Today, Ryan Adams re-launched his website, PaxAm. He told fans the new site will offer, “Info on RA & the Cardinals III/IV as well as the new ORION standard issue LP (yes with download card) but it’s getting bombed with traffic and crashed once already so check back. I left yall some jams on there. XXX DRA.”

III/IV is what Adams’ has reported are the third and fourth albums from his (former?) group The Cardinals. Easy Tiger and Cardinology were the first two, respectively. He has hinted at their release throughout the year and now, it seems, the time is (truly) near.

As for the “jams,” you can download five of them here. He indicates they were recorded at the first of the Easy Tiger sessions which would place them at Electric Ladyland studios in early 2007. (Click here for Anthony DeCurtis’ piece detailing those sessions in his excellent New York Times piece from 2007). The five tracks are all instrumental with several sounding very Rolling Stones-like in their tone and song structure. Adams has this to say of them:

“These downloads are some tracks recorded on the set-up day of the III/IV / Easy Tiger sessions. The band is caught here going though some riffs and just outright jamming with some room mic’s on.

A few of these became songs on III/IV and there is even a riff that was once a song called “Closure” that blew and eventually became “You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Ghost)” which is a worldwide smash for Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, and is the theme song for the Sub-National Natural Grass Level Football Association, the world renowned English Football team that lives in a cloud pattern in the sky in Ryan’s “day-time mind”. There is a tree growing through it.

To the best of anyone’s memory, the personnel on these jam sessions is Ryan & Neal on guitar, Brad on drums, and Jon “The Slyder” Graboff on bass (yes, he even kick ass on bass!)…

Enjoy this snapshot of the first day of III/IV."

As Relix reported, Adams returned to the stage for the first time since March 2009 last week for a few songs as part of benefit show.

Today is also Adams’ 35th birthday. Happy Birthday, Ryan.