On paper, the Wallflowers' 2012 album Glad All Over has the whiff of trying to recapture past glories.
It was the band's first album of new material in seven years, a hiatus that included a rote best-of compilation, a couple tours, and two solo albums by frontman/songwriter Jakob Dylan.
But talking to Dylan last week - and, more importantly, listening to the album - it's clear that the band and its leader aren't crassly trying to capitalize on fondness for the quadruple-platinum Bringing Down the Horse (and its chart-topping single, "One Headlight") from 1996. As the All Music Guide correctly summarized, with Glad All Over the Wallflowers "now feel the freedom to mess around, and they've come up with one of their loosest, liveliest records that not-so-coincidentally is one of their best."
So the long absence of the Wallflowers - headlining River Roots Live on August 17 - can be explained by Dylan wanting the band to survive and thrive. He obviously views it as his band - less in the sense of belonging to him than being his primary musical outlet.
