Q
 
Whiskeytown
Pneumonia
by John Harris
  
Third album from rootsy North Carolina group, fronted by freshly launched solo artist Ryan Adams.
Ryan Adams released Heartbreaker, his inaugural solo album, last year-and was duly drenched in justified praise. It's some token of his talent, then, that alt.country's fastest rising star could also stuff his band's new album with songs that breathe the same rarefied air as his solo material. Pneumonia brings to mind such a disparate references as The Band (Ballad of Carol Lynn), Cole Porter (Paper Moon), and even a Deep Southern take on the breezy wistfulness once peddled by Prefab Sprout (Don't Be Sad). Underpinning everything is Adams's honey-and smoke voice, and his talent for tugging at the heart-strings: this man, it transpires, is so accomplished that he can deliver a song entitled "Sit & Listen To The Rain" and easily get away with it. ****

 
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