Back in January 2017, Ryan Adams announced that he was working on a double album by Liz Phair and posted several photos of their recording sessions at his Pax-Am studio in Los Angeles. The results of this collaboration were never released. Phair said today in a tweet that the working relationship ended due to an experience that shared similarities with that described by several women in the New York Times‘ bombshell report about, among other things, Adams retaliating against female collaborators whom he pursued romantically.
Phair’s tweet came in response to an individual who noted the indie icon’s work with Adams never saw the light of day, and who wondered whether Phair might comment in the wake of the Times report. “If I do, I’ll write about it. But I think you can extrapolate,” Phair responded. “My experience was nowhere near as personally involving, but yes the record ended and the similarities are upsetting.”
Phoebe Bridgers, who released her EP Killer on Pax-Am in 2015, told the Times that she had a brief romantic relationship with Adams that turned emotionally abusive, and that after she broke things off, Adams rescinded an offer to tour together and became “evasive” about releasing her work. Another artist named Courtney Jay also said Adams expressed interest in collaborating on music, made romantic moves that she denied, and ultimately never recorded with her. Two artists who declined to be named described to the Times a similar pattern in their relationship with Adams.
Read Liz Phair’s tweet below.
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If I do, I’ll write about it. But I think you can extrapolate. My experience was nowhere near as personally involving, but yes the record ended and the similarities are upsetting
— Liz Phair (@PhizLair) February 14, 2019
