The Wallflowers 2023 tour has been announced and the 90s MTV darlings will wind through New York with stops in Albany at The Egg on Wednesday, May 3 and in Poughkeepsie at Bardavon on Friday, May 12.
For the past 30 years, the Jakob Dylan-led Wallflowers 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.
Dylan’s vision has always been the core of the Wallflower’s music. How he chooses to express that vision, however, is what makes a song a Wallflowers song. “I usually just let the songs tell me what kind of arrangements they need,” he says. “And if they’re asking for full-band electric arrangements, then that’s what the Wallflowers provide. And I knew I wanted to make a full-band electric record this time out.”
So that’s always been my vision with the Wallflowers – to be a great rock ‘n’ roll band. And I’ve worked on it for 30 years now and I still have a lot to say. It’s something I started a long time ago, and it’s far from finished.
Jakob Dylan
And made one he has, with one special guest on board – Shelby Lynne, who lends her voice to three of the album’s tracks. “I hadn’t met Shelby before, but like most people, I’ve been a fan of hers for quite some time,” Dylan says. “She has one of those voices that’s very uncommon, very unique, very rare.”
But there was more to their duet than just a mutual appreciation. “You can have your favorite singer come in, but it doesn’t mean you’ll have any connection – there has to be more than that,” Dylan continues. “And as soon as I heard Shelby sing, I knew we had something.”
Dylan acknowledges that the tracks on the new Exit Wounds reflect the tumultuous times in which they were written. “The climate affects how you feel, which affects how you’re writing songs, even if you’re not writing specifically about current events.” He turns to the late John Prine to illustrate his point. “If we still had John Prine, I don’t think he’d be writing songs specifically about current affairs, but he’d probably be writing songs about characters affected by current affairs. I think that’s mostly what I do.”
When it came to realizing these new songs on record, Dylan assembled a backing band of musical associates – “people that I’ve wanted to play with or that I have played with through the years” – and headed into the studio under the watchful eye of producer Butch Walker.
That joyful experience extended to Dylan’s interplay with his fellow musicians. “This was not the type of thing where it’s a rotating cast and you call a different drummer for each song, or you pull out the Rolodex and ring the local sessions guys,” Dylan says. “The record was made as a band – the five Wallflowers.”
And to Dylan, a band, even one with a constantly shifting lineup, is a sacred thing. “I’ve always been a believer in collaboration,” he says, “and no matter who I’m playing with I’ve always tried to include them very heavily. Otherwise, why would they be around? Because I do think bands, whether it’s a long standing group or just five people who are working together for that one stretch of time, make better rock ‘n’ roll records than solo artists.”
The Wallflowers 2023 Tour Dates
APR 13 THU CLUB LA – Destin, FL
APR 14 FRI Ponte Vedra Concert Hall – Ponte Vedra, FL
APR 15 SAT Tortuga Music Festival 2023 – Fort Lauderdale, FL
APR 17 MON Charleston Music Hall – Charleston, SC
APR 18 TUE Neighborhood Theatre – Charlotte, NC
APR 19 WED The Ramkat – Winston-salem, NC
APR 21 FRI Robert Kirk Walker Theatre – Chattanooga, TN
APR 23 SUN Clyde Theatre – Fort Wayne, IN
APR 25 TUE The Fillmore Detroit – Detroit, MI
APR 26 WED The Palladium at the Center for the Performing Arts – Carmel, IN
APR 29 SAT Appell Center for the Performing Arts – York, PA
APR 30 SUN Paramount Theater – Charlottesville, VA
MAY 1 MON Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
MAY 3 WED Hart Theatre at the Egg – Albany, NY
MAY 6 SAT The Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center – Plymouth, NH
MAY 7 SUN Greenwich Odeum – East Greenwich, RI
MAY 9 TUE The Ridgefield Playhouse – Ridgefield, CT
MAY 11 THU Stone Pony = Asbury Park, NJ
MAY 12 FRI BARDAVON – Poughkeepsie, NY
Tickets go on sale Friday, January 20 at 10am. Tickets will be available online at theegg.org and bardavon.org
The post The Wallflowers Tour Drives by The Egg and Bardavon in May appeared first on NYS Music.
