[listen while you read: Nothing but the Whole Wide World by Jakob Dylan]

Jakob Dylan’s “Women and Country” is a great album.  In a time when fans are predicting the death of the album, Dylan has created a work of great beauty that defies this death sentence, containing strings of well-turned phrases and thoughtful arrangements. This is only Dylan’s second solo effort but it wears every one of his 20 years of performing like a well-worn saddle.

With “Women and Country,” Dylan emerges as one of the foremost singer/songwriters of his generation.  He continually defies convention.  When critics assumed he would begin his career as a solo act like his father, Dylan formed what essentially began as a jam band with The Wallflowers in 1992.  They quickly moved into Heartbreakers territory, delivering a product to fans that’s long been in short supply: rock n’ roll.  Now, with his newest album, Dylan tackles what could be the most unpopular musical genre. Yee-haw.

At the beginning of the album, on “Nothing But The Whole Wide World,” Dylan rolls out the steady, driving percussion popular in many country songs.  This time out, he’s got back up, provided by the lovely Neko Case and Kelly Hogan.  A steel guitar accompanies Dylan’s raspy crooning.  Like many of the characters in his songs, this one is an optimistic pessimist. Interestingly, he is a man who recognizes the existence of God, no matter if he’s praising or scorning Him:

Mama, she raised me to sing and just let ’em talk
Said no rich man’s worth his weight in dust
Bury him down same as they’ll do us
God wants us busy, never giving up
He wants nothing but the whole wide world for us

Dylan follows this happy tune with the sober, New Orleans-styled “Lend A Hand.”  You feel like you could hear any number of similar songs walking through the French Quarter of the city.  But the song is anything but optimistic; even the bloodhound can find a trail. With this song and others, Dylan hit upon a fundamental truth of country, that country and blues are essentially inseparable.  Both genres rest upon two themes: love and God/Satan.

“Holy Rollers For Love” exemplifies Dylan’s growth as an artist and it’s the most beautiful track on the album. It’s the archetype of a great song: poetry and music.  The song displays Dylan’s timeless themes:

With battle songs filling their lungs
Move them out down under the sun
Give them tears for cherry red blood
Stack them old, we cradle them young
World is crazy or maybe just
Holy rollers for love

Nothing is spared on the track, but everything is sparing, including a haunting steel guitar solo bridge and drums that could be heard on a Native reservation.

T-Bone Burnett produced the album and it’s evident in every one of the tracks. Burnett seems to prefer what I call “clean” country.  His arrangements are spare, polished and hauntingly melodic, even sensitive. He fills spaces with steady percussion and plenty of steel guitar.  Burnett brought the same when he reworked Johnny Cash standards for “Walk the Line” (’05) and scored the excellent “Crazy Heart,” in which he won an Oscar for “The Weary Kind” with Ryan Bingham this year.

Dylan’s search for popularity and respect could not have been an easy task.  First, he had to steal away from his father’s shadow, not an easy task.  But instead of coming out shooting, Dylan thought up an escape plan and he organized himself a posse: the Wallflowers.  Together, under Dylan’s direction, they shot up the charts. Their album “Bringing Down the Horse” (’96), also under the direction of Burnett, produced a string of hits, including the Grammy-winning “One Headlight.”

– Jonathan Michels