When the time came to record “Heartbreaker,” his first album without alt-country quartet Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams [ tickets ] called on his Nashville neighbors David Rawlings and Gillian Welch for assistance. “I like their company,” said Adams. “I really like them as people. I adore them. We’re always jamming together anyway. ... It was like a bunch of friends hanging out and making a bunch of racket.”

A few of Adams’ other friends--Emmylou Harris, Kim Richey and Allison Pierce--take turns singing harmony on “Heartbreaker." Adams first met fellow Nashville resident Harris when she invited him to sing a Gram Parsons song during a taped performance for PBS' "Sessions at West 54th." "I didn’t really feel nervous around her ...” said Adams of singing alongside the country music legend. “One time, she showed me pictures of her and Gram, and at that moment I got sort of shaky. She went and took the negatives to get developed and I got the new photos. That was kind of crazy.”

Some tunes from “Heartbreaker,” like “To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high),” recall the reckless feel of early Rolling Stones albums, reflecting the spontaneous studio environment that Adams and producer Ethan Johns favor. To that end, the album begins with Adams and Rawlings arguing about whether the Morrissey track "Suedehead" is on the album “Bona Drag," “Viva Hate” or both. And according to Adams, the track “Damn, Sam (I love a woman that rains)” was written minutes before it was recorded.

Freed from the pressures and egos involved in writing songs for a band, Adams said he changed his approach in penning the new songs. “When you’re writing a song for a band you have to keep things skeletal so parts can be written in. When I tour now, I go out by myself with a guitar and a piano, and a song has to work without a band.”

Adams liberal use of harmonica on “Heartbreaker” fills space that might have once gone to a guitar or violin solo. “I just sort of learned how to play the harmonica before I recorded the record. It’s sort of fun to accompany yourself with it on guitar. It gives it a very bluesy, old school country feel.”

With no obligations in December beyond playing the odd gig with his rock side-project Pink Hearts, Adams said that he may enter the studio to record songs for a second solo album. “It’s already written. It’s really going to be pretty easy to pull it off,” he said. “We’re going to do the same thing we did last time, except for this time, we’ll probably spend three weeks, maybe a month on it. It’s going to be more of a band thing. We’re going to put together a kick-ass band of old school pros and, of course, I’ll have Gillian and Dave back. There’s some stuff on there that’s beautiful pop.”

Before Adams left the group to record his solo album, Whiskeytown recorded the double-disc “Pneumonia." Adams predicted that the album will get mixed in January and released this spring, but he said fans shouldn’t expect Whiskeytown to regroup to promote the LP. “There won’t be a tour--if I can help it, anyway."