Skip to content
News

Ryan Adams’ Twangy ‘This Is 40’ Track Shines ‘Through The Dark’ on ‘Conan’

ryan adams, conan

Nothing from Ryan Adams brightens a bar-lit evening like his handsomely hangdog country songs, with all due respect to the former Whiskeytown singer’s varied and impressive discography with backing band the Cardinals, or the British mope-rock jaunt Love Is Hell. “Shining in the Dark,” one of Adams’ two contributions to the soundtrack of Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up spinoff This Is 40, surfaced online earlier this month, and, happily, our own Chris Martins described it as “an organ-strewn jangler.” No organs were harmed in Adams’ stripped-down performance of the song last night on Conan, but super-producer Don Was (the Rolling Stones, John Mayer, too many others to list) sat in on upright bass, as steel guitar wizard Cindy Cashdollar added some twang on the Dobro. When this hushed, sweetly melancholy performance originally aired last night, a glow must’ve come from more than the TV screen.