On his last album (and solo debut), the spare, folky Seeing Things, Jakob Dylan attracted a slew of comparisons to his father, Bob — but for once, they felt earned, and, ironically, Jakob finally sounded comfortable in his own skin. He takes it a step further here, with Neko Case and her bandmate Kelly Hogan providing gentle harmonies, and superproducer T Bone Burnett giving this roots folk a roomy sound. Dylan's gentle croon doesn't pull every tune off — particularly dark songs like the Tom Waits-y "Lend a Hand." But the cheerful lullaby "Nothing but the Whole Wide World" suggests Dylan is at his best when he embraces his inner James Taylor.

“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"