Song of the Day: Ryan Adams - "Oh My Sweet Carolina"

On his solo debut Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams of Whiskeytown got a little rowdier, with subterranean explorations of Dylan ("To Be Young") and Rolling Stones honky-tonk ("Shakedown on 9th Street").

The rest of the album, though, is sparer than anything from Whiskeytown's days. Here, Adams' fingerpicked guitar and maturing songwriting hold the spotlight, on tunes of love and loss. As to "Oh My Sweet Carolina", it's not a girl but the sweet, simple South that he's been missing.

With the exceptional pipes of Emmylou Harris on harmony and Adams serving as a latter-day Gram Parsons, "Carolina" is an exercise in bittersweet, affecting songcraft. Producer Ethan Johns puts Ryan in your left ear and Emmylou in your right, but the song ends up pretty close to your heart.