Meta

Nearly three decades ago, the New Dylans garnered rave reviews from Rolling Stone and the Village Voice. R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe sang their praises and they were featured on MTV and BBC Radio One. The New Dylans finagled opening slots with The Band, Shawn Colvin, Townes Van Zandt and others of serious note. Band members Jim Reilley and Reese Campbell, boyhood friends from Pennsylvania, were living the dream. Could major success be far off? Well, yeah, it was pretty far off, as it turned out. After a decade of struggling on the road, performing for next to nothing in towns where venues were sometimes nearly empty, the New Dylans called it quits in 1996. About a year ago Reilley and Campbell decided to give it another go. With a fire in their bellies to make a really good new album, and with the media support of an unexpected champion in Nashville's Gannett-owned newspaper The Tennessean, they wrote and recorded Meta. Meta has a bite and a Petty/Beatles/ELO bent at the same time. "There's just something about what we do that makes it sound New Dylans-y... Reese and I bring out the best in each other," Reilley says. "The songs have our mark on them." With Reilley playing the guitar parts and Campbell on keys on the nearly hour-long CD, co-produced by busy East Nashville producer Eric Fritsch, the rhythm section features two of Nashville's finest. "We got Ken Coomer from Wilco to play drums, and Chris Autry, a great session player here in town, is on bass."