Ryan Adams has released the first fruits of his project to cover Taylor Swift’s 1989 album in its entirety.
On Thursday, Zane Lowe played Bad Blood on his Beats 1 show. Adams’s version is smoother and more gentle than the original, sprinkled with pedal steel guitar that takes Swift back to her Nashville roots.
Adams announced that his 1989 album will be released digitally on 21 September, with physical versions to follow. The wayward troubadour has shared clips from the sessions on Instagram, promising a string quartet on Blank Space, which also boasts a “deep-end Smiths vibe”.
Welcome to New York, meanwhile, promises to be “the saddest version ever – or your tears back”. However, other tracks – for instance Style – are more upbeat.
On Twitter, Swift described the news of the album’s release as “surreal and dreamlike”. Adams has form in unusual covers, recently bowing to the inevitable and covering his near-namesake Bryan Adams’ Summer of 69. In 2002, he covered the whole of the Strokes’s album Is This It, though it was never released.
Ryan's music helped shape my songwriting. This is surreal and dreamlike. Countdown to #RyanAdams1989 @TheRyanAdams pic.twitter.com/pGZB0uUqiB
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) September 17, 2015
