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Review | The Wallflowers Pack a Wallop of a Show at the Santa Barbara Lobero

Jakob Dylan’s Distinctive Voice as a Songwriter and a Performer Rings Strong, Solid, and Sexy

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With a rotating tribe of talented musicians backing lead singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan and about 30 years of musical exploration in the books, The Wallflowers remind me a bit of one of my favorite songs of theirs —  “Three Marlenas,” from 1996 — which tells the tale of three women named Marlena, who take vastly different paths in their lives. 

Like the Marlenas, The Wallflowers’ music today is first and foremost true to its 1990s alt-rock origin, but also folksy, rootsy, and thoroughly contemporary. The sound may be a bit hard to pin down, but Dylan’s sincerity and powerfully husky, distinctly sexy voice — both on the page as songwriter and on the stage as a performer — brought all the right stuff for a great show at the Lobero on Tuesday. 

With a tight ensemble — including Stanton Edward on guitar, Aaron Embry on keyboards, Ben Peeler on slide guitar and other instruments, Mark Stepro on drums, and Whynot Jansveld on bass (and in a bit of serendipity, the piano from Pianos on State in front of the Lobero that night had the words “Lol Why Not Tho?” painted on it) — it was clear why Dylan described the current band as being “the most fun I’ve had with any bunch of people.”

With a set that included familiar favorites like “Move the River,” “6th Avenue Heartache,” and “Sleepwalker,” as well as thoughtful songs from the newest album, Exit Wounds , like “ I Hear The Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains)” and “Roots and Wings,” the audience in Santa Barbara lapped it up. We were on our feet and dancing in the aisles for most of the night, which was as much a surprise to me as it apparently was to Dylan.

At one point in the night he commented, “I’ve been here before, I thought you’d be sitting down all night.” But there was no sitting down for this show. We were having too much fun. From the sadly poignant “One Headlight,” with the beautiful lyrics “Hey-ey-ey / Come on try a little / Nothing is forever / Got to be something better than in the middle“ to the powerful piano heartbeat of “When You’re on Top,” it was great night of music all around. 

Obviously appreciative of the audience’s enthusiasm, Dylan shook hands and bumped fists with the crowd and said, “I’m not a big talker, but you guys are fantastic.”

They ended the night on a high note with a fun string of Tom Petty covers for the encore, from “American Girl” to “The Waiting.” We’ll definitely be happily waiting for whatever Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers are ready to bring to us next.

Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers at the Lobero Theatre on October 17, 2023 | Credit: Leslie Dinaberg

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Concert reviews · Photos

From ‘Exit Wounds’ to ‘One Headlight,’ The Wallflowers drive it home in Grand Rapids

• by John Sinkevics
• December 16, 2022

Jakob Dylan and company brought the tour behind their latest album to GLC Live at 20 Monroe on Thursday. The review and photos at Local Spins.

Enduring Rootsy Rock: The Wallflowers on stage Thursday. (Fan Photo)

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There’s no denying that Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers have carved out their own distinctive roots-rock groove and songwriting style, something that’s propelled everything from the monster 1996 hit, “One Headlight,” to insightful tracks such as “Move the River” from their latest album, “Exit Wounds.”

It’s also no surprise that the band would choose to roll out covers of enduring songs by Tom Petty during their concerts rather than epic compositions by Dylan’s famous and enigmatic father.

Whether the band frontman’s inspiration leans more toward Petty than his legendary dad doesn’t alter the fact that Dylan has distilled these influences and more to forge an impressive three-decade career grounded on compelling music.

Back in GR: Jakob Dylan (Fan Photo)

That certainly was on display Thursday night during the band’s GLC Live at 20 Monroe tour stop, with The Wallflowers covering the gamut of their catalog, along with crowd-igniting covers of Petty’s “The Waiting” and “American Girl.”

And Michigan’s own Brother Elsey got it all started with a harmony-laden opening set of their infectious, Americana-leaning rock, fueling a robust audience response that seems to grow every time they’ve played the GLC Live at 20 Monroe stage.

Despite Dylan leading an ever-changing lineup over the years, The Wallflowers’ touring roster – guitarist Stanton Adcock, keyboardist Aaron Emory, bassist Whynot Jansveld, guitarist Ben Peeter and drummer Mark Stepro – delivered tight arrangements that faithfully reproduced the vibe of studio recordings despite some technical glitches. (At one point, the lap steel was rendered mute.)

Dylan, 53, took it all in stride, bantering at times with the audience in the three-quarters-full house and encouraging a sing-along during the last verse of “One Headlight.”

There’s a fair amount of despair and anguish in Dylan’s music, but there’s also a hopeful and upbeat milieu that winds its way through his lyrics and his band’s performance – even on songs such as “I’ll Let You Down (But Will Not Give You Up)” and “6th Avenue Heartache.”

Unlike his father, Dylan isn’t a man of few words on stage. But just like his father, his music has a lot to say.

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The wallflowers: exit wounds.

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2021 is a different beast though, and after an almost decade-long hiatus, the Wallflowers is a different group. Spearheaded by one man, Jakob Dylan, Exit Wounds is nothing more than him indulging in his deepest influences. Every sign of modern rock has been diminished, and audiences are left with the band’s silky-smooth ballads, soft rocking pianos, and great storytelling.

This newly revived sound gives more weight to their brazen American themes and reminiscing lyrics with tracks like “I Hear The Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains)” and “The Dive Bar In My Heart.” Common images of “flat beer,” “pistols” and “saddles,” pop up, often glorifying simple times, like “walking the city in your boots in the rain.” Perhaps bringing more “country” than “rock,” Dylan’s folky, simplistic lyricism isn’t far off from his father’s, though with less legendary metaphors and moments.

Helping highlight the lyrical prowess of Dylan are much less dynamic instrumentals. The Wallflowers pull back some of their famous punches, opting for subtle, acoustic, and slow-moving tracks, instead of focusing on potential hits. “Darlin’ Hold On” is the most stripped back, allowing for Dylan and co.’s duetting vocals to shine among glittering piano chords and luscious guitars. Moments like this didn’t happen often in the band’s past, but the lack of focus on hard rock level instrumentation strengthens many individual moments just like this.

Unfortunately, this understated production is also the main downside of Exit Wounds . Few intense or enthusiastic moments show themselves across the whole project, creating a vacuum void of engaging elements. Each track’s slow tempo fades into the next, and it’s easy to get lost in Dylan’s soft tone, rather than find guidance from it. A ballad-heavy record is one thing, but when it’s hard to point out a single stand-out moment on the record, it becomes a problem.

Like other, recent, roots-related projects (such as the Black Keys’ Delta Kream ) Exit Wounds handles itself like a collection of unaffiliated tracks rather than a collective project. Though there are similar themes of isolation, progression, and overall introspection, there’s not much of a narrative to it all, instead relying on the similar sound waves to bring the album together. For some, this doesn’t matter at all, but for others, a 40-minute journey through 70s-inspired rock might feel cheap and uninspiring. And when it lacks pop-heavy hits to take the introspective edge off, it can be even more of a trudge to get through.

Naturally, Exit Wounds ’ success is reliant on the individual strength of its tracks, rather than its success as a cohesive piece. And thanks to the genuine recreation of Southern rock patterns, it’s closer to the real thing than any other recent project imaginable. Dylan’s perfectly-constructed time capsule does everything right in its recreation of Nashville’s classic sounds, but it also has to accept the consequences of being a one-dimensional record.

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Concert Review: The Wallflowers at Ram's Head on Stage, May 24, 2022

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This review was first published on Americana Highways .

The Wallflowers Ignite The Rams Head

May 26, 2022

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The Wallflowers pulled into Annapolis on May 24, 2022 toward the beginning of a summer tour which will take them across the country and showcase them in a wide array of venues, from theatres to outdoor “sheds.”  The Ram’s Head On Stage, which bills itself as “the best music club in the United States with under 500 seats” was a great place to see Jakob Dylan and this tight 5-piece band.  Unfortunately, the night turned to be memorable for reasons other than the music.

The show opened powerfully, with “Maybe Your Heart” and “Move the River” (“If all men are brothers/then brother why do you treat me this way”) a double-shot from their outstanding new album Exit Wounds .  Dylan was front and center here and all night, usually with his Gibson acoustic, handling all the lead vocals and the running the band.  These two songs showed off the band, with a welcome lap steel guitar ringing through.  They set the tone for the rest of the show – a comfortable rock groove, played hard, but in control.

Having leaned heavily on the new album at the start of the show, when the band hit “6th Avenue Heartache,” there was a palpable sense of “oh I know that one” in the room.  It garnered the night’s first sing-along, and the band stretched it out to include some great solos.

And then, right when things were about to take off,  the room filled with smoke.  I have been to a lot of shows at the Ram’s Head, but never one with pyrotechnics!  After the entire room was cleared, and we waited 25 minutes or so outside, we were brought back in for the rest of the show.  (It turns out someone’s vape pen had explored in his pocket.)

As Dylan forthrightly admitted, he had a hard time getting back into the rhythm of show after the forced break.  Although individual songs were standouts, the show never totally recovered its momentum.

Three of the next four songs were also from Exit Wounds — “Roots and Wings” (the album’s single), “I Hear the Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains)” which showcased both the organ and the mandolin,  and “I Will Not Let Down (But Will Not Give You Up).  “I will Not Let You Down” featured the night’s best vocals – strong singing with interesting, almost (Bob) Dylanesque phrasing and lovely harmonies.

After a couple of slower songs, including “Invisible City,” Dylan teased the audience, saying “see, I can sing ballads.”  And he absolutely can.  But it’s like when Michael Jordan flirted with becoming a baseball player.  He was good; very good even.  But others are better, and it’s not what he’s best at either.

Then it was into fifth gear for the rest of the show, starting with “Dive Bar in My Heart” (“There’s no sleigh bells in winter time/There’s no top shelf or decent wine/It’s another slow jam same awful band/It’s the last stop the end of line/You’re on the list I’m easy to find/In the dive bar in my heart”), “God Don’t Make Lonely Girls” right into probably their best- known song, “One Headlight.”    Before “One Highlight” Dylan gave the audience permission to “stand up, and even to move;” no one sat down for the rest of the night.

The show closed with “Who’s That Man Walking ‘round My Garden,” a raver and clearly a band favorite.

They encored with the only cover of the night, Tom Petty’s “The Waiting,” which had the immediate effect of turning the normally sedate Ram’s Head into a small neighborhood bar full of friends singing together.

Overall, the Wallflowers gave us seven of the ten songs from 2021’s Exit Wounds , making up just under half the 19-song set. (Another five came from 1996’s   Bringing Down the Horse .)

It is exciting to see a band bring their newest material to the stage with such energy and passion.  Exit Wounds is a terrific album, and the songs take on an increased urgency, a more compelling energy, live.

Exit Wounds is available to buy, stream or download now. The Wallflowers are on tour all summer and into October.

Mark Pelavin  is a writer, consultant and music lover living, very happily, in St. Michaels, MD.  He can be reached at [email protected]

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• Maybe Your Heart's Not in It No More Play Video
• Move the River Play Video
• The Passenger Play Video
• 6th Avenue Heartache Play Video
• The Dive Bar in My Heart Play Video
• Roots and Wings Play Video
• I Hear the Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains) Play Video
• I'll Let You Down (But Will Not Give You Up) Play Video
• Smile When You Call Me That ( Jakob Dylan  song) Play Video
• Into the Mystic ( Van Morrison  cover) Play Video
• When You're on Top Play Video
• I've Been Delivered Play Video
• Love Is a Country Play Video
• Everything I Need Play Video
• One Headlight Play Video
• Who's That Man Walking 'Round My Garden Play Video
• The Waiting ( Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers  cover) Play Video
• American Girl ( Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers  cover) Play Video
• The Difference Play Video

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The Wallflowers Ignite the Rams Head

The Wallflowers pulled into Annapolis on May 24, 2022 toward the beginning of a summer tour which will take them across the country and showcase them in a wide array of venues, from theatres to outdoor “sheds.”  The Ram’s Head On Stage, which bills itself as “the best music club in the United States with under 500 seats” was a great place to see Jakob Dylan and this tight 5-piece band.  Unfortunately, the night turned to be memorable for reasons other than the music.

The show opened powerfully, with “Maybe Your Heart” and “Move the River” (“If all men are brothers/then brother why do you treat me this way”) a double-shot from their outstanding new album Exit Wounds .  Dylan was front and center here and all night, usually with his Gibson acoustic, handling all the lead vocals and the running the band.  These two songs showed off the band, with a welcome lap steel guitar ringing through.  They set the tone for the rest of the show – a comfortable rock groove, played hard, but in control.

Having leaned heavily on the new album at the start of the show, when the band hit “6 th Avenue Heartache,” there was a palpable sense of “oh I know that one” in the room.  It garnered the night’s first sing-along, and the band stretched it out to include some great solos.

And then, right when things were about to take off,  the room filled with smoke.  I have been to a lot of shows at the Ram’s Head, but never one with pyrotechnics!  After the entire room was cleared, and we waited 25 minutes or so outside, we were brought back in for the rest of the show.  (It turns out someone’s vape pen had explored in his pocket.)

As Dylan forthrightly admitted, he had a hard time getting back into the rhythm of show after the forced break.  Although individual songs were standouts, the show never totally recovered its momentum.

Three of the next four songs were also from Exit Wounds — “Roots and Wings” (the album’s single), “I Hear the Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains)” which showcased both the organ and the mandolin,  and “I Will Not Let Down (But Will Not Give You Up).  “I will Not Let You Down” featured the night’s best vocals – strong singing with interesting, almost (Bob) Dylanesque phrasing and lovely harmonies.

After a couple of slower songs, including “Invisible City,” Dylan teased the audience, saying “see, I can sing ballads.”  And he absolutely can.  But it’s like when Michael Jordan flirted with becoming a baseball player.  He was good; very good even.  But others are better, and it’s not what he’s best at either.

Then it was into fifth gear for the rest of the show, starting with “Dive Bar in My Heart” (“There’s no sleigh bells in winter time/There’s no top shelf or decent wine/It’s another slow jam same awful band/It’s the last stop the end of line/You’re on the list I’m easy to find/In the dive bar in my heart”), “God Don’t Make Lonely Girls” right into probably their best- known song, “One Headlight.”    Before “One Highlight” Dylan gave the audience permission to “stand up, and even to move;” no one sat down for the rest of the night.

The show closed with “Who’s That Man Walking ‘round My Garden,” a raver and clearly a band favorite.

They encored with the only cover of the night, Tom Petty’s “The Waiting,” which had the immediate effect of turning the normally sedate Ram’s Head into a small neighborhood bar full of friends singing together.

Overall, the Wallflowers gave us seven of the ten songs from 2021’s Exit Wounds , making up just under half the 19-song set. (Another five came from 1996’s   Bringing Down the Horse .)

It is exciting to see a band bring their newest material to the stage with such energy and passion.  Exit Wounds is a terrific album, and the songs take on an increased urgency, a more compelling energy, live.

Exit Wounds is available to buy, stream or download now. The Wallflowers are on tour all summer and into October.

[*] Mark Pelavin  is a writer, consultant and music lover living, very happily, in St. Michaels, MD.  He can be reached at [email protected]

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Tuesday 09 May 2023

The Wallflowers

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80 E. Ridge Rd 06877 Ridgefield, CT, US 203-438-5795 www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org

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Bringing Down the Horse

By Madison Bloom

July 16, 2023

In 1992, no one wanted to hear organ on a rock song. At least that’s how Jakob Dylan, pragmatic frontman of the Wallflowers , explained the mediocre sales figures for his band’s self-titled debut. Those warbling, metallic emanations from Rami Jaffee’s Hammond B3 twisted through their scrappy first album like the double helix of a DNA strand, or miles of winding railway track. The record came out roughly one year after Nirvana’s Nevermind, which landed like a warhead and rearranged the molecules of rock music for the next two decades. To his label’s dismay, Dylan’s shambly bar-band melodies did not capture the rage—or the allowances—of American teenagers. But then, he never set out to be the voice of a generation.

Jakob Dylan formed the Wallflowers in a fit of surrender. Whether it was conscious or not, he’d been resisting the family business for years; many men outdo their fathers, but only a fool would think he could best Bob Dylan . So he didn’t try. When pressed about his childhood in early interviews, the younger Dylan alluded to a whitebread American upbringing. As a kid, he played Little League. He idolized his older brothers, who exposed him to all kinds of punk rock: the Jam, Stiff Little Fingers, and crucially, the Clash. That charged music ignited something in Dylan, who picked up a guitar as a pre-teen, and played in garage bands with names like Trash Matinee.

He had tried to conceal his lineage for as long as humanly possible. In school, there was nowhere to bury it, but Dylan would hide out when he could. One day in seventh grade, his classmates flipped their social-studies textbooks to a chapter about the 1960s. Printed on a page next to Martin Luther King Jr. and the Beatles was a thumbnail photo of Jakob’s dad. He asked for a bathroom key and slipped quietly out of the classroom. After high school, Dylan moved to New York to study painting at Parsons. It was one final push against a tide rising inside him. Two weeks into the semester, he returned to Los Angeles and accepted his fate.

Dylan enlisted his childhood friend Tobi Miller on lead guitar, bassist Barrie Maguire, and drummer Peter Yanowitz, who gigged in the late ’80s as the Apples, “which is even more pathetic than the Wallflowers,” the frontman once joked. Jaffee joined two years later, as the band became more of a presence around L.A. They convened in the back bar of Canter’s Deli for weekly jam sessions, where Jaffee invited scores of local musicians to bang out Neil Young covers around a beat-up house piano. Jaffee played with Dylan daily for about two months before Yanowitz tipped him off about his old man.

By the mid-’90s, the Wallflowers’ debut had only moved 40,000 units. Maybe it was the organ. Maybe the vocals were too muddied in the mix. Or maybe, to entertain another of Dylan’s pet theories, it wasn’t sad, angry, or grunge enough. “It’s just not what I’m interested in,” Dylan told The Los Angeles Times when asked if he’d consider a heavier sound. “I was never interested in just being in fashion. I was never the kid on Melrose who wanted to grow the dreadlocks and put on Doc Martens.” The limp reception prompted a change in labels and personnel—only Jaffee stayed on with Dylan as they readied their second album, 1996’s Bringing Down the Horse .

“When our contract fell through, there was a year where nobody would come to see us, talk to us, or even return our manager’s phone calls,” Dylan once told Billboard of his band’s post-debut slump. “We were severely damaged and mauled goods at that point.” That stale sense of dissatisfaction crept into the songs on Bringing Down the Horse , which Dylan wrote in the fallow years between 1992 and 1996. The title, a tweaked lyric from the forlorn “ Invisible City ,” referred to Dylan wresting control of his own creativity. For the Wallflowers’ second album, Dylan and Jaffee were joined by guitarist Michael Ward, drummer Mario Calire, bassist Greg Richling, and vitally, producer T Bone Burnett , who’d sculpted sounds by Elvis Costello, Marshall Crenshaw, Bruce Cockburn, and Gillian Welch. Burnett had also known Jakob since he was a little boy, when he manned piano and guitar in Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue.

More than an adept, sensitive producer, Burnett was a kindred spirit to the Wallflowers. His own solo career was steeped in murky Americana. A sly observer and incisive commentator, Burnett would cut one record as a roots traditionalist and cram his next session with a drum kit, harmonium, and a string section. For Bringing Down the Horse , Burnett split the difference and mostly stuck to the Wallflowers’ core instruments, giving them some separation and clarity. Unlike their scruffy debut, which was recorded live, Bringing Down the Horse was warm and precise. Jaffee’s organ melodies, whirring out of a B3 and a Vox Continental, were a defining element of that sound.

Dylan had spent the past three years trying to sharpen his writing, almost as a defensive strategy. Comparisons to his dad were crowding the columns of every interview; it was the rasp and slight whine in his voice. His deft, painterly verses. The fact that he dared to make rock music at all. “I can’t imagine a more daunting specter to have for a father, especially if you’re a singer and a songwriter,” Burnett told The Los Angeles Times several months after Bringing Down the Horse hit the shelves. Despite everything it afforded him, Dylan hauled his surname around like an albatross. There would always be a sect who saw their prophet’s son as an unskilled leech.

Though he wouldn’t discuss song lyrics at length, Dylan admitted that “Bleeders,” one of the best cuts on Bringing Down the Horse , was a dissection of all that judgment. As the song crept in on spangled guitar and a liquid line from Jaffee, Dylan compared his conflict to a fish fighting against the current.

Once upon a time They called me the bleeder Swimming up this river With sentimental fever But this ain’t my first ride It ain’t my last try Just got to keep moving on If they catch me ever They’ll throw me back forever

Dylan would later admit that “sentimental fever” referred to the devotion to songwriting he’d inherited from his father. Those hands, plunging into the water to disrupt his upstream struggle, belonged to the record industry. “[I was] being told countless times that I was not very good, and that the songs were no good, the band was no good, and that there was no future to this thing,” Dylan told Details in 1997, elaborating on the origin of “Bleeders.” “There was a time there when it was embarrassing to say the Wallflowers were playing.” But the numbers were reflecting a different narrative.

Bringing Down the Horse was climbing the charts, and by the close of 1996, it had reached No. 74 on the Billboard 200 — wedged unceremoniously between MTV Party to Go Vol. 10 and ESPN Presents: Jock Jams Vol. 1 . The album front-loaded its two biggest singles: the keening ballad “6th Avenue Heartache,” and the moody alt-anthem “One Headlight.” Dylan had written the former during his stint in New York, where he watched an older unhoused man play Everly Brothers songs on the steps of an apartment building daily. One morning, the man was gone, and people pilfered his belongings bit by bit.

The production of “6th Avenue Heartache” is some of the cleanest and most calculated on Bringing Down the Horse . To complement Jaffee’s rippling chords, the band brought in Leo LeBlanc, a pedal steel guitarist known for his work with John Prine. Dylan’s melody, a heartsick country dirge, was near-perfect. But then someone brought in Adam Duritz. The Counting Crows frontman, with his treacly, Glee Club pipes, spoils Dylan’s effortless rasp. Duritz dates the song, and his presence almost feels like a cash grab. “Maybe you don’t think you will like the album because I’m on it, but hey, Adam Duritz is on it also,” Dylan joked with Billboard about the single. As a business maneuver, it was shrewd: Counting Crows were a multi-platinum property.

Because Dylan is a talented songwriter, his misses feel more lazy than overwrought. Sleeper tracks like “ Three Marlenas ” and “Angel on My Bike” bob atop stagnant, circular melodies, like ice diluting a drink. Lyrically, Dylan does little to spike the tepid punchbowl; “Angel on My Bike” features a string of dull and undetailed passages, like this one:

I can’t handle a care I want, but I can’t be there While angel’s a prayer It’s 45 miles on that highway Angel double prayer

Throughout the song, Dylan’s rhyme schemes are unimaginative, his vernacular feels limited, and there is hardly any concrete imagery to chew on. In one exception, he sketches a nautical quagmire worthy of scrimshaw: “She found me down on a two-ton anchor/Tangled up in wire.” It’s a brief reminder that Dylan’s poetic strengths lie in specific renderings of American masculinity—ill-fated sailors and wanderers, brined by the sea or cured in cigarette smoke.

“Three Marlenas,” “Josephine,” and cringey bar-rocker “God Don’t Make Lonely Girls,” present another thematic suite on Bringing Down the Horse , with Dylan tightening his scope on the opposite sex. He watches one woman dance “behind the glass at a peep show,” and trails another as she recovers from a one-night stand. “Josephine,” a modest but piercing ballad, centers on someone with a “schoolgirl smile,” who presumably tastes like “sugar and tangerines,” as Dylan muses over warm, gold-toned guitar. Whether he is recalling a childhood love, or writing from the perspective of a ’90s Humbert Humbert , I cannot say.

What connects these three cuts is an innate (though likely unintended) sense of moral superiority over sexually liberated women, or at the very least, a fixation on purity. On the drowsy “Three Marlenas,” Dylan’s language is sparse but seemingly loaded with judgment. A distressed damsel with lipstick-smeared clothing lies alone in “somebody’s” bed, indicating a screw that didn’t offer foreplay, or even a first name. “She only went and did what she did/’Cause he would drive her home then,” Dylan sings in the first verse, his vocal chords sputtering at the close of each line. His refusal to name exactly what “she did” smacks of an unspeakable act. That she leveraged sex transactionally—for a ride—seems clouded with misplaced pity.

The most garish of this conceptual trio is “God Don’t Make Lonely Girls,” which treats its leading lady like some honky-tonk “ Roxanne .” Dylan plays the peep-show patron, who projects his wholesome fantasies onto the dancer before him. “Something is wrong, she don’t belong,” he drawls, his bandmates summoning the swagger and twang of a Ford commercial. Much like Sting’s sex worker savior, Dylan’s character fancies himself a shining knight who can solve the dancer’s problems with a mere wardrobe change. “I’ll bet she’d look good in a brand new dress/She never felt good in her fishnet,” he assumes, a bit too pleased with the thought. The song reeks of feel-good filler—like something that you might hear at a county fair. But its Puritan gender framing dates the album more than anything else. No wonder the Wallflowers front-loaded their strongest work.

If you watched MTV in the ’90s, you need no introduction to “One Headlight.” The music video was coursing through the cable TV circuit like an ice cream truck circling the suburbs. Like much of the album, the song was structurally simple—a canvas for Dylan’s rust-eaten imagery: cheap wine, busted trucks, and the stench of death. For all the media’s insistence that Dylan must have been influenced by his dad, “One Headlight” pointed to another American Son: Bruce Springsteen. The lyric “This place is old/It feels just like a beat-up truck/I turn the engine but the engine doesn’t turn” was a direct reference to Springsteen’s 1987 song “ One Step Up ”: “Went out and hopped in my old Ford/Hit the engine but she ain’t turnin’.” Dylan accepted the irony that even if he didn’t spin his father’s records till the grooves smoothed out, his idols surely had.

At some point during the promo cycle for Bringing Down the Horse , someone remembered a powerful economic force: schoolgirls. I was only 7 when the shadowy video for “One Headlight” hit MTV, but it was obvious that Dylan had been packaged as a heartthrob. Shot under a bridge in Brooklyn, the visual pulls tight focus on Dylan’s eyes, which have been labeled every shade of azure since the clip first aired in 1997. His fetishized irises seemed like a marketing course correction: The video for “6th Avenue Heartache,” directed by a young David Fincher, had all the allure of a PowerPoint presentation. It was also filmed in black and white, robbed of those “startling, Samoyed-blue eyes,” as one reporter described them. The rest of the album’s videos were shot in color.

Dylan was aware of his hunk status, but didn’t dwell on it too much. He was a husband and father in his mid-20s, and had seen first-hand how fame could corrode family life. If his picture was being torn out of glossy magazines and slipped into binder covers, he found it amusing. In a 1998 interview with Rolling Stone , the wry musician was asked to comment on his undeniable “yumminess.” “Well, you know, to be called yummy is a fantastic honor,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek. “I’m going to do everything I can to continue to face up to that and not let anyone down in the future.”

But while he laughed at himself and his perceived sex appeal, Dylan never dismissed the contingent of Wallflowers fans who were taping his photo on their bedroom walls. “People frown on having young fans, especially young girls,” he said in ’97. “But if people look back and get their education, they’d realize young girls discovered the Beatles before anybody.” Dylan was quick to clarify that he wasn’t ranking his band alongside the Fab Four—but he couldn’t ignore the frenzied concertgoers. One night at Boston’s Avalon Ballroom, a frilly brassiere made its way on stage, followed by a dog-eared copy of Lolita .

By 1998, Bringing Down the Horse had sold 4 million copies—more than any solo studio album by Bob Dylan, as the trade papers liked to point out. “One Headlight” picked up two Grammy Awards that year, for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group. The Wallflowers would go on to release five more studio albums; their latest landed just two years ago. But they’d never summit the mountain again. Arriving between the death of Kurt Cobain and the release of Radiohead’s OK Computer , Bringing Down the Horse was the last gasp of chart-topping, Western-bent alternative rock. Dylan was no longer swimming upstream. And the hands that had tried to grab him were fishing in different waters.

Additional research by Deirdre McCabe Nolan

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Entertainment | The Wallflowers tour coming to Midland

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Nineties rock troupe The Wallflowers will bring their unique roots rock sound to Midland Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug.12. The band released their debut self-titled album more than 30 years ago in 1992, followed by their best-selling album “Bringing Down the Horse” in 1996, which led to two Grammy awards for the hit song “One Headlight.” Still led by guitarist and singer Jakob Dylan, the only original member remaining, the group released its seventh studio album, “Exit Wounds,” in 2021 — their first in 11 years since the 2012 release of the group’s sixth studio album “Glad All Over.” Tickets start at $38.50. The Midland Center is located at 1801 W. St. Andrews St. in Midland. For more information, visit mcfta.org or call 989-631-5930.

—Amy J. Parrent

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The Wallflowers will release their first new album in nearly a decade, Exit Wounds , this Friday via New West Records. The much-anticipated record finds the band’s signature sound — lean, potent and eminently entrancing — intact. Uncut Magazine says “… Exit Wounds rocks with smouldering intensity,” while MOJO says in their 4 Star Review, “It’s his best original work by some yards.” KCRW has stated “ Exit Wounds is a beacon for us all, a tribute to the rough year we’ve made it through.”  

The Wallflowers have announced their first North American tour dates in support of Exit Wounds today. Launching August 18th at the historic Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, TX, the tour will feature stops at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco, the brand new Brooklyn Made in Brooklyn, NY as well as an appearance at the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach alongside Jane’s Addiction, Cage The Elephant, Portugal. The Man and more. Most tickets for The Wallflowers Exit Wounds  tour will go on sale this Friday. Please see all dates below. 

The Wallflowers will appear on CBS This Morning: Saturday this Saturday, July 10th. They have also been announced as a part of Good Morning America ’s 2021 Summer Concert Series on Tuesday, July 13th and will appear on Good Morning America Weekend on Saturday, July 17th as well. The band previously appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Late Show with James Corden , performing Exit Wound ’s first single “Roots and Wings,” which has cracked the Top 10 at AAA Radio. 

Most recently, Jakob Dylan Executive Produced and Starred in the acclaimed 2018 documentary film Echo in the Canyon . The documentary found him collaborating with a host of artists classic and contemporary, from Neil Young and Brian Wilson to Beck and Fiona Apple. Echo In the Canyon was also the last on-screen appearance by Tom Petty and was the ninth biggest theatrical documentary released that year. The Wallflowers’ overwhelmingly successful single “One Headlight” was prominently featured in the Judd Apatow film The King of Staten Island last year and continues to be a massive hit, topping Billboard ’s “Greatest of All Time Adult Alternative Songs” chart. 

The Wallflowers’ Exit Wounds will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited Opaque Purple Vinyl edition will be available at Independent Retailers worldwide while a limited to 500 Purple Splatter vinyl edition will be available via New West Records. A limited to 500 Purple and Pink Splatter vinyl edition will be available via Nordic Retailers while a limited to 500 Purple and Silver Marbled vinyl edition will be available via the Magnolia Record Club. A Super Deluxe Vinyl edition limited to 750 copies will be autographed by Jakob Dylan. It will also feature a linen-wrapped jacket, purple foil-stamped & numbered and housed & protected in a clear outer sleeve. 

The Wallflowers’ Exit Wounds is available NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS . 

The Wallflowers Exit Wounds Track Listing:

1. Maybe Your Heart’s Not In It No More 2. Roots And Wings 3. I Hear The Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains) 4. The Dive Bar In My Heart 5. Darlin’ Hold On 6. Move The River 7. I’ll Let You Down (But Will Not Give You Up) 8. Wrong End Of The Spear 9. Who’s That Man Walking ‘Round My Garden 10. The Daylight Between Us

The Wallflowers On Tour: 

August 18 – New Braunfels, TX – Gruene Hall  August 20 – Robinsonville, MS – Gold Strike’s Millennium Theatre  August 21 – Norman, OK – Riverwind Casino  August 22 – Fort Worth, TX – Billy Bob’s Texas  September 8 – Santa Barbara, CA – Lobero Theatre  September 10 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore  September 11 – Redondo Beach. CA – Beachlife Festival  September 12 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern  November 5 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount  November 6 – Lexington, MA – Cary Hall  November 7 – East Greenwich, RI – Greenwich Odeum  November 9 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere  November 10 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Made  November 12 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony  November 13 – Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse  November 14 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage  November 16 – Kent, OH – The Kent Stage  November 17 – Evanston, IL – SPACE November 19 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse  November 20 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl 

WallflowersMusic.com NewWestRecords.com

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