Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things (2008) & Women + Country (2010) 2CDs

Being the son of one of the most influential, innovative, eccentric, and unique songwriters in the history of Western pop music probably opened some doors for Jakob Dylan, but being Bob Dylan's son was just as likely a heavy load to carry as well, and the younger Dylan handled the pressure with relative élan. Born in 1969, Jakob Dylan was raised in Los Angeles by his mother, Sara Lowndes, after his parents' divorce in 1977.

He studied at private schools in L.A. and New York, and eased into the music business during the late '80s by forming the Wallflowers with guitarist Tobi Miller, keyboard player Rami Jaffee, bassist Barrie Maguire, and drummer Peter Yanowitz. Featuring a classic heartland sound that was closer to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers or John Mellencamp than any of Bob Dylan's work, the band signed with Virgin and released a self-titled debut album in 1992. The record sold poorly, however, and Virgin dropped the band.

Dylan assembled a second version of the Wallflowers, one in which he and Jaffee were joined by a trio of new members – guitarist Michael Ward, bassist Greg Richling, and drummer Mario Calire. The "new" group signed to Interscope Records and recorded an album with producer (and Dylan family friend) T Bone Burnett. Bringing Down the Horse was released in 1996, producing the alternative radio hit "6th Avenue Heartache." A second single from the same album, "One Headlight," followed later in the year, and by the spring of 1997 it had become a Top Ten hit, firmly establishing the Wallflowers as a legitimate commercial band.

While the media naturally played up Dylan's connection to his father, the Wallflowers possessed their own sound, and Jakob's similarities to his dad – as both a singer and a songwriter – were only occasional at best. A third single from Bringing Down the Horse, "The Difference," was issued in 1997, and the album hung on as a big seller throughout 1997. One year later, "One Headlight" won Grammys for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

The typical next move would have been to quickly record a third album, but Dylan and the Wallflowers decided to take a long break from the studio instead. They returned in October 2000 with Breach, a fairly impressive effort that was largely ignored by mainstream radio. Red Letter Days appeared a year later in 2001, featuring a more commercial sound, and the band closed out its deal with Interscope by issuing Rebel, Sweetheart two years later.

Dylan signed a solo contract in 2006 with Columbia Records, his dad's longtime label, and issued the acoustic-based Seeing Things – recorded by Rick Rubin at the producer's Hollywood Hills studio – under his own name in 2008. Although the move seemingly left the status of the Wallflowers up in the air, the band reconvened one year later to tour in support of a greatest-hits album. It wasn't long before Dylan turned back to his solo career, though, and he released the sophomore effort Women + Country in 2010.

Steve Leggett, Allmusic.com

When the songwriter from a songwriter-driven band steps out on his own the question always hangs in the air: did he need to forsake his band in order to cut this set of songs? In the case of Seeing Things, the first album Jakob Dylan has released outside of the confines of the Wallflowers, he most certainly did. Quiet, reflective, based almost entirely on acoustic guitars, Seeing Things is intimate in a way the road-ready Wallflowers never were, although the tunes are as sturdy and plainspoken as Dylan's songs for the band. Indeed, there's always been a modesty at the core of his writing, so he benefits greatly from this humble setting, masterminded – as so many big-budget down to basics departures are in the 2000s – by Rick Rubin, known for his stripped-down reinventions of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. Seeing Things isn't nearly as spare as American Recordings or 12 Songs; anchored on acoustics though he may be, Dylan isn't on his own, as bass, harmony vocals, and keyboards are gently woven into the fabric. This gives the music warmth, but the simplicity of the setting helps focus on Dylan's unassuming, well-crafted songs, songs where melodies are gently insinuating and words are so carefully sculpted it's easy to overlook how nicely he turns a phrase. Like many of his peers, Dylan is casting a wary eye on a war-ridden new millennium, but these aren't protest songs, they work on an emotional level and are appropriately balanced with lighter moments, like the lazy shuffle of "All Day and All Night." All through his career, Jakob Dylan has never pushed too hard; he simply lays it out there, so he's uncommonly suited to Rubin's unadorned production. In Rubin's hands, Seeing Things plays like a songwriter playing his newest songs in your living room – a seductive feeling that no Wallflowers record ever captured, which is an excellent reason for Dylan to step out on his own.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

Continuing in the subdued, stripped-down direction he began with his 2008 solo debut Seeing Things, Jakob Dylan nevertheless achieves a cinematic resonance on his second record, 2010’s Women + Country. Surely, part of this is down to Dylan swapping Rick Rubin, who has made starkness almost a fetish, for the analog impressionism of T-Bone Burnett, who previously worked with the singer/songwriter on the Wallflowers 1996 breakthrough album Bringing Down the Horse. Women + Country has little to do with the sturdy, sinewy, straight-ahead rock of Bringing Down the Horse: it’s dreamy and airy, slipping in and out of focus, rootsy without being earthy. Horns swoon and stumble in the background, a string bass thumps time, Marc Ribot gently punctures the murk with his gnarled guitar, while Neko Case and Kelly Hogan add warmth with their harmonies, all creating a hazy glaze that augments with Dylan’s dry, unfussy songs. These seemingly conflicting extremes don’t result in a dissonant disconnect, but rather a subtle richness: the spareness of the songs lend themselves to these layered arrangements which in turn draw attention to Dylan’s tight, clean writing. Naturally, this means that Women + Country is somewhat of a grower – it’s so purposefully hazy it seems to pleasingly fade into the slipstream upon the first play, but those repeated spins reveal the deep craft at the heart of Women + Country, deep craft from both the songwriter, his producer, and musicians.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com