Women + Country

Forget about The Wallflowers. (Ok, maybe you already have.) This is the real deal. Jakob Dylan has teamed up with legendary producer T-Bone Burnett and created one of the best albums in years. Yeah, that’s right. Writing about loss of love, loss of country, God, Katrina references, and boxing references, Dylan’s lyrics are poignant, biting, revelatory and real. I urge you to read them. The music is what you’d expect from a Burnett-produced album: full of ethereal, dreamy, spacey yet focused aural pleasures. Musicians include Marc Ribot (Tom Waits sideman) on guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal steel, Neko Case on backing vocals. Don’t let the slower-paced songs deter you - each one of these songs is a gem. No FCC’s.

My favorites: All.

1. (3:48) Slow / Mid. Simple brushes on the drums and pedal steel yield a beautiful number.
2. (3:41) Slow / Mid. The haunting duo of Ribot’s guitar and Leisz’s pedal steel mesh with Dylan’s heavy lyrics.
3. (3:49) Mid. Jazzy blues co-exist with references about hurricane Katrina and how to help.
4. (4:24) Slow / Mid. The absence of life in the country, a loss of innocence backed by banjo, fiddle and pedal steel.
5. (3:40) Mid. Acoustic bass, horns and drums evidence the title of the song - a hurt.
6. (4:01) Slow / Mid. Spacey keyboard / pedal steel intro leads to a nice, quiet drum beat and a bit of blues.
7. (3:56) Mid. ‘Something sinister’s got you the minute you open the door’ is all you need to know about this number.
8. (3:35) Mid. Catchy even though Dylan uses the cliched title to build a song around; it still works well.
9. (4:02) Mid. / Fast. Killer instrumentation, esp. the mandolin, support this great song about mining and life.
10. (4:00) Slow. ‘My arms are useless if they don’t have you’ - embedded in a great verse. About love lost, quiet, thoughtful and perfect.
11. (3:57) Mid / Fast. Horns intro lead to a fairly rocking tune. The metaphor of boxing and the sea is for a doomed love.