Dylan LeBlanc

In the organizer's words:

Dylan LeBlanc is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who often pushes himself to the edge - or "dances on the razor's edge," as he calls it - because that's all he's ever known. A judgment vagabond since childhood, tossed back and forth between Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, LeBlanc thrives on the edge without ever staying in one place for long. It is this nomadic spirit that drew him not only to a life as a touring musician, but also to the animal that titles his latest album: 'Coyote'.

LeBlanc says he has always identified with the voracious, scrounging nature of the cunning coyote. Much like the animal, LeBlanc is a wanderer who knows when to trust his instincts, musical and otherwise. It's a spiritual kinship that runs deep, but he attributes a particularly hair-raising encounter with the animal to cementing his bond with it.

LeBlanc was in Austin, Texas, climbing up the 30-foot cliff, playing on Mother Nature's grace as he pulled himself up tree branches. When he reached the top, all that lay before him was a lush treetop. There was a pause for breath, then the sound of a thunderous rustle, coming closer and closer. In an instant, LeBlanc watched as a wild raccoon came out of the woods, followed by an animal that stopped and stared at him with an intense gaze: a coyote.

"We look each other straight in the eye... and I say - out loud - 'If it's you or me, I'm going to push you off this cliff. I'm not going down.' It was intense, that human animal moment," LeBlanc recalls. "I've never forgotten that... He was just trying to survive, and so was I."

'Coyote' is LeBlanc's first self-produced release and boasts a carefully selected lineup of "killer session musicians" including drummer Fred Eltringham (Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow), pianist Jim "Moose" Brown (Bob Seger) and bassist Seth Kaufman (Lana Del Rey). Although 'Coyote' covers familiar territory for LeBlanc, who lives on the edge of danger and its many consequences, the album is both autobiographical and a concept album built around the character of Coyote, a man on the run.

The story of 'Coyote' unfolds in a linear fashion, beginning with the swirling, unequivocal title track, which uses strings to describe the Coyote's arrival and swift departure as he crosses the border and becomes involved with drug cartels. Troubles mount and dark waters rise until the sixth track, "No Promises Broken," an uplifting love song against all odds that marks when Coyote meets a girl and his luck begins to change for the better. The song talks about how love heals, emphasizing that lovers remain open while maintaining their own freedoms, as LeBlanc believes that true devotion is not synonymous with possession. He says that both Coyote and his love faced obstacles, but fate put them on the same path and connected them even before they met:

"'No Promises Broken' is an honest love song about two people who come from the same difficult past, and fate weaves them together. It's about acknowledging that hard times will come, but vowing to keep it without promises they know they can't keep."

"Wicked Kind" delves into Coyote's addiction, warning of the ever-present temptation lurking on the horizon and the restraint it takes to look away. The LP ends with "The Outside," the title of which LeBlanc says is literal, as Coyote is finally outside the prison walls. With boundless slide guitar and jittery keys, it paints an eerie, desert highway vignette of Coyote fending off lingering ghosts that create a hesitancy so powerful that Coyote has to adjust his perspective and remind himself that he's free - the fight is over.

LeBlanc has seen shades of a life not unlike Coyote's character. He too strayed from the straight and narrow and struggled with anger management in his adolescence. Just as the brutal truth of "Hate" describes how the most crippled parts of Coyote were shaped by his harrowing experiences, it's something LeBlanc believes is universal, because hate doesn't discriminate.

"I went to school with people from all walks of life. We were different, but we thought, 'We're all poor,' so we're all in the same boat. We all grew up in chaos. It was the '90s in Louisiana on the Texas border.... that air was heavy, man. Kind of a 'swim or sink' mentality."

LeBlanc is the first to warmly acknowledge his rough-and-tumble nature and penchant for conflict, both the result of the volatility and instability of his youth. Now, no longer a boy who always had to pay attention and defend himself, LeBlanc recognizes that his roots neither define nor limit the man he is today. The cover image of a coyote wounded by an arrow reflects and symbolizes just that.

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