IN September 2017, when Ryan Adams last played Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, he was a true indie icon, one of rock music’s most prolific and talented songwriters.

With no fewer than seven Grammy nominations to his name (three in 2002 and another three in 2015), he was widely regarded. Since 2000 he had released such garlanded solo albums as Heartbreaker, Gold, Love is Hell, Ashes & Fire and Ryan Adams. One critic felt moved to observe of Gold that it was “sheer blinding genius”. His 2017 album, Prisoner, written in the wake of his divorce from the singer Mandy Moore, was described in the Guardian as representing him as being "at the peak of his powers”.

The Jacksonville, North Carolina-born Adams could also be audacious, releasing, in 2015, a track-by-track re-creation of Taylor Swift's 6.4 million-selling album, 1989.

But his career was derailed in February 2019 when, according to a New York Times investigation, several women alleged that Adams, then 44, had offered to jumpstart their careers then pursued them sexually. He denied the claims.

The article claimed: "In interviews, seven women and more than a dozen associates described a pattern of manipulative behavior in which Adams dangled career opportunities while simultaneously pursuing female artists for sex.

“In some cases, they said, he would turn domineering and vengeful, jerking away his offers of support when spurned, and subjecting women to emotional and verbal abuse, and harassment in texts and on social media. The accounts have been corroborated by family members or friends who were present at the time, as well as by correspondence from Adams reviewed by The New York Times”.

The NYT quoted Adams’s ex-wife, Mandy Moore, as saying: “Music was a point of control for him”.

Adams issued an apology on Twitter, admitting that he was “not a perfect man” and had made mistakes. “To anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally, I apologize deeply and unreservedly,” he wrote. “But the picture that this article paints is upsettingly inaccurate. Some of its details are misrepresented; some are exaggerated; some are outright false”.

Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, Picture House, Edinburgh

In July 2020, he wrote a letter which he shared with the Daily Mail, in which he said: “All I can say is that I’m sorry. It’s that simple. his period of isolation and reflection made me realize that I needed to make significant changes in my life”.

The fall-out from the initial allegations, however, had been immediate. As Adams admitted in an interview with LA magazine in August 2021, friends and fellow musicians had deserted him, his tours had been cancelled, and the planned release of a new album had been delayed.

“So I’m losing my life’s work, and my dream of who I am, my ability to provide for myself”, he added. “And I now don’t have the emotional support to help fix this. The door has slammed and what am I going to do?”

He told the magazine that he faced losing his home and his studio, and had even considered accepting a 'take it or leave it' offer to buy the publishing rights to his music. 

Adams has generally kept a low profile ever since, but, ever prolific, has continued to release new albums. Two, both issued last year, were song-by-song reworking of two classic albums: Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks and Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.

On January 1 this year Adams released four new albums - Sword & Stone, Star Sign, Heatwave, and 1985.

A tour schedule last year saw Adams play Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The Scotsman’s reviewer, Fiona Shepherd, noted: “Ryan Adams has been waiting a long time to play in public, and is only now making a cautious but comprehensive comeback from allegations of sexual misconduct and manipulation made by his ex-wife Mandy Moore and other female musicians”.

Even with the stage lamplight low, Shepherd added, Adams’s talent was undimmed. “His voice is natural yet extraordinary  … and his capacity to deliver a heartbreaking lyric supreme.

“For all his chippiness, he remains one of those rare artists who can hold an audience spellbound for hours with only voice, guitar and the occasional squall of harmonica, travelling seamlessly from exposed confessionals to groovy blues and from introverted fusspot to a warm accommodation of the delighted crowd”.

Reviewing Adams's concert at Usher Hall with his band seven years ago, Rob Adams wrote in the Herald: “Ryan Adams may be medically averse to camera and mobile phone flashes, as the pre-set announcement said, but he doesn’t seem to be allergic to smoke machines.

Review: Ryan Adams, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

“The singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, rocker and roots explorer from Jacksonville emerged through a dark cloud and finished the set proper so totally engulfed that it was pretty impressive that he and his band could negotiate the cues for the staccato finale.

“In between times, in a show that had moments of pure rock ‘n’ roll theatre, Adams showed that, if the equipment fails, he can still produce the high end goods with just his expressive voice, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica rack. Indeed, his spontaneous troubadour set, while his techs fixed the problem, was a reminder of Adams’ ability to conjure up three-dimensional imagery, not least pertaining to his home town through The End and Jacksonville Skyline’s vivid depictions.

“Songs from Adams’ latest album, Prisoner, conveyed both theatre and classic heartbreak, with Adams singing Broken Already guitar-less and almost offering himself in backlit sacrifice, the title track moving from acoustic declamation to full band rage, and Doomsday garnering audience participation that seemed to say, we feel your pain but it’s a great tune, too”.

Tonight’s solo gig at the same venue will see him returning to two of his finest albums - Love is Hell, which was released in 2004, and Self-Titled, which came out in 2014. Also promised are career-spanning classics and favourites.

A revised setlist posted by Adams after his gig in Bath earlier this week yields such favourites as Sweet Carolina, Ashes and Fire, Gimme Something Good, My Winding Wheel, and Come Pick Me Up.

One fan, writing on Adams’s Facebook page, observed: “Utterly breath taking last night at Bath Forum, the range of vocal chords was utterly amazing and his talent on his selected instruments melted the heart with his dazzling performance. His troubled soul over the years has hidden a kind heart”. Adams has taken the time to thank such fans for their kind remarks.

* Ryan Adams, Usher Hall, tonight, doors 6pm, starts 8pm.