“I do feel like a little bit of a house band here in Santa Barbara, if that’s what we are,” said Jakob Dylan, who, along with his band The Wallflowers, made their fourth appearance since 2022 at the Lobero last month. Based on the enthusiastic full house, which was up on its feet dancing for much of the night, we’ll be happily hanging with this crew for many years to come.
Despite the additional spotlight on the Dylan family legacy this past year, thanks to Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of the young Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Jakob Dylan and his talented tribe of troubadours have a classic rootsy rock sound that remains uniquely their own.
“Santa Barbara’s been very good to us. We’ve been coming up here for a long, long time,” said the smokey voiced vocalist/guitarist, as he led the band through a set list that included mostly familiar tunes like “Move the River” (from 2021’s Exit Wounds), “Sleepwalker (I’ll Never Be Your Valentine)” (from 2000’s Breach), “See You in the Spring” (performed with the Court Yard Hounds in 2010), and “6th Avenue Heartache” (from 1996’s Bringing Down the House).
Dylan’s husky, powerful, bedroomy voice was as good as ever, especially on “I’ll Let You Down (But Will Not Give You Up)” (from 2021’s Exit Wounds), and the group’s better known songs, “The Difference” (from 1996’s Bringing Down the House), and “One Headlight” (also from Bringing Down the House).
As we’ve come to expect, Dylan was backed by a tight group of musicians, including Aaron Embry on keyboards, Chris Masterson on guitar, Ben Peeler on lap steel slide guitar and more, Whynot Jansveld on bass, and Mark Stepro on drums.
They ended the night on a high note, per usual, with some Tom Petty covers, including one of my favorites, “You Got Lucky” — and indeed we did get lucky, with a fun night with the Wallflowers once again.
