Photo by Abraham Rowe
Dylan LeBlanc
Dylan LeBlanc
Last year, Dylan LeBlanc released Coyote, a thematic album built around a title character who had worked for a cartel, been to prison, done some drugs and was now on the run, hoping to avoid his arrest, reunite with a former girlfriend and lead a law-abiding life going forward.
LeBlanc left his fans with a cliffhanger, as the album’s final song, “The Outside,” found Coyote and his girlfriend driving a stolen Camaro toward the Mexican border only to be stopped by a police roadblock. The song ends with Coyote grabbing his gun, unsure about what he’ll do next, and leaving listeners up in the air about his future. Dylan LeBlanc performs at Cactus Club on Feb. 2.
It turns out LeBlanc never intended to leave those who listened to the original Coyote album and became invested in the story hanging for any more than a brief period. Now as he begins a winter tour, LeBlanc has brought the story of Coyote to a resolution by releasing a deluxe version of the album with four additional songs that pick up where the original album left off.
“I kind of had this in my head, that this was going to be sort of part of the plan and just put out the rest of it and sort of tidy things up with the (deluxe) record,” LeBlanc revealed in an early January phone interview.
Seeing the Character
The saga of Coyote began to take shape when LeBlanc wrote the album’s title track. “It was the first song that I really knew, ‘OK, this is one I’m definitely going to put on the record,’” he explained. “And just, the story, as I was writing it, I was seeing the character and I thought I can really build something with this.”
LeBlanc has the real-life background needed to create the story of Coyote. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, the singer/guitarist grew up poor and in his teen years became friends with peers who were street kids and in gangs. He didn’t join any gangs or participate in crimes, but he identified with and got along with this rougher crowd.
“I always weigh out the consequences, and usually I can decide pretty quickly if the consequences are too great, I’m probably not going to even go there,” LeBlanc said. “But I know people who don’t think that way and they’re so desperate to get what they want and to get what they need that they don’t mind paying the consequences. And that’s just desperation and that just comes from communities that if you don’t have anything, you don’t have anything to lose. So I know people like that.”
In addition to using his first-hand knowledge in writing the Coyote album, LeBlanc also drew on his long-running interest in Mexican culture and cartels, as well as tales about the Mafia and government corruption, particularly in Louisiana, to color the story.
Setting the Stage
The album-opening title song sets the stage for the story, describing how Coyote’s desire to escape poverty led him to work for the Mexican criminal underworld, leaving behind the girlfriend he later reunites with in the process. As time goes on, Coyote feels the guilt and fear of living a criminal life and he begins to question his path. But he’s still attracted to the money and excitement of that world. What happens at the police roadblock – and in the time that follows -- are among the questions left to be answered on the deluxe edition of “Coyote.”
“It’s more of an internal dialogue on what people on the other side of life and the criminal world probably go through internally, because they’re people, too,” LeBlanc said of the story. “They may do bad things, but they do share the burden of the guilt and the sorrow they cause other people. So it’s more of an internal dialogue about that.”
LeBlanc himself could have easily drifted to the wrong side of the tracks, but one thing helped him avoid that path – his love of music. His parents eventually split, and LeBlanc spent time in Shreveport and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Being around his father, a songwriter and touring/session musician who frequently worked at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, helped nourish LeBlanc’s interest in music.
By age 20, LeBlanc had released his debut album, Pauper’s Dream, followed by two more albums, and a move up to ATO Records and the release of the 2019 album Renegade.
Folkier Sound
Where Renegade was a mostly plugged-in affair, for the mainly acoustic, folkier Coyote, LeBlanc, who produced the album, drew more on his love for 1970s Laurel Canyon country-rock and the Tulsa sound of J.J. Cale and Leon Russell. LeBlanc was particularly inspired by Cale’s 1971 debut album Naturally, as a sonic blueprint for Coyote.
LeBlanc said songs from Coyote will be featured in his live shows, along with two or three songs from each of his previous albums. He said his backing band is well suited to the range of his music.
“It’s a very versatile show,” LeBlanc said. “A lot of it does lean on the heavier side, but we do break it down for the more softer stuff, especially from the new album. And the band can do both, which is great. It’s a really great, strong band.”
