Jac Holzman Presents Dylan’s Circle features folk, rock, and blues performances compiled by Elektra Records founder Holzman and Ted Olson, who previously produced such notable albums as Tell It to Me: Revisiting the Johnson City Sessions and On Top of Old Smoky: New Old-Time Smoky Mountain Music.

As Olson writes in the booklet that accompanies the new CD, it offers “recordings from 1954–1971 [and] celebrates a musical community that was bound together by mutual respect for the cultural roots of American music and a shared belief in the power of music to change the world.” Bob Dylan, adds Olson, “may be at the center of this album’s collaborative circle…but the catalyst for forming this circle was not Dylan—it was Jac Holzman.”

Among the standouts in the 20-song set are Jean Ritchie’s “Nottamun Town” (with a melody that Dylan appears to have borrowed for “Masters of War”), Fred Neil’s “Bleecker and MacDougal,” Paul Siebel’s “Louise,” and Judy Collins’s cover of Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” Also excellent are Dylan’s performances of his own “Maggie’s Farm” and North Country Blues,” both from Newport Folk Festival appearances. In addition, the set embraces two powerful numbers related to the civil rights struggle, Phil Ochs’s “Here’s to the State of Mississippi” and Tom Paxton’s “Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney.”

One quibble: the rationale for including a few of this anthology’s selections seems questionable. Dylan, for example, was never signed to Elektra, so it’s a stretch to say that his own recordings are a significant element in its story. As for the “Dylan’s circle” theme, this set includes “Bummer in the Summer,” from Love’s classic Forever Changes, but that California group was not part of the Greenwich Village musical community where Bob’s career got started.

That said, there’s not a bad track on the album, which isn’t surprising given how consistently Holzman’s fabled label issued superlative music in its heyday. If this compendium whets your appetite, check out the five-CD Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra Records 1963–1973, which includes more from many of the artists featured here, plus such other acts as Tim Buckley, the Incredible String Band, and the Doors.

Frank Zappa’s ‘One Size Fits All’ Gets Boxed

Frank Zappa has been dead for more than three decades, but the deluxe reissues and box sets keep coming. In just the past five years, his estate has issued about a dozen of them, each containing as many as six discs and lots of previously unreleased material.

The latest box marks the 50^th anniversary of the release of One Size Fits All, a studio album credited to Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. It features songs introduced on a 1973–74 tour, some of which now loom large in Zappa’s discography. Though you might or might not like the quirky, sometimes puerile lyrics that pepper portions of this set, Zappa’s elaborate prog-rock compositions are impressive, as is the band’s musicianship. Guests include Johnny “Guitar” Watson, who sings on “San Ber’dino” and “Andy,” and Captain Beefheart (credited as “Bloodshot Rollin’ Red”), who plays harmonica on the former number.

Several configurations of the box are available, the most expansive of which is the 58-track Super Deluxe Edition. It includes four CDs, a Blu-ray audio disc, and a 36-page booklet with new liner notes by rock critic David Fricke, Zappa “Vaultmeister” Joe Travers, and two Mothers members, keyboardist/vocalist George Duke and percussionist Ruth Underwood. Three-quarters of the box’s contents have not previously been officially released.

The first two CDs feature a 2012 remaster of the original album, plus 19 alternate versions, outtakes, and rough mixes. The other CDs contain a complete September 1974 concert from Rotterdam, Holland, and two bonus tracks from a show presented the same month in Sweden. The Blu-ray adds newly created Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and hi-def stereo versions of the original album, plus videos for two of its numbers and two additional surround-sound tracks.

The alternates, outtakes, and rough mixes will likely interest only rabid fans, but anyone with an affinity for Zappa’s work will appreciate the original album, the concert material, and the surround-sound options.

Also Noteworthy

Dallas Burrow, The Way the West Was Won. Texas-based singer/songwriter Dallas Burrow has been making good albums for some time now, but The Way the West Was Won isn’t just good—it’s great. Produced by Grammy-winning Lloyd Maines, the set finds Burrow delivering a collection of mostly self-penned cowboy songs that are consistently strong, both lyrically and musically. Burrow’s self-assured vocals and guitar work are a perfect match for the evocative material, which benefits from backup by Maines (guitars, dobro, bass), Brian Beken and Katie Shore (fiddle), Bukka Allen (accordion), Pat Manske (percussion), and Terri Hendrix (harmonica).

Highlights include the lilting “Colorado Bound,” where Burrow duets with Kelly Willis; “Justice in the West,” the first-person story of an old Texas lawman; and the sprightly title cut, where Burrow shares vocal duties with Jim Lauderdale. On the CD cover, Burrow cites “songwriting heroes” such as Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, and Robert Earl Keen. This album, which ranks with the year’s best Americana releases, suggests that he’s in their league.

Rags Rosenberg, Song of the Bricoleur. This is only the second album from 78-year-old Rags Rosenberg, following 2019’s Flower Time. Listening to the new release, you might well wonder why the California-based singer and guitarist waited so long to enter a recording studio. His weathered vocals, which recall artists like Joe Ely and John Stewart, command attention, and his poetic, richly detailed songs convey wisdom. The album benefits from a large gang of backup musicians who judiciously add violin, piano, trumpet, flugelhorn, organ, and more.

The CD’s dozen numbers—all written, or, in three cases, co-written by Rosenberg—cover diverse terrain. The album-opening “Bullfrogs” is a protest song about the climate crisis, while “California Bound” describes the struggles of Rosenberg’s unemployed father and uncle during a 1938 hitchhiking and freight-train-hopping journey west. The poignant “John Doe” is a first-person tale told by a veteran who died homeless and says, “Somebody tell me how your story lives on when your name don’t live on anyone’s tongue.”

The best cut might be the playful, accordion-spiced “Smokey Joe’s,” which limns an imagined “little dive on the edge of town” where great singer/songwriters gather to make music and trade ideas. The lyrics namecheck artists such as Guy Clark, Tom Waits, John Prine, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan and include deftly written references to their songs.

The Far West, Everything We Thought We Wanted. This self-produced collection from Los Angeles’s the Far West is the group’s third studio album. It’s also the Los Angeles–based quintet’s first such release since 2014. (Covid and misplaced master recordings at least partly explain the long silence.) It’s a consistently strong collection, featuring a dozen well-hooked tracks that should appeal to fans of outfits like Wilco, the Jayhawks, and Uncle Tupelo.

The CD fits best under the Americana umbrella, but the Los Angeles–based quintet’s roots are much more expansive than that label suggests. Jazz, Cajun music, and 1960s British rock are part of the mix at times, as are Memphis soul and psychedelia. Lead singer and guitarist Lee Briante, who wrote half the songs, is a big plus here. So is bassist Robert Black, who wrote the remaining numbers. Also contributing to the album’s power are the three other instrumentalists and the complex and imaginative arrangements.

The tunes contemplate loneliness, heartbreak, broken connections, and the purpose of life. “We’ve said from day one that we like to make horribly painful songs that you can dance to,” says Black, but the first part of that quote is misleading. There’s a lot of melancholy in some of the lyrics on this CD, but it’s balanced by the frequently exhilarating, majestic music. Moreover, there are some optimistic lines here, such as in the catchy, upbeat “In Your Own Time.”

Other highlights abound. Among them: “Hope I Don’t Bleed,” a song about mortality that showcases blistering lead guitar by guest Dave Alvin, and the poignant “For the Birds,” a number about romantic disillusionment that features Katie Stratton of the L.A. garage-pop group the What Four.