Ryan Adams Reflects on New Album, Ménière's and Tinnitus

Ryan Adams didn't write a song or even play a guitar for a year and a half. He was trying to recover his hearing, diminished by tinnitus and Ménière's disease, an inner-ear disorder that also causes dizziness and pain. "I just heard this sort of sound fog. Like a radio station had gone off the air," he recalls.

The singer-songwriter, who at age 36 has recorded 13 albums, began work on his new record "Ashes & Fire." He says, "I stopped stressing out and I also got hypnotherapy so now with the tinnitus, I don't hear the loss or that signal and my hands feel better."

"But going through these changes, letting go of music was like a trust fall. I became a normal guy and went to California for a year and a half and was not playing guitar. I was a stranger to myself so when I did play again I felt like I was starting again."