Nov 2005, p.122]

Uncut

Musically at least, [Jacksonville] confirms Adams' restoration to rude health. [Oct 2005, p.106]

All Music Guide

Jacksonville City Nights still ranks as one of Adams' stronger albums, not just because he's returning to his rootsy roots -- after all, this isn't alt-country, this is pure country -- but because it maintains a consistent mood, is tightly edited and well sequenced, and thanks to the Cardinals, has the easy assurance of Cold Roses

ShakingThrough.net

There aren’t as many memorable cuts as on Adams' stellar solo debut, Heartbreaker, but Jacksonville City Nights reveals an older, more seasoned performer.

Pitchfork

Jacksonville City Nights is a well-lit snapshot of a talented mythmaker modeling his best honky-tonk garb-- and this time, holy shtick, the tailoring is almost impeccable.

cokemachineglow

There’s a lot of filler here, even for Ryan.

Amazon.com

His most straightforward country music to date.

Paste Magazine

For the most part, Jacksonville City Nights is well paced, with enough uptempo songs spread throughout to balance the sluggish, pensive balladry that bogged down the too-long Cold Roses.

Rolling Stone

An unadulterated return to form.

Tiny Mix Tapes

As with most Adams records, the fact that some of the songs made the cut is perplexing.

New Musical Express

Adams could clearly make use of an editor here--but you can't possibly hate an album that uses pedal-steel on every track. [24 Sep 2005, p.43]

Prefix Magazine

Perhaps Adams is just earning cheap sympathy with his strained, tour-weary voice, or maybe it’s just too thrilling to hear him revisit Gram, but Jacksonville City Lights does seem to come by its sound honestly.

Blender

It's the sound of a New Yorker coming home for a breath of country air. [Nov 2005, p.130]

PopMatters

Adams still hasn't made the solo record that everyone feels he's capable of, but Jacksonville City Nights ranks with his most solid records.

Entertainment Weekly

Somebody tell this man to take a vacation. [30 Sep 2005, p.94]

Mojo

Frustratingly, Adams' insistence on releasing his every whim means that for each wonderful My Heart Is Broken or Pa, there's a rather ordinary The Hardest Part, dreary Silver Bullets or simply stinking Dear John. [Oct 2005, p.112]

The average user rating for this album is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 46 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dusty G gave it a10:
Perfect example of mult-genre talent. Perfect voice that puts the album over the top. It does what all good art should do, makes your self reflect. Through the good and the bad. The perfect stepping stone after cold roses. It makes sense.

reid f gave it a10:
my favorite ryan adams CD to date. Beautiful song after beautiful song.... but it does take time for it to mature in your head. Just apply a little patience.

Matt gave it a4:
Really disappointing record. After hearing "A Kiss Before I Go" live, I was excited for this record. Turns out the studio version of this track is frustratingly tame and the rest of the tracks lack creativity and heart. Cold Roses blows this album away, and this was after hearing Nights first.

Jason H gave it a10:
Toby Keith blows.

Hingus H gave it a0:
I agree with the Toby Keith without any (ANY) talent. This record is a real stinker. P-U!!!!

Real C gave it a9:
A difficult album to listen to without lyrics before you, but after the first shaky performance, one comes to appreciate just how beautiful songs like "September" and "Dear John" can be. The upbeat songs, like "The Hardest Part", to my mind, only keep you listening through the difficult moments of this record. All in all, this record's form, style and cohesion are better than anything since Heartbreaker- although I happened to love Cold Roses.

Dan S gave it an8:
There are many beautiful tracks on this record. I don't understand why so many people are hung up on the fact that not all the songs are brilliant. I'll take all the Ryan Adams tracks I can get my hands on. Even his weakest stuff is far and above a lot of the garbage out there today. Mainstream musicians have become spoiled with their one album every couple of years. Back in the 50' s and 60's it was standard to put out a couple albums a year. It's good to see a musician with Adams work ethic for a change.

Jacksonville City Nights by Ryan Adams

Jacksonville City Nights
by Ryan Adams