Ever since Ryan Adams emerged seven years ago as frontman for Whiskeytown, folks have been trying to peg him as the next Gram Parsons, the next Paul Westerberg, or as alternative-country's answer to Kurt Cobain. While such comparisons shed some light on Adams' songcraft, none comes close to defining his style, any more than invoking Woody Guthrie defined Dylan. Indeed, what's most remarkable about Adams is the sheer breadth of influences that course through his work. That fact has never been more evident than on Gold, Adams' second solo CD and his most ambitious collection of songs to date. Kicking off with "New York, New York," an organ-laced, percolating rocker reminiscent of Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue," Gold signals from the start that Adams is working from a broader palette than the one employed on last year's acclaimed Heartbreaker. "Enemy Fire," for instance, features a cascade of guitars right out of the Neil Young and Crazy Horse canon, and finds Adams snarling like a New Country Jim Morrison. Likewise, "Touch, Feel & Lose" aptly resurrects the Memphis spirit of Otis Redding, while the boogie rave-up "Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues" could've been lifted from the Georgia Satellites' songbook. Notwithstanding its diversity of styles, Gold also finds Adams continuing to explore the melancholy that fuels his best songs. Ballads such as "When the Stars Go Blue" and "Sylvia Plath" reveal him as a master of mood, and showcase one of the most expressive singing voices this side of Ron Sexsmith. If there's such a thing as an alternative-country crossover artist, then Adams seems the one best poised to break into the mainstream.