As someone who sort of followed her father into a field, I cannot imagine how absurdly hard it is to be Justin Townes Earle. I assume it's gratifying, and probably reassuring, for Earle to get the reception he's been getting lately. This is a really terrific song:
I am profoundly not a musician (stabs at violin and trumpet aside), but I assume it's more satisfying to write a genuinely terrific pop song than to just get credit for a great performance of something mid-level or even mediocre, if only because you've created something new from the bones and flesh up.
And if Townes has it tough, I imagine Jakob Dylan has it even harder. Maybe it's just being in the moment, but I feel like the younger Dylan never quite had the moment the younger Earle is having now, where the consensus seems to be that he's an entirely worthy inheritor of his father's tradition, no matter how successful Bringing Down the Horse was. I'm quite fond of the Wallflowers' third album, (Breach), though. There's a real bite to it, from the very first track:
It's not Blood on the Tracks, but that's not the point. Bob Dylan's a shaman, a spirit walking the land. His son is a self-aware pop semi-star:
Just like Dad, though, he can kill with the inflection. "It's where I'm from that lets them think I'm a whore / I'm an educated virgin" is one hell of a gorgeous line.