Not Your Daddy's Dylan - Jakob Dylan

Ten years ago, if you would have suggested that I listen to Jakob Dylan, I would have been like "Eh, I'm good." I wasn't at all disappointed when in 2001, we missed the Wallflowers as the opening act for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers at the Gorge due to car troubles on the way. Sure, I liked the Wallflowers' songs One Headlight and 6th Ave. Heartache (which when I first heard it, I swore it was a Counting Crows song, I was partly correct, Adam Duritz does sing back up on the song.) Except now I find One Headlight somewhat difficult to listen to. It's the last verse that gets me. It reminds me of my Grandmother who passed away, it explains exactly how I feel about it:


"I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
I think her death it must be killin' me"

But I wan't really a textbook "fan" of Jakob Dylan or the Wallflowers. Why? Well, you see at this point in my life, I didn't really care for Bob Dylan (WHAT!? I know!) and therefore didn't really care for his offspring. After taking a class my first year of college where we studied Bob Dylan (and the '60s counterculture) and actually listening to Bob Dylan, I've since come to my senses. I am now both a fan of Bob, and therefore also Jakob. So, sure the aforementioned Wallflowers songs are a couple of my favorites, but it's Jakob Dylan's solo records that really brought me in as a fan.

In mid 2008 I had gotten the single Something Good This Way Comes off Jakob Dylan's first solo record Seeing Things from the iTunes song of the day download from Starbucks. I enjoyed it immensely. A short while later, I believe it was my sister Linda who gave me the entire record. Knowing the Wallflowers music, and only hearing the one single, I wasn't really sure what to expect from the rest of the record. But I gave it a go. And well, I love it. The record is mostly acoustic, and folky; it's more like classic Bob Dylan than Wallflowers. The songs are stories. Stories of war, life, nature, love, death. All of them pure musical goodness.  My favorite tracks on the record are Will it Grow, This End of the Telescope, Up on the Mountain, and Something Good This Way Comes.


A couple years later I heard that Dylan was recording a follow up record. On April 16, 2010 Women and Country was released. Again, it was my sister who supplied me with this amazing record. I think I love Women and Country more than Seeing Things. And when I say love, I mean LOVE. Women and Country seems more folky than Seeing Things, and it has a slightly different feel to it; it feels slightly more country. Again the record is mostly acoustic, with the exception of a steel guitar. A few songs have an awesome horn section, so bonus there (there's just not enough horn sections these days.) Dylan is joined by Neko Case and Kelly Hogan on backing vocals on several songs. The lyrics again tell stories, stories of life on the plains, life in mines, life in the country; life. These songs are incredible. Seriously, the lyrics are thought provoking and brilliant. I've said before that I'm a lyrics girl, and this record, this whole record, is one that I absolutely love every lyric to every song. I'm constantly listening to this record, constantly have one (or more) of these songs stuck in my head, it's one of my Desert Island Records (What are my other Desert Island Records? U2 - The Joshua Tree, Bryan Adams - So Far So Good, Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, The Beatles - Revolver) So out of all the glorious tracks on this record, which are my most favourite? Everybody's Hurting, Holy Rollers for Love, Truth for a Truth and Smile When You Call Me That. But this whole record is well worth the time you will spend immersed in the amazing music contained in these eleven songs.

For now it looks like Dylan is putting the solo career on hold, as the Wallflowers are set to release a new record, Glad All Over on October 9th. I've heard the single from the record, Reboot the Mission, and like it. It's funkier than other Wallflowers stuff I've heard. I'm excited for this record (which will get a review here when it comes out.) While you're waiting for that, go get Seeing Things and Women and Country. You will not be disappointed.