Ryan Adams

10 albums in 8 years - this guy is a workaholic. His first album, Heartbreaker, was a new standard in alt-country moping. But then he couldn't decide what he wanted to be: Gold incorporated rock and 70's pop while Rock N' Roll was a straight-up glam punk album. He finally grounded his sound a bit by forming his band (the Cardinals) but he's still cranking out music faster than the average fan can keep up with.

Here's what is really amazing: almost all of his albums have been pretty good. Heartbreaker is his only masterpiece, but alt-country is all about consistency. His albums got a little turbulent in 2005 when he decided to release three in one year, but last year's Easy Tiger was a solid return to form.

His new record, Cardinology, is his best record since Gold. The new single "Fix It" incorporates R&B vocals and "Magick" reminds us on his punk leanings from his earlier albums, but most of it sticks to the plan: guitar hooks, emotional singing and a country twang. There aren't a lot of people who are doing it better right now.

The highlights come in the middle from two mid-tempo ballads. "Cobwebs" is a stadium power ballad that sounds like U2's best 80s singalongs and "Let Us Down Easy" is gospel roots that Dylan would be proud of.

I'm satisfied with Ryan Adams putting out solid alt-country records like this one: he doesn't need to swing for the fences and put out something adventurous that might not work (like the trainwreck of an album Lucinda Williams just put out). Just keep writing memorable songs like these and he has a great future. Cardinology won't win new fans, but it will keep the old ones happy.