Uh-oh. Way to go, L.A. Weekly.

Expectations were high that we would see a new, fresh, friendly, together Ryan Adams when he returns Tuesday for a sold-out solo gig at the State Theatre, the site of one of his notoriously erratic Twin Cities concerts.

Word was the 37-year-old country-rocker -- one of his generation's most prolific and gifted songwriters, no matter his behavior -- cleaned himself up during a recent hiatus that coincided with his marriage to actress/singer Mandy Moore in 2009. They're still together, by the way (who'd have ever guessed they'd outlast Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel?).

Most promising of all, Adams just put out one of his mellowest, most carefully refined, happy-sounding (if a wee bit geriatric) albums, "Ashes & Fire." The disc didn't exactly promise the most rousing or coolest of Adams' shows. But it at least suggested a cool-headed performance.

Then Los Angeles' alt-weekly went and ran its interview with him last month, possibly ruining it for the rest of us.

The Weekly writer asked questions that instigated huffy, irritated answers. The discussion ended with Adams hanging up the phone and sending in a rebuttal accusing the interviewer of altering the wording of his questions.

However the wording, many of the queries were utterly fair, like whether or not his marriage and sobriety led to a happier-sounding record. What wasn't fair was a subsequent live review in one of the weekly's sister papers, the Seattle Weekly, in which the writer slagged audience members for not letting her take notes on her phone during the show (huh?!). That prompted another unhappy response from Mr. Adams, this time via Facebook.

Not surprisingly, Adams was none too eager to talk to journalists for the rest of his tour, which concludes in Minneapolis. So we can't say what his present state of mind is. Response to his shows on the East Coast last week suggested he was in good spirits and chatty between songs. Minnesota fans, however, know all too well what can happen when Adams gets to talking.

Here's a look back at Adams' rubber-band displays of personality, a history that can all too easily be compared to literature's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

HYDE: 1994-2000

His critically ballyhooed first band, Whiskeytown -- formed in Raleigh, N.C., when he was 20 -- went through a dizzying array of lineup changes and troubled tours, much of it attributed to the singer's behavior. A Detroit Free Press headlined summed it up: "Whiskeytown: Half band, half soap-opera."

JEKYLL: September 2000

All was forgotten with the release of "Heartbreaker," Adams' triumphant solo debut, featuring guests such as Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch and enough classic songs to earn him a whole other level of acclaim.

HYDE: 2001

His next record, "Gold," also earned raves but set off a strained relationship with his label, Lost Highway Records (generally perceived as artist-friendly). Adams refused certain promotion to-dos and proceeded to make a strange array of follow-up discs, some of which Lost Highway declined to put out. He has since started his own label.

JEKYLL: December 2001

Touring behind "Gold," he delivered a First Avenue concert that -- though long on between-song banter -- was tight and brilliant whenever he shut up and sang. It clocked in at three hours and went on to become a favorite bootleg.

HYDE: December 2003

The next time at First Ave did not go so well. Repeatedly referencing an interview with Minneapolis music legend Paul Westerberg (who said Adams "needs to get his teeth kicked in"), Adams spent much of the show slagging Westerberg, local music journalists, the club's sound system and a lot more, and his performance downward spiraled accordingly. A sloppy acoustic set included such improvised lyrics as, "Yeah, so I dated an actress; you would, too." After breaking one cocktail glass and holding up another at show's end -- after half the crowd had left -- he weepily muttered, "I just want to go home for Christmas."

JEKYLL: June 2007

Kicking off the tour behind his "Easy Tiger" album at the Cedar Cultural Center, Adams once again looked worse for wear, with a bandaged wrist following a skateboarding accident and a demand to keep the stage lights turned off. It would be his best local performance yet, though, with the tight backing of his then-new band the Cardinals and an uncharacteristically focused Adams in the darkness. He even laughed about past transgressions when a fan shouted out, "Welcome back to Minneapolis." Said Adams, "You couldn't keep me away. And many times you should have."

HYDE: September 2007

Same tour, same band, totally different results when Adams returned to the State Theatre. He never really hit a groove and kept complaining of the sound monitors on stage, even stopping to move them himself. He ended it after 70 minutes and didn't come out for an encore, prompting boos. That was his last headlining set in town.

JEKYLL: December 2011?

Let's hope so.