Review: Jakob Dylan doesn't stray from album's muted sound
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On his new album, "Women + Country," Jakob Dylan got the full T-Bone Burnett treatment, with the music taking on a hushed, muted, atmospheric quality -- right down to the vocals of indie-rock siren Neko Case.
Taking the album out on tour with Ms. Case and her band, now dubbed Three Legs, son of Bob had the choice of reproducing that vibe or bursting through the fog in full color.
Last night, in the tour opener at the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead, he remained pretty true to the product. The bulk of the set stayed in the same sleepy first gear with the heavy stand-up bass and mournful pedal steel blanketing the sound.
When you hear Jakob's voice, there's no question who his dad is, although as Wallflowers fans know, he projects a good deal less and sings even more through his teeth. Thankfully, Ms. Case was mixed much higher than T-Bone had her, to the delight of her very vocal following, particularly the rowdies in the fourth row.
"Are you cat-calling the ladies? Don't DO that," joked Mr. Dylan, who was quite chatty and funny, even spending a few minutes addressing a 2-year-old fan up front.
The early standout was a sensual duet on "Smile When You Call Me That," despite Ms. Case missing the cue on her second verse. A few tunes later, Three Legs ended the song before it was finished, so there was a loose work-in-progress feel to the proceedings.
The set brightened toward the end when the band cranked it up on "Lend a Hand" and rocked through "They Trapped Us Boys," a timely but oddly jaunty song about a miner accident.
Mr. Dylan departed from the "Women + Country" program with a few songs from his first solo album and threw the crowd a bone with a twangy encore of the Wallflowers' hit "Three Marlenas."
First Published April 10, 2010 12:00 am
