Opening Act: Leslie Mendelson
Rock ‘n’ roll is often hard to define, or even to find, in these fractured musical times. But to paraphrase an old saying, you know it when you hear it.
And you always hear it with the Wallflowers. For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylan-led act has stood as one of rock’s most dynamic and purposeful bands – a unit dedicated to and continually honing a sound that meshes timeless songwriting and storytelling with a hard-hitting and decidedly modern musical attack. That signature style has been present through the decades, baked into the grooves of smash hits like 1996’s
Bringing Down the Horse as well as more recent and exploratory fare like 2012’s
Glad All Over.
Even so, in recent years, Dylan – the Wallflowers’ founding singer, songwriter and guitarist – has repeatedly stepped outside of his band, first with a pair of more acoustic and rootsy records, 2008’s
Seeing Things and 2010’s
Women + Country, and then with the 2018 film
Echo in the Canyon and the accompanying soundtrack, which saw him collaborate with a host of artists classic and contemporary, from Neil Young and Eric Clapton to Beck and Fiona Apple.
But while it’s been nine long years since we’ve heard from the group with whom he first made his mark, the Wallflowers are silent no more. And Dylan always knew they’d return. “The Wallflowers is much of my life’s work,” he says simply.
Plus, he adds with a laugh, “It’s pretty hard to get a good band name, so if you have one, keep it.”
Good band name aside, that life’s work continues with
Exit Wounds, the brand-new Wallflowers studio offering. The collection marks the first new Wallflowers material since
Glad All Over. And while the wait has been long, the much-anticipated record finds the band’s signature sound – lean, potent and eminently entrancing – intact, even as Dylan surrounds himself with a fresh cast of musicians.
Which, the front man is quick to point out, is not all that unusual. “The Wallflowers has always been a vehicle for me to make great rock ‘n’ roll records,” he says. “And sometimes the lineup that makes the record transfers over into touring, and sometimes it doesn’t. But my intention is always to make the Wallflowers record I want to make, using the musicians I have beside me.”
Leslie Mendelson: Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Leslie Mendelson is riding a wave of acclaim for her most recent studio album
If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…, as well as a solo acoustic EP
In The Meantime. Described by
Relix Magazine as an artist with “a loyal, cross-generational audience that hugs the hippie, hipster, coffee shop and society crowds,” Leslie’s timeless musicality and evocative songwriting indeed cuts a wide swath.
All Music writes that Leslie evokes “1970s songwriter influences in the vein of Carole King and Carly Simon,” while
The Aquarian calls her “the closest thing one can get to a truly honest musical experience.”
Tickets: $53 - $63
Prices include a per ticket handling fee. Tickets are nonrefundable.
This event is eligible for the
Youth Arts Access Fund.
On Sale to WC Members: March 13 at 11am
On Sale to Public: March 20 at 11am