Ryan Adams’s tribute to Taylor Swift

Singer and long-time fan, Adams released an album covering Taylor Swift’s entire 1989 album.

Ryan Adams. Photo by Dan Hallman / Invision / AP

Ryan Adams says covering Taylor Swift's entire 1989 album was "incredibly humbling" and helped him to explore himself more deeply as a musician.

Adams's version of 1989 was digitally released last Monday. Swift released the original album – her first full-blown pop record – almost a year ago.

“It’s actually incredibly humbling to find a connection with someone else’s words and someone else’s songs, and to open yourself up and to feel them fully, and find out where those stories take you,” Adams, 40, says. “It felt no less genuine than any song I’ve ever written for myself.”

So far, Swift's fifth album has sold 5.2 million copies and launched multiple hits, including the No 1s Shake It Off, Blank Space and Bad Blood.

Adams's interpretation of 1989 offers a slowed-down take on her upbeat anthems.

“I got to work different parts of my brain, different parts of my heart and different parts of the musical aspects of my personality,” Adams says. “It’s really its own thing ... It’s not the same record.”

After completing his version, the singer-songwriter-producer played it for 25-year-old Swift before taking it any further.

His tastes are certainly eclectic. He name-drops the veteran American indie-rocker Bob Mould as one his favourite musicians, then adds in the same breath: "But then I also love all those songs on [Swift's 2008 album] Fearless. I don't really have a place where my music begins and ends."

Adams says he has known Swift for about four years, and counts himself as a fan.

He released his debut album, Heartbreaker, in 2000. His 2014 self-titled record, his 14th studio release, earned him two Grammy nominations this year, including best rock album. He has also found success as a producer for acts including Willie Nelson and Jenny Lewis.

Adams says that in 1989 – the year, not the album – he remembers being in love with music, and being aware he wanted to make a career out of it.

“I was already collecting albums. By 15, I was skateboarding; I had gotten my first guitar,” he says. “I had my first record player and I remember I got my first couple of real albums that were my own records, and I was really excited about them.”

* The Associated Press