Music Reviews & News

Dylan Jr. is his own man

3.1.97 By Andy Smith for The Journal-Bulletin - Providence, RI

His band, the Wallflowers, are sold out at Lupo's tonight

PROVIDENCE - Yes, Jakob Dylan - lead singer for the Wallflowers - is the son of Bob Dylan. No, he doesn't especially want to talk about his father, even though he knows that inquiring minds want to know.

"It's partly a question of respect for his privacy,'' Dylan said. ``If he wants to talk about himself, then he'll give interviews. I'm not some new channel that has opened up to talk about him.''

Jakob is the youngest son of Bob Dylan and Sara Lowndes; the two divorced in 1977.

Being the son of a legend, particularly when you're in the same line of work, can be as much burden as blessing, as Frank Sinatra Jr. or Julian Lennon might tell you.

But Jakob Dylan said he never felt that way.

"It's just not a weight on my shoulders,'' he said. `"The people who are obsessed by it and don't think about anything else, they're the ones who carry the weight.''

He'd like his music - rootsy, melodic rock - to stand on its own merits.

"It's very basic. If I wrote a song that's really good, well, I wrote it. If I wrote a song that you really think sucks, I wrote that one, too. You either think I'm good or I'm bad, and that has absolutely nothing to do with my family or how I grew up.''

Dylan must be doing something right. The Wallflowers have sold out Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel for their show tonight; their album Bringing Down the Horse has yielded hit singles with One Headlight and 6th Avenue Heartache.

But Dylan was no overnight success story. His band's first album, released by Virgin Records in 1992, sold poorly. After an executive shakeup at Virgin, the Wallflowers asked to be released from their contract.

"Virgin didn't really believe in us,'' Dylan said. `"They have to choose you as a priority, and that never happened with us.''

Dylan had acquired a reputation in the industry for being ``difficult.'' It was several years and some major lineup changes before The Wallflowers ended up at Interscope. That's also the home of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, seemingly an odd place to find Dylan's style.

But Dylan said that's been an advantage - the Wallflowers are the only band of their kind at Interscope.

Along with a new label, Dylan hooked up with veteran producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett, who has worked with Elvis Costello, the BoDeans and (yes) Bob Dylan. Among other things, Burnett brought Dylan's voice to the forefront of the band's sound.

Dylan said he has been attracted to music since he started going to shows when he was 12.

"I remember seeing The Clash in their leather jackets, looking like some gang had come to town and no one could touch them,'' he said.

But Dylan's sound is more reminiscent of The Band, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and newer bands like the Counting Crows than punkers such as The Clash.

Dylan said he got the story for his first single, 6th Avenue Heartache, just by looking out his window.

"It's a very literal song; it actually happened on 6th Avenue in New York City,'' he said. ``I looked out my window and every day there was this guy playing guitar and singing songs on a blanket. I assumed he was homeless, although I never knew for sure. I knew the songs he was playing - Everly Brothers, the Beatles.

"And then one day he was just gone, and people started stealing his stuff. I felt a connection with him.''