Over the Wall

Jakob Dylan's Women + Country

by M.J. Fine

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Published: Apr 7, 2010

No one has more ambivalence about The Wallflowers than The Wallflowers. Nearly five years after their last album, they've made no movement toward recording, and last year's tour to support a greatest-hits collection included singer-guitarist Jakob Dylan, longtime bassist Greg Richling and a few more recent recruits, but not mainstay Rami Jaffee, whose keyboards are as integral to the band's sound as Dylan's voice.

Dylan's got little reason to revive the group; with his second solo album, he proves he's more than capable of bearing the weight. Not that he's out on his own. Women + Country (Columbia) reunites him with producer T Bone Burnett for the first time since The Wallflowers' 1996 breakthrough, Bringing Down the Horse, and they're joined by sterling session players, including pedal steel master Greg Leisz and guitarist Marc Ribot. Best of all, Neko Case and Kelly Hogan's harmonies elevate melancholy material like "Everybody's Hurting" and "Down on Our Own Shield." These people know what they're doing, and they've done it well; though Dylan's as loquacious a songwriter as ever, you'll be able to sing along to the choruses by the second listen.

If history serves as a guide, you'll be able to sing along for quite some time. Fourteen years after its release, Bringing Down the Horse stands tall, with each hit propelling the next: "One Headlight" into "6th Avenue Heartache," "Three Marlenas" into "The Difference." Dylan's delivery — equal parts passion and reserve — sears the lyrics into your skull, and the guitar twang and organ whir have aged well. At the time, radio's wholehearted embrace was met by a backlash just as instant. Critics found it particularly galling that the upstart had as many top-10 hits on one disc as his dad had had in his whole career, and that he went platinum quicker than his old man ever would. But charges that he was riding Bob's coattails don't stick; any resemblance is due as much to Jaffee, whose organs are eerily reminiscent of Al Kooper's work with the elder Dylan. Listening to it now, it's hard to hear anything but a young frontman finding his footing, and gratifying to know he's still forging his own path.

(m_fine@citypaper.net)

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