1997's Strangers Almanac was Whiskeytown's major-label debut and the album that first introduced Ryan Adams to a wide audience. Strangers Almanac sounds stronger and more cohesive than its ragged but forceful indie predecessor, Faithless Street, and there's a deeper resonance in Adams' tales of wasted nights and wasted lives, such as "Inn Town," "Losering," and "Dancing with the Women at the Bar." Strangers Almanac doesn't rock as hard as Whiskeytown's earlier material, but when the guitars kick into high gear on "Yesterday's News" and "Waiting to Derail," it reveals just how good a match Adams and Wandscher were, and "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight" and "16 Days" are as strong and moving as their country gestures got. Strangers Almanac captures Whiskeytown when they still had some business calling themselves a band rather than just Ryan Adams' backing musicians, and the glorious world-weariness of its best moments makes it an extremely satisfying listen.

Track Listing
1 Inn Town
2 Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight
3 Yesterday's News
4 16 Days
5 Everything I Do
6 Houses on the Hill
7 Turn Around
8 Dancing with the Women at the Bar
9 Waiting to Derail
10 Avenues
11 Losering
12 Somebody Remembers the Rose
13 Not Home Anymore