It seems only fitting to title this story with an obscure Ryan Adams lyric.I am going to start my 2011 SXSW with probably the silliest trip I have ever taken with two of my best friends, to chase the ghost of Ryan Adams, and a rumored Whiskeytown reunion all over Austin on SXSW Friday.
First, let's go through a little Misty/ Whiskeytown history, the roots of what I listen to now, are rooted in Whiskeytown. For me as silly as it sounds they are that band that is everything to me and I never got to see them live I was 16 when they did their last tour. When the 2011 press releases for SXSW came out and I read the Lost Highway release with the line up for the 10th Anniversary party, I became fixated on the 10:00 p.m. slot with the words "Special Guests". I became hopeful, then with the follow up information of Caitlin Cary's multiple dates in town that week, and the re release of Pneumonia on vinyl by Lost Highway it all seemed to align for a Whiskeytown reunion. I put the thoughts out of my head for the most part, but I would allow myself to indulge in a daydream in the weeks leading up to SXSW. The week of SXSW comes the first surface of Mr. Adams since the last melt down (in regards to the last release on PAXAM), that he is playing the UK in the summer and that Glyn Johns (Ethan Johns father) was producing the new record. Then comes the news of a four song for record store day "Class Mythology". This is more Ryan news than had come out in months. Caitlin Cary earlier that week had been quoted as saying that a Whiskeytown reunion is something that she and Ryan continue to talk about and that it is not out of the realm of possibility. I started to wonder if things might be coming together.
After an eventful Friday of bands, and trying to figure out what the plan for the night is I get a text from a usually reliable source of these things. Texts started coming in that the reunion had been confirmed and that the party had been moved to a larger space to accommodate. This is all I needed, I took off running across a parking lot, and told friend because he had an artist wristband and if I couldn't get in then he should go. I start running across the parking lot thinking about what I had on what credit card, what I had to sell (nothing), that I would do ANYTHING to see this. I had to, so my two best friends, are tweeting and texting trying to get 100% conformation, and I realize in this moment its not going to happen for me, I don't have a badge and surely this would be badges only. After offering up my first born child, and everything I own. My friend Emily who now has naming rights to my first child, had procured a badge for us, when she presented me this badge, I started to cry. Yes, it was that big of a deal, just the thought of it was enough. We continue to text and tweet we are getting varying answers from yes its sure, to you have to just go, and finally its a cold day in hell. With batteries dying on all phones the call is made, to just go.
So we are off, we try hailing a cab, and none of us know where the new ACL theater is so, we have a cab with the worst, least amused cab driver ever, drop us close to sixth. We ask a very nice valet if he knows where the new ACL theater is, and we get vague directions with a general idea that is by the new W Hotel.We then start running. I am not a runner, and after being outside since 10 am and its day 3 of SXSW I am definitely not a runner. We are running the streets of Austin, with me at this point with hope of a child running. I don't care, I have tunes in my head, hope in my heart. I have my two best friends who are more than a little amused that more than a little jaded Misty is giggling about the possibility. As we get closer, the reality of what the odds truly are that this is A) going to happen and B) we would actually get in starts to settle in. So, I decided at this point to go ahead and pull the first "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight" joke.
In front of the venue we ask a police officer if he knew if cash tickets were being sold, and he said yes. We round the corner, and get in line. $25.00 cash to see the remaining line up of Hayes Carll, Special Guest, Robert Earl Keen, and Lucinda Williams. We eagerly hand over our cash, and I flash "my" badge, and we are in. Walking up the stairs into the new very beautiful ACL theater, and we enter to hear the final moments of Hayes Carll's set. The place is relatively empty, Hayes finishes a great set, and we are standing around. I feel like a kid on Christmas waiting to see if it will happen. A Lost Highway representative starts talking about the first release on Lost Highway, my friends look at me hopeful for me, and I know and I say that it has something to do with O Brother Where Art Thou (yes these are the random bits of knowledge I have in my head), they trot out Dan Tyminski, I am still hopeful. He wasn't on the bill, but its only 9:45. I start looking at the stage and start to see if I see anything that might be Ryan esque. I don't know what I was looking for, the last time I saw him tour was with the Cardinals, and the set up wouldn't be the same. Especially if it was my dream come true of just him and the wonderful Caitlin Cary and maybe Skillet on drums. It would be a quick set up. So we pay attention, but I am bracing myself for how I will feel if I do hear "Everything I Do","16 Days", "Inn Town". The Lost Highway rep comes out and starts talking about the history of the label, and how this person, helped to build the label, then the words T Bone Burnett come out of his mouth, and my heart falls, and I know that the dream has just come to a crashing halt. It's Ryan Bingham, the only thing that can come out of my mouth is wrong f'in Ryan.
Being a Ryan Adams fan is never easy, you learn to take it on the chin. Even when he is confirmed to play you never know what Ryan you are getting. As Bingham drones on, I realize that its okay, that the idea was enough in a lot of ways, that it was fun to chase the ghost and be silly. To have that hope of being a fan, of seeing something you never thought possible. Dreams you never thought possible were part of the allure of SXSW some 25 years ago. That maybe the idea was better than what the execution could ever be, that maybe it is better to hold on to the dream.
