The Wallflowers’ debut, self-titled album arrived to little fanfare in August of 1992. It did little to discourage frontman Jakob Dylan, who offered the world with Bringing Down the Horse 4 years later.
This time it was completely different. Three songs from the album have been nominated for Grammy Awards and the album itself went to No. 4 within the U.S. Its main observe, “One Headlight,” was the primary single to ever attain No. 1 on all three of Billboard‘s rock airplay charts: Fashionable Rock Tracks, Mainstream Rock Songs and the Triple-A chart.
Who was this Dylan man and the place did he come from? If it wasn’t clear already: Jakob Dylan is the second oldest son of Bob Dylan, born in 1969. Like most spawn of rock stars, he did not precisely have a standard childhood — except you additionally spent a portion of your teenage years on the highway with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers within the ’80s or frolicked with George Harrison’s son whereas your dads made Touring Wilburys music — but it surely appeared the youthful Dylan had a present for songwriting, well-known father or not. (In 1998, Jakob gained a Grammy for Greatest Rock Music. Amongst these additionally nominated for a similar award? His dad.)
Two issues are true directly: Jakob and his Wallflowers are a singular expertise, acknowledged for their very own accomplishments, however he and so they additionally stand on the shoulders of those that got here earlier than them. Jakob’s checklist of influences is lengthy, and naturally, lots of them are or have been his dad’s friends: Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Leon Russell, and many others.
It stands to cause then that the Wallflowers have lined songs by quite a few rock ‘n’ roll greats over time, each reside and in studio. Beneath, we have collected 10 of the perfect, although it is simply the tip of the iceberg.
1. “I Began a Joke”
Artist: The Bee Gees
Dylan doesn’t have the identical singing voice as Robin Gibb — that is an actual apples to oranges comparability. Nonetheless, the Wallflowers’ model of “I Began a Joke” is each an sincere nod to the unique and one which sounds fully like themselves. It appeared on what was billed as a “kids’s album” referred to as 2000s Different Rock For Youngsters. Whether or not or not a music about feeling deeply alienated is your best option for a children album is one other matter.
2. “I am Wanting By way of You”
Artist: The Beatles
“No one was ever going to be pretty much as good because the Beatles,” Dylan stated to The Large Problem in 2020, “no person will ever be pretty much as good because the Beatles.” That ought to not cease bands from masking their music although, because the Wallflowers did for the soundtrack to the 2001 movie, I Am Sam, which was made up fully of Beatles covers.
3. “The Ready”
Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Dylan is not any stranger to masking Petty songs. The truth is, in October of 2024, he placed on a present in Los Angeles during which he performed the whole thing of the Wallflowers’ personal Bringing Down the Horse, plus Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1982 album Lengthy After Darkish. Within the final a number of years, Dylan has taken a selected shining to “The Ready,” which he’ll play usually in encores. “[Petty] lacked vanity,” Dylan stated to The Solar in 2021. “I am sorry to say it however some individuals from that era are assholes. They’re aggressive, they are not comfy and there is bitter-ness, however not Tom.”
4. “Into the Mystic”
Artist: Van Morrison
In June of 2023, Bob Dylan broke out an sudden cowl of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” at one in every of his concert events, however his son Jakob has been doing it for nicely over 20 years. Beneath is the studio model the Wallflowers recorded for the soundtrack to the 2003 movie American Marriage ceremony, the identical yr they began together with it in reside set lists.
5. “Heroes”
Artist: David Bowie
For no matter cause, a bunch of Wallflowers basic rock covers have ended up on film soundtracks. Here is one other one within the type of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” which the Wallflowers recorded for the 1998 movie Godzilla, and continued to carry out reside. An particularly memorable cowl of it occurred in November 2024 when Dylan carried out it with Duff McKagan of Weapons N’ Roses.
7. “Legal professionals, Weapons and Cash”
Artist: Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon is definitely the individual answerable for connecting Dylan with document producer Andrew Slater. In 1987, Slater was engaged on Zevon’s Sentimental Hygiene album, on which Dylan’s dad performed harmonica on the music “The Manufacturing unit.” “He introduced this child,” Slater recalled to Rolling Stone in 2002. “I stated, ‘Hello, I am Andy,’ and he stated, ‘Hello, I am Jakob. I am in a band.'” The youthful Dylan was simply 17 years outdated on the time, however Slater would wind up co-producing two of the Wallflowers’ albums, their 1992 debut and 2000’s (Breach), and the Wallflowers would document one in every of Zevon’s songs, “Legal professionals, Weapons and Cash” for the 2004 tribute album Take pleasure in Each Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon. The Wallflowers additionally carried out the music with Zevon’s son, Jordan, on Late Present With David Letterman that very same yr.
8. “Eight Miles Excessive”
Artist: The Byrds
Again in 2018, Dylan served because the host of a movie referred to as Echo within the Canyon, which explored the rise of Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon neighborhood as a mecca for music and artwork of all types within the ’60s, the place the likes of Joni Mitchell, the Seaside Boys, Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and plenty of extra discovered area to create. Talking of the Byrds, here is a reside cowl of their music “Eight Miles Excessive” the Wallflowers did with Roger McGuinn and Eric Clapton in 2023. (If you would like to listen to extra Laurel Canyon covers, the movie’s soundtrack consists of contributions by Neil Younger, Beck, Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple, Josh Homme and extra.)
9. “I Fought the Legislation”
Artists: The Crickets (within the model of the Conflict)
One of many perks of Bob Dylan being your dad is that the possibilities of assembly your heroes as a child are a lot higher, which is how he acquired to satisfy Joe Strummer and the Conflict. “I have not ran into anybody my age, both enjoying music or only a fan of music, who will not undeniably say the Conflict wasn’t one of the vital impactful and highly effective teams, in whichever model of them you want or whichever document you want,” Dylan stated to Exclaim! in 2012. “There was simply no person any higher. I’ve by no means been caught up in the entire punk rock tag — I did not care about that — they have been only a terrific rock ‘n’ roll band who moved me then and nonetheless do.” “I Fought the Legislation” within the model of the Conflict is a daily of Wallflowers set lists.
10. “The Letter”
Artist: The Boxtops
Dylan’s voice actually fits the Boxtops’ 1967 hit “The Letter” — each he and singer Alex Chilton have a gruff edge to them. The Wallflowers’ model although provides it somewhat extra weight on the underside, to not point out area for some nice piano work.
