Saw him last week. He was excellent; a surprisingly good guitar player (acoustic/fingerstyle).
Still, the fact that he appeared to be back on the junk dampened my enjoyment of what would have otherwise been a really great show. Surprised that he could perform as well as he did.
Still: clothes were falling off of him, he appeared to be in a bit of a daze, and was frequently fumbling around for the right chords.
Also, some idiot in the crowd yelled something to him about Steve, and then JTE just went off.

Is it bad that that actually makes me want to see him more?

I saw him last fall and he appeared to be sober and was amazing. It really is too bad if he is back on the junk.

I have no idea whether or not he actually is back on the junk or not. All I'm saying is that he appeared to be.
Not trying to spread rumors (although I guess that through speculation, I guess that I am), just expressing concern and amazement.

I really enjoyed seeing him just before Midnight at the Movies came out (still my favorite album of his, maybe because my first exposure to the songs was live). Nothing stood out one way or the other about his sobriety or lack thereof. I mean, he was drinkin' and all before the show, but he didn't seem to be nodding out or confused.

Yeah, I guess that's more accurate for my experience too. But when I saw him he was sharp and spot on in his playing and singing (and banter) and came off as sober.

Not sure about recently. I believe that between the release of the last 2 albums he had some kind of massive relapse, and then cleaned up again. I think there might have been mention of this in another thread or in some years-old random thread.

Still, dude is putting out great work. I know his buddy Jason Isbell is on the wagon - some friends of mine booked him for a show, and he had a sober rider, but you also had to buy all the stuff from the regular rider, just in case.

the first time i saw him he was just kinda a bit drunk and sloppy, but it wasn't any worse than like lucero or the hold steady. that was around midnight at the movies before it was newsworthy that he wasn't doing so well. and then the last time i saw him (about a year ago), he talked about his sobriety after almost every song, so i figured he was clean because he actually did seem very sorry for what'd happened.

does he have a new record? i haven't seen anything since harlem river blues.

Stone beat me to it.

I think this is what I was half-remembering.

Naw, I think you guys are "misremembering" it. I saw him 7-8 times across tours for the first two albums including a couple of times that Harlem River Blues had already been recorded but not released. Never any signs of problems. Then sometime during the Harlem River Blues album, he was playing a show in which someone in the crowd heckled him and he got in a shouting match back and ended the show abruptly and then got in a fistfight with the club owner or manager or something like that. A few days later it was announced that the rest of the tour was cancelled and that he was going into rehab.

I haven't seen him in awhile mainly because I really don't like these last two albums much at all.

Man, him and Ryan Adams (and Billy Corgan way back when) just seem really susceptible to hecklers. Is it a chicken/egg thing, where someone gives in once and shows that it affects them, and then some jerkoff asswad in every crowd wants to poke him again? Or do they have control issues?

That was at Radio Radio in Indianapolis

I gotta say I agree with this. I feel like I've seen more praise for the last two than the first two while I personally feel completely the opposite with Midnight being better for me. The simplicity and directness of the first two were key selling points for me. The later couple seem cluttered and overdone. I think he had better songs on the first couple and seems to be trying to do a bit of turd polishing on the second two.

The last two albums have been credible and logical artistic progressions from the first couple, showing stronger songwriting and a more fully realized sound, which is pretty obvious to any listener unless you happen to be a semi-pro contrarian... oh, wait, forgot who I was talking to there. Nevermind.

And that Ryan Adams dude should've just kept recording Heartbreaker over and over again.

I like his last 2 albums a lot.
But then, I am not all that familiar with his first couple, so...

That said, after seeing him, I would love to see him record a solo/acoustic set. That was when he was at his best the other day, when he didn't have anyone else to lean on/hide behind.

Considering what Ryan Adams has done since, I can't say it would have been the worst thing in the world.

And having an opinion you don't share is not just being contrary. I actually only mentioned it in agreement with someone else, so not exactly being a contrarian. (Also, contrarian as an insult from you? Something about pits and kettles comes to mind.) Anyway, feel free to love the last couple albums. I just don't enjoy them nearly as much and think all the extra production and instrumentation isn't helpful. It may be the logical path but it isn't a path I have enjoyed in this case. I really don't give a fuck if you disagree.

Also, I'm fine with whoever disagreeing. It would actually be nice for a bit of debate on music either way. Would be better than just a bunch of pics and links. I just don't really respond well to name calling.

DW, to be fair, he did say "semi-pro" so I'm not sure the pot/kettle thing is appropriate here.

BTW, I really do like the last couple albums, but HRB was my entry point. I like the first two as well, but I do think the songwriting is better on the latest two.

And Todd, you really thought he wasn't as effective with the backing bass and fiddle?

Bullshit. You just have zero tolerance for country which is what the first two were.

It was a standard rock band backing trio, only the lead guitar player doubled on pedal steel.
And, while the band, itself, was excellent: yes, I did think that he was a little less effective; like he just didn't try as hard. It was as if he felt like he could hide behind the other musicians. When he was alone on stage, he was a lot more sure of his performance, but when the band backed him up, he just seemed to kinda drop chords, and forget lyrics for some reason. He'd sorta mumble a half lyric, as he stepped back away from the mic so his voice dropped out of the mix.
And when he did, he shot a shit-eating grin over at one of the guys in the band who usually did not look amused.
His voice was strong, overall, when he was on that night, though. And, like I said, when he was on-stage alone, he was at his best, outstanding.

I do think I could probably be convinced it was more the production and less the songwriting that make me lean toward the first couple albums. Everything on the last couple just sounds too busy to me. That and it kind of seems to enter that middle ground where it is kinda country influenced, kinda rock influenced, kinda this and kinda that but doesn't really embrace much but a mushy middle ground.

Ah, okay. My bad. When I saw him he was with a bass and fiddle player about 2/3 of the set and solo 1/3.