Jakob Dylan - Women + Country (2010)

Obvious comparisons notwithstanding, Jakob Dylan’s second solo album is a fine alt-country album. This is definitely more country than folk, a relaxed affair that, unlike many of his father’s greatest songs, are not confrontational in the slightest. Many of these songs are built around gentle acoustic strumming, slow tempos, and a subdued percussion that propels the songs nicely. Dylan’s voice doesn’t sound all that much like his father’s, aside from some similar tonalities, but this commonality wont jump out at the listener. It would be silly to expect anything all that similar to his father, and sillier still to judge Jakob’s work in comparison to Bob’s. I don’t remember the elder Dylan ever recording anything quite as mellow as this, even in his advanced age. There’s an edge inherent in nearly every word he sings. Jakob Dylan doesn’t have this edge, with a voice more suited for lullabies than protest songs. This style suits him well on this album, and though I cannot compare it to his other solo album of any of the Wallflowers’ albums, this is strong enough for me to consider giving those a chance. The drawback is that, by the time the album is halfway over, a lack of variety becomes evident. Too much of the same drums beat, the same soothing acoustic rhythms, it just becomes a little too similar after a while, but, soon after this becomes evident, the album suddenly branches out slightly, and thus saves the album from being a one-trick pony. The eighth track, “Truth for a Truth,” breaks up the semi-monotony with a surprisingly upbeat melody. The song has a nice flow to it, with Neko Case providing background vocals that lend a great deal of texture to the song. The track that follows this, “They’ve Trapped Us Boys,” is another highlight. It’s sort of a bluegrass ballad, with a rollicking guitar and banjo melody. Nothing on this album is bad, as I’ve said, but right when I started thinking everything sounded a bit too similar, these two tracks came on and reignited my interest in this album. There’s another noteworthy track, earlier in the album. “Lend a Hand” is a slow, plodding, brass-augmented, track that certainly doesn’t sound like most of the album. The album, despite a lot of similar sounding songs, is pretty consistant in terms of quality. The songs capture the feel you’d expect from a country album, though it doesn’t tread so far into country as to become a charicature of the genre (like more mainstream country music). I feel like this is a very strong album, almost bordering on being a great one, but it will certainly get a lot of plays through this summer from me.

Recommended Tracks:
“Nothing But the Whole Wide World”
“Yonder Come the Blues”
“Truth for a Truth”
“They’ve Trapped Us Boys”