The Wallflowers to take Paramount stage

Grace McQuade

What do you do when you’ve written songs that have been etched into the fabric of timeless rock classics — hits like “6th Avenue Heartache” and “One Headlight,” which received a Grammy award for Best Rock Song in 1998 and was included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs?

What’s next when you’ve already had several careers’ worth of achievements?

You could flip the whole thing on its head and make a record that sounds like you started the band last week with your best friends — simply for the love of making music — which is exactly what Jakob Dylan and his band, The Wallflowers, have done.

Their most recent album release, Glad All Over, sounds like a group of 21-year-olds ready to set the world on fire, but with the wisdom of a veteran band that knows how to let just the right amount burn.

Glad All Over was produced by Jay Joyce (Emmylou Harris, Cage the Elephant) and mixed by Rich Costey (Bruce Springsteen, The Shins) at The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville.

With the energy of songs like “Have Mercy On Him Now,” there’s a true sense of poetry all over the record.

Fueled by the new heartbeat of the band, Jack Irons, this is a new day for The Wallflowers and they have new fire in their engines.

Long Island will be the next stop on their tour, with a performance at The Paramount scheduled for Tuesday, July 11 at 8 p.m., where they will be joined on stage by Better Than Ezra.

To say the past, 20-plus years have been “good” for the New Orleans-based rock band would be an understatement.

Better Than Ezra has been selling out venues across the country since forming at Louisiana State University in 1988, where they started touring on the Southern college circuit.

After self-releasing their first album, Deluxe in 1993, major record labels expressed interest in the band.

But it wasn’t until after two years of touring and creating a loyal fan base that dubbed themselves the “Ezralites,” that Better Than Ezra signed with Elektra Records.

Elektra re-released Deluxe and its 1995 hit single “Good,” which reached the number one position on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, driving the album sales to platinum status.

The band quickly became a staple in the ‘90s pop/rock scene, immediately releasing two new albums within three years of being signed.

Friction, Baby, released in 1996, and How Does Your Garden Grow? in 1998 produced the hits “Desperately Wanting,” “King of New Orleans,” and “At the Stars.”

Better Than Ezra went from being a pop-rock act paying its dues by traveling from town to town in a ramshackle van, to having a number-one hit with “Good,” their debut album Deluxe going double-platinum, popular shows such as “Desperate Housewives” licensing their song “Juicy,” and Taylor Swift attesting to the band’s timeless appeal by covering their track “Breathless.”

Over two decades after the band formed, that vigilance still resonates strongly with the trio, who were finally rewarded after seven years of stubbornly chasing their dreams.

“This band,” notes bassist Tom Drummond, “has never been handed anything.”

This joint concert will not disappoint the two bands’ true fans.

The Paramount is located at 370 New York Ave. in Huntington.

For tickets and more information, go to www.paramountny.com.

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