Over the next few weeks I’ll dive into the next installment of an occasional series here at Meet Me in Montauk, where I focus on a single year and post songs from both my favorite albums and the acclaimed albums I’ve never heard.

I started this series with 1972 (my birth year) and subsequently covered 1982 and 1992. Now I jump ahead another decade to 2002, a year after the 9/11 attacks, the year I turned 30, the year my first daughter was born.

I didn’t cross paths with four of my ten favorite 2002 albums until years later, so the state of the world and my life at that time didn’t play a role in their selection. The others, though, do work as calls back to that time and place.

At #10 is Ryan Adams’ Demolition, one of the albums I discovered well after its release.

This is a sloppy record, and one Adams himself isn’t very fond of. It’s not a cohesive musical statement on its own, but a collection of songs from earlier albums he wasn’t able to release.

All I know is that every time I hear a track from Demolition, I love it. From the alt-country shuffle of ‘Tennessee Sucks’ to the ethereal Dylan-esque ‘Dear Chicago,’ the aching acoustic ballad ‘Tomorrow’ to the scruffy Britpop of ‘Nuclear,’ today’s SOTD.