Dylan LeBlanc

LeBlanc performing at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles

Dylan LeBlanc (born March 9, 1990 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American singer-songwriter. LeBlanc hails from Shreveport, LA, but currently resides in Muscle Shoals, AL.

Early life

Dylan LeBlanc is an American musician and artist. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, LeBlanc began performing at age Fifteen. In Shreveport, LA and Muscle Shoals, AL he began performing at local venues. From a young age, LeBlanc watched his father perform at various clubs and bars. He became intrigued with musicianship and the way of life. At the age of Nineteen after parting ways with the band Abraham he acquired a vast amount of original material. Then, he was signed by Rough Trade Records who released his first album Pauper's Field.    

At infancy LeBlanc's maternal mother and father divorced. Until the age of nine, LeBlanc lived with his mother in Blanchard, LA; a small town in the northeast corner of Shreveport. Working full-time cleaning houses, LeBlanc's mother raised Dylan and his two siblings. At the age of ten, LeBlanc relocated to Muscle Shoals, AL so his father could pursue his musical career as a professional country music songwriter. In Muscle Shoals, AL, LeBlanc acquired a unique musical education. He spent late nights watching musicians record at the studios where his father played on sessions for songs that he wrote.  

At the age of fourteen he moved back to Shreveport to live with his Grandmother and began to attend High School at Captain Shreve. While attending High School, LeBlanc met musician Daniel Goodwill and began playing music with an alternative rock band, Jimmy Sad Eyes Blue. While playing with Jimmy Sad Eyes Blue, Goodwill inspired LeBlanc to begin writing his own music. After a few years of playing with Jimmy Sad Eyes Blue, LeBlanc was forced to attend rehab. Following this event, rather than attending high school, LeBlanc decided to pursue a full-time music career.  

After the lead singer from Son's of Roswell resigned, LeBlanc joined the local Muscle Shoals Punk Rock band and toured the southeast. A few years later after touring the southeast, LeBlanc became a co-founder of the band, Abraham. He made his first recordings with Abraham at Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. At that time the house engineer, Ben Tanner was a member of LeBlanc's band and is now a current band member of the Alabama Shakes and has also been noted for performing with other bands native to Muscle Shoals such as Belle Adair, The Bear and The Pollies.  

Music career

Although LeBlanc has had some mild success, he has struggled to reach real commercial success, Though he has had some praise from popular music media.

"Dylan LeBlanc's songs—cued from both reality and imagination—fit comfortably beside anything the great Southern Gothic writers—Flannery O'Connor, Tennessee Williams and, yes, Faulkner—could scribe. At just 20, LeBlanc has released a collection of songs (via Rough Trade), Pauper's Field, marked by heartbreak and poignant contemplation, as well as a fascinating maturity and narrative gift. An amber-hued, wistful and tastefully sophisticated album, LeBlanc's country-blues lyrical portraits and introspective reflections defy his youth and seep with sincerity.The son of Muscle Shoals session player and songwriter James LeBlanc, the Louisiana-born talent recently spent an afternoon in conversation with ASCAP, touching on creative authenticity, the thrill of collaborating with Emmylou Harris, the frequent comparisons to Neil Young and Townes Van Zandt, and the pressures and expectations of his newfound fame."

In early 2010, LeBlanc released his first album Paupers Field. It received good reviews but had limited commercial success. In support of Pauper's Field he began touring and opening for acts such as Lucinda Williams, The Civil Wars, Laura Marling and Calexico. LeBlanc's second album, Cast the Same Old Shadow was released in August 2012. Following the release of Cast the Same Old Shadow LeBlanc played with Bruce Springsteen, First Aid Kit, The Drive By Truckers and the Alabama Shakes. LeBlanc also collaborated with Emmylou harris on "If the creek dont rise" the third track on Paupers Feild.

LeBlanc cites Southern Gothic literature as an inspiration to his song writing process. At the age of sixteen LeBlanc spoke to friend and fellow musician, Jason Isbell about how to become a better songwriter. Isbell told LeBlanc that literature and observation were good processes. Inspred by William Faulkner,Tennessee Williams, Flannery 'Oconnor and many other classic literary voices, inspired LeBlanc to write in a detailed almost dark Southern Gothic-esque style which links romanticism and literature in its own fashion of songwriting. But also LeBlanc cites "the feeling that he was always on his own" and "learning the hard way" were more of an influence than anything.

Cast the Same Old Shadow fell to both good and very critical review-

Louisiana 22-year-old Dylan LeBlanc's second album picks up where his debut left off, with songs of love and lost innocence marinated in melancholy. The singer-songwriter has a past chequered by opiates and breakdowns both personal and romantic, and pours such experiences into songs that are as beautiful as they are bleak. Peppered with pedal steel, talk of judgment and hushed, mournful pleas to "lead me now to the righteous path", the atmosphere is eerie rather than unsettling- an excerpt from the renowned media of The Guardian.

LeBlanc is currently in the process of working on his third studio Album due early next year.

References

• http://www.ascap.com/playback/2010/10/radar_report/dylanleblanc.aspxExternal
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/17/dylan-leblanc-cast-shadow-review
• Official website