Indie
Listen: Ryan Adams announces new album Animal to mark 52nd birthday and unveils single Amethyst
Ryan Adams has announced his new album Animal, a 10-track record due in February 2027 and led by the first single Amethyst.
Ryan Adams has announced his new album Animal on his 52nd birthday.
The seven-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter will release the 10-track record on February 12, 2027 through his own PAX-AM label, with lead single Amethyst available to listen to now.
Animal is available to pre-save and pre-order on vinyl, CD and digital formats, with exclusive vinyl variants and bundles also planned through Adams' official website.
The record is an almost entirely solo affair, with Adams writing all 10 songs and playing drums, bass, guitars, piano, synths, percussion and harmonica himself.
He produced and mixed the album with Dror Mohar, who also engineered the sessions, while Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound handled the mastering.
The only other musicians appearing on the record are long-time friend Daniel Clarke, who contributes synths to Jesus Christ, Animal and Jesus H, as well as Hammond B3 on Soon, and J.C. Khul, whose saxophone features on the coda of the latter track.
Describing the record, Adams' team says Animal is "the sound of Adams alone in the room", with the album's songs unfolding against a backdrop of bar lights, neon, wet streets, a car travelling along California's 101 freeway and snow at the end of the block.
The tracks move between bruised humour, longing and rock 'n' roll.
Amethyst is a bruised, funny and defiant look at the music business, ageing and survival, with Adams ending the song by describing himself as "the ghost in the attic ... the color of driftwood and amethyst".
Jesus H combines humour with horror-film imagery, while Pass Me By and Automatic Heart explore more straightforward themes of longing and relationships.
The title track provides a more full-throttle rock moment, while the album closes with Outsiders In, a cold, wintry song which considers what a prayer is worth "if you just break even".
Born David Ryan Adams in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in 1974, Adams began playing punk music as a teenager before co-founding alt-country band Whiskeytown in Raleigh in 1994.
The group released three albums, Faithless Street, Strangers Almanac and Pneumonia, and became one of the defining acts of the alt-country movement.
Adams launched his solo career with Heartbreaker in 2000, a record which remains a key album in the genre and received a 25th-anniversary edition in 2025.
He followed it with Gold in 2001, which was certified gold in the UK and earned him three Grammy nominations, including Best Rock Album.
His prolific output has since included Love Is Hell, Easy Tiger, Ashes & Fire and several albums with The Cardinals, including Cold Roses, Jacksonville City Nights and Cardinology.
Adams' cover of Oasis' Wonderwall earned another Grammy nomination, while his self-titled 2014 album received three further nominations for Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for Gimme Something Good.
He also released a track-by-track reimagining of Taylor Swift's 1989 in 2015, which debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.
Beyond his own music, Adams has worked as a producer and collaborator, producing records for artists including Willie Nelson, Jenny Lewis, Jesse Malin and Fall Out Boy, while he has also performed alongside musicians including Norah Jones and Counting Crows.
He has published the poetry collections Infinity Blues and Hello Sunshine and is also a visual artist.
Since 2020, Adams has released his music through PAX-AM, with the period becoming one of the most prolific of his career. His releases have included Wednesdays, Big Colors, Chris, Devolver, Blackhole and Self Portrait.
Animal follows that run of releases and sees Adams return to the stripped-back, self-contained approach that also characterised his 2017 album Prisoner.
Animal will be released on February 12, 2027 through PAX-AM.
