Poetry inspired new Wallflowers album

AUSTIN, Texas, May 24 (UPI) -- Jakob Dylan says poets provided the main inspiration for "Rebel, Sweetheart," the new album by his band, the Wallflowers.

"I tended to read a lot more poetry," says Dylan, specifying W.H. Auden and T.S. Eliot. "When I started writing, I recognized a certain language that was being used and coming out, and I just stayed enveloped in that as I went.

"Writing clinched kind of rock lyrics is nothing I ever tried to do. I guess I try to reach a little beyond that. Clearly someone like Nick Cave invests his records a different way than other people do. That's always kind of appealed to me."

"Rebel, Sweetheart" is the Wallflowers' first album since 2002's "Red Letter Days." It was produced by Brendan O'Brien, who has been filling in as the Wallflowers' lead guitarist on tour.