Dylan LeBlanc | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Shreveport, Louisiana native Dylan LeBlanc spent his formative years surrounded by some of the regions finest musicians (his father, singer/songwriter/guitarist James LeBlanc, is a longtime Muscle Shoals session player). Dylan began writing his own songs at eleven, and by his late teens, had developed a soulful, bluesy voice and guitar style that resonated with the sights and sounds of his musical youth. He released Paupers Field, his smoky, languid Townes Van Zandt- and Fleet Foxes-inspired debut, on Rough Trade in 2010 at the ripe old age of nineteen, followed by the likeminded Cast the Same Old Shadow in 2012 and the lush and compelling Cautionary Tale in 2016. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 4 Title: Paupers Field Released: 2010-08-23 Tracks: 12 Duration: 47:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Low (03:57) 2 If Time Was for Wasting (04:44) 3 If the Creek Dont Rise (03:24) 4 Tuesday Night Rain (03:26) 5 Emma Hartley (03:20) 6 Aint Too Good at Losing (04:10) 7 Changing of the Seasons (04:06) 8 5th Avenue Bar (03:41) 9 On With the Night (03:34) 10 Coyote Creek (05:03) 11 Death of Outlaw Billy John (03:49) 12 No Kind of Forgiveness (03:48) |
| Paupers Field : Allmusic album Review : Dylan LeBlancs Rough Trade debut aches with the kind world-weary angst and faux-wisdom that serves as the foundation for countless other confessional singer/songwriters. That the Louisiana native is only 20 years old will have some crying foul, but this son of a Muscle Shoals session player has grown up watching his mentors exorcize their demons through music, so why shouldn’t he? Paupers Field, a 12-track collection of slow, soulful country-folk, falls somewhere between Nick Drake, Jason Molina, Kelly Joe Phelps and Fleet Foxes. LeBlanc’s smoky, emotive voice carries with it the reluctant ardor of his southern homeland, and his tales of love, life, loss and death feel real enough, if not duly informed by a lot of late nights nursing a pilfered bottle of bourbon over a stack of Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt records. It’s hard to deny the thick fog of finger-picked, 70s soft rock that hangs over Paupers Field, but standout cuts -- like the weepy “Emma Hartley,” “Low,” “Death of Outlaw Billy John,” and “If the Creek Don’t Rise,” the latter of which features effortless harmony vocals from none other than Emmylou Harris -- show a great deal of promise, especially when this old soul, saddled with the weight of a young man’s preconceptions, finds those ideals both met and shattered. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 4 Title: Cast the Same Old Shadow Released: 2012-08-20 Tracks: 10 Duration: 46:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Part One: The End (05:28) 2 Innocent Sinner (03:12) 3 Brother (04:53) 4 Diamonds and Pearls (03:32) 5 Where Are You Now (04:50) 6 Chesapeake Lane (05:47) 7 The Ties That Bind (04:12) 8 Comfort Me (04:22) 9 Cast the Same Old Shadow (06:28) 10 Lonesome Waltz (03:41) |
| Cast the Same Old Shadow : Allmusic album Review : On 2010s Paupers Field, then 20-year-old Shreveport, Louisiana native Dylan LeBlanc presented a confident, if slightly laconic, new voice that was based in the tradition of maverick singer/songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, and Gram Parsons. Lush, less timid, and even more melancholy than Paupers Field, 2012s appropriately titled Cast the Same Old Shadow feels like a proper second outing, building on the strengths of its predecessor while maintaining its overall gloomy, gothic Americana vibe. LeBlancs pained, doomed romanticism, best exemplified by weepy cuts like "Part One: The End," "Where Are You Now," and "Lonesome Waltz," may be the "same old shadow" hes referring to in the title, and it casts an awfully wide net over the proceedings, resulting in an ultra-slow-burn listening experience that falls somewhere between the wretched rain-soaked beauty of Mickey Newbury and the hymn-like sonic expansiveness of Richard Hawley. At its best, like on the aforementioned "Where Are You Now" and the sprawling, instantly engaging "Brother," LeBlanc looks to high and lonesome country for inspiration, eking out his own subgenre while respectfully adhering to the originals mournful simplicity, but Cast the Same Old Shadow ultimately crumbles under the weight of its own despondency. LeBlancs lonely, elastic voice, which can go from a ragged, triumphant croon to a distant warble within a single phrase, feels like its fighting against not only the weight of the world, but the engineering booth as well, more often than not flailing away beneath the towering waves of admittedly lovely but unyielding atmosphere, and coming up predictably spent. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 4 Title: Cautionary Tale Released: 2016-01-15 Tracks: 10 Duration: 43:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Cautionary Tale (03:40) 2 Roll the Dice (03:52) 3 Look How Far Weve Come (04:14) 4 Man Like Me (04:37) 5 Easy Way Out (04:37) 6 Beyond the Veil (06:59) 7 Lightning and Thunder (04:21) 8 Im Moving On (03:22) 9 Balance or Fall (05:20) 10 Paradise (02:44) |
| Cautionary Tale : Allmusic album Review : The third studio long-player from the Muscle Shoals-born crooner, the aptly named Cautionary Tale finds Dylan LeBlanc exorcizing some personal demons while injecting some much needed pomp and circumstance into his signature blend of breezy, 70s West Coast singer/songwriter pop and Bible Belt-bred gothic Americana. A conscious attempt to avoid relying on the self-described "sad bastard songs" that were so prevalent on his prior two releases, Cautionary Tale doesnt exactly shake the rafters, but the addition of a rhythm section, along with copious amounts of cello, violin, and viola, certainly helps to expand the young troubadours sound. His high and lonesome croon, a velvety mix of After the Gold Rush-era Neil Young, James Bay, and Fleet Foxes Robin Pecknold, sits much higher in the mix this time around, and imbues highlights like the lush and lovely Eagles-esque "Roll the Dice," the snappy and soulful "Easy Way Out," and the road trip-ready title cut with an air of confidence that had been missing up to now. Even the quieter moments, of which there are still quite a few, especially on the LPs more laconic back half, are bolstered by tight production and the sterling performances of both LeBlanc and his band. Lyrically LeBlanc is still mired in the faux-verisimilitude and myopic ruminating that are the bane of all twentysomethings, but with Cautionary Tale, his finest outing to date, hes stepped far enough out of his shell that the world around him is starting to come into focus. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 4 Title: Renegade Released: 2019-06-07 Tracks: 10 Duration: 36:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Renegade (03:54) 2 Born Again (03:30) 3 Bang Bang Bang (04:03) 4 Domino (03:48) 5 I See It in Your Eyes (03:20) 6 Damned (03:17) 7 Sand and Stone (03:04) 8 Lone Rider (03:56) 9 Magenta (03:51) 10 Honor Among Thieves (03:20) |