SLO Brew + KCBX present ~ Dylan LeBlanc

Dylan LeBlanc is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who often finds himself flirting with the edge or dancing on a razor, as he calls it as it is all he has ever known. A verdict vagabond since he was a little boy tossed between Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, LeBlanc thrives on the precipice, never staying in one place for too long. It is that nomadic spirit that drew him not only to a life as a touring musician, but also to the beast that titles his newest record: Coyote.LeBlanc says he has always related to the insatiable, scavenging nature of the wily coyote. Much like the animal, LeBlanc is a wanderer who knows when to trust his instincts, musically and otherwise. It is a spiritual kinship that runs deep, but he credits one particularly hair-raising face-to-face instance with solidifying his bond with the animal.LeBlanc was in Austin, Texas, climbing the face of a 100-foot cliff, gambling with Mother Natures good graces as he pulled himself up by tree branches. Once he reached the top, all that laid ahead of him was a lush treeline. There was a breath of stillness, then the sound of a thunderous rustling that drew closer and closer to him. In a blink, LeBlanc watched as a frenzied raccoon came speeding out of the treeline, trailed by an animal that stopped and stared at him with striking intensity: a coyote.Were looking at each other dead in the eyesand Im saying out loud If its you or me, I am going to kick you off the side of this cliff. Im not going down. It was intense, this human-animal moment, LeBlanc recalls. Ive never forgotten that he was just trying to survive and so was I.Coyote is LeBlancs first self-produced release, boasting a cherry-picked lineup of what he calls killer session players, such as drummer Fred Eltringham (Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow), pianist Jim Moose Brown (Bob Seger), and bass player Seth Kaufman (Lana Del Rey). Though Coyote covers familiar ground for LeBlanc of living on the edge of danger and its many consequences, the record is both autobiographical and a concept album built around the character of Coyote, a man on the run.The story of Coyote progresses linearly, opening with the dizzyingly declarative, strings-heavy title track which details Coyotes arrival and quick departure as he crosses the border and gets involved with drug cartels. The trouble builds and dark waters rise until track six, No Promises Broken, a soaring, against-all-odds love song that marks when Coyote meets a girl, and his luck begins to change for the better. The song tells of how love heals, and places emphasis on lovers remaining open while maintaining their own freedoms, as LeBlanc believes that true devotion does not equal possession. He says that though both Coyote and his love each faced adversity, the hand of destiny put them on the same path and bound them together before they ever met: