BARRY COURTER: The first thing you notice about "Women & Country" are the names on the front and back. "Dylan" will always grab your attention, and lately so will T-Bone Burnett, who performs on a couple of tracks and produced the CD.
Looking inside, you also find that the names Neko Case and Kelly Hogan are on the guest list. With a lineup like that, expectations can be high. Maybe too high. I expected magic, and what I got was an album full of really good stuff I've heard before, at least from Burnett.
We get lots of funereal kick drums, banjo plucking, pedal-steel guitar and mournful vocals from Dylan.
CASEY PHILLIPS: Yes, this, Dylan's second solo outing, sounds very much like a Burnett project, especially the vocal harmonies with Case, which reminded me strongly of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' work on "Raising Sand." That being said, carrying a bold signature from Burnett is certainly not a bad thing. Burnett makes all the tracks sound intimately immediate, warm and dark.
BARRY: Dylan wrote all of the tracks, and there are plenty of standout moments. I really liked the slightly more upbeat "Everybody's Hurting" and "Holy Rollers for Love." His raspy, quiet voice works well with Burnett's rootsy sounds, and having alt-country sirens Case and Hogan is a good touch, though I would have liked to hear more of them perhaps. My issue is that it does sound like "Raising Sand" and some other Burnett-produced works. They are all good, also.
CASEY: While this isn't a concept album (at least not one whose concept was readily apparent to me), the songs do share a common tone. Almost every one is a tale of man on the wrong side of luck, fighting to make do or just to survive. On each of the 11 tracks, Dylan is all blood, sweat, grit and gristle, from a man reaching for a love he threw away ("Smile When You Call Me That") and bald perseverance ("Down on Our Own Shield") to a Tom Waits-esque take on a community crawling out from the rubble ("Lend a Hand").
BARRY: "Women & Country" is a very tasteful, solid album, but I wanted more.
CASEY: Maybe I've just been underexposed to both Dylan and Burnett, but I was pretty blown away by "Women and Country." The production is top-knotch, and Dylan's vocals reminded me pleasantly of Mark Knopfler's at times. He's achieved a level of evocative imagery and honesty I've come to associate with his father, which I wasn't expecting. This is great stuff, and among the best I've heard this year.
E-mail Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com and Casey Phillips at cphil lips@timesfreepress.com