That Dylan LeBlanc would grow into a cracking singer-songwriter was written in the stars. His father James LeBlanc was one of the regular session musicians at the famous Muscle Shoals Studios, where artists such as The Staple Singers, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett recorded their music. In the same studio, Dylan also recorded his 2016 breakthrough album Cautionary Tale, which is full of understated and beautifully sung 1960s folk, soul, alt-country and West Coast pop.

In 2010, at the age of nineteen, LeBlanc delivered a rock-solid debut with Pauper Fields. Not long after, however, he sinks into a dark period filled with self-hatred and booze. With the aforementioned Cautionary Tale he makes a glorious comeback, with successor Renegade in 2019 he definitely places himself in the ranks of the most talented songwriters of his generation. The album also marks a change in direction. The dreamy, atmospheric style that LeBlanc had perfected on previous releases gets a big shot of adrenaline, resulting in a delightful record full of radio and chart-topping, American ’70s pop.

LeBlanc’s most recent work is Coyote, his first self-produced album, recorded with a selection of what he himself describes as “killer session players,” including drummer Fred Eltringham (Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow), pianist Jim “Moose” Brown (Bob Seger) and bassist Seth Kaufman (Lana Del Rey). Although Coyote explores familiar territory for LeBlanc-living on the edge of danger and its consequences-it is both an autobiographical album and a concept album, built around the character of Coyote, a man on the run.

Dylan LeBlanc was featured last November 2023 at the 25th edition of the TakeRoot Festival at De Oosterpoort. Heaven Magazine wrote of this performance, “He stands out as a formidable but anything but selfish lead guitarist, leading his band to an exhilarating festival ending.”