Some people like to say goodbye to the old year surrounded by their friends, lost in the din of celebration, swallowed whole by extroversion.

Not Ryan Adams.

Judging by 29, the singer-songwriter's third album of the past year, the singer-songwriter likes to find a quiet corner of his soul, pour himself another drink, light another cigarette and quietly contemplate what was and what's to come.

Aside from the Gun Club-esque title cut and the dark, border-crosser The Sadness, it's a beautifully understated and evocative collection of songs from the prolific artist.

Acoustic guitar, piano, sober words and humanity fill each mini epic, with the silence and solitude always present, always allowing for thoughts to echo, always giving the emotion in his voice an extra ounce of experience.

29 is what Neil Young's Prairie Wind promised to be.

And, for the record, it should have allowed Adams to have celebrated New Year's even just slightly, content in the knowledge he was three-for-three in 2005.

Here's to what '06 can bring.

Track Listing:

1. Twenty Nine
2. Strawberry Wine
3. Night Birds
4. Blue Sky Blues
5. Carolina Rain
6. Starlite Diner
7. Sadness
8. Elizabeth, You Were Born to Play That Part
9. Voices