Who

The highly unstable Ryan Adams is one of the few alt-country artists to make it in the mainstream.

Backstory

North Carolina native Adams dropped out of high school and eventually picked up his G.E.D. while playing in a punk outfit called the Patty Duke Syndrome. He later formed the alt-country band Whiskeytown, which recorded a few classic indie albums in the late 1990s before beginning a slow descent into messiness thanks to Adams's on-stage shenanigans, like heavy drinking, incongruous all-punk sets, and occasionally performing with a towel on his head. To no one's surprise, the band broke up due to infighting in 2000. Adams regrouped and released his solo debut, Heartbreaker, to great fanfare the same year, following up in 2001 with Gold, a slicker, more "rock" record. Since then, he's released a staggering number of albums, including his most recent effort, the country-tinged Easy Tiger, with his backing band, the Cardinals.

For the record

Adams loves the internet, particularly his oft-updated website, on which he posts song experiments, loony spiels, "dramatic" shorts, self-portraits, and out-of-left-field ruminations on topics ranging from Ayn Rand to string theory. He's also uploaded several oddball novelty albums, crediting them to various alter egos, including rapper DJ Reggie, thrash band WereWolph, and honky-tonkers The Shit.

Vices

Drinking has been the least of Adams's bad habits—he's been open about his prior love for ganja, heroin, and cocaine. He claims, though, that he's been clean and sober since 2006.

Personal

Adams currently lives on East 7th Street—Julian Casablancas is a neighbor in his building—but for a time occupied a room at the storied rock star flophouse, the Chelsea Hotel. A serial dater, he had a long-term relationship with flame-tressed journalist/social fixture/ad prop Jessica Joffe; he was also linked to indie actress Parker Posey, the late Carrie Hamilton (daughter of Carol Burnett), Leona Naess, Alanis Morissette, and perpetual band-aid Winona Ryder, before surprising everyone and getting married to Mandy Moore in 2009.

No joke

The sulky Adams once flipped out on a heckler who requested Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" at a live show. He's also left lengthy rants on the answering machines of journalists who have dared to criticize his music.