Dylan Gardner’s ‘Real Time’ Is Still Unfolding
There is a youthful exuberance in the playing and the music of Dylan Gardner that suggests an excited teenager who is connecting with muses long past: It is as if he is but a teenager, moving about unselfconsciously onstage with conspicuous enthusiasm, purely captivated by the music he has written and now sings.
And that’s all true, actually.
Gardner, who is in fact just 18 years old, has that dual gift of raw ability—he sings, he plays, he convinces—and scary-like perspective, that of someone twice his age. He collects vinyl. He loves ‘60s rock. His favorite artists are the sort of artists rock critics attempt to write books about, but never do.
His current album, Adventures In Real Time, issued on Warner Bros. in January is out largely because he created a name for himself via making his own music at home, sending it out through various channels, getting it to the right ears, and watching the streaming numbers zoom on Spotify, largely because opening track “Let’s Get Started” ended up on the right playlist at the right time. In 2015, this is how major artists start their careers.
He is immensely talented, but he is not merely a teen wunderkind who regurgitates all that came before him in a slyly synthetic way: He has a knack for original tunes, sly arrangements, and an unmistakable verve and joy in his music, and his playing, that bodes well for his future, and, for that matter, ours.
We at Yahoo had a great time watching Dylan stop by our Brazos Hall headquarters in Austin last month to shoot an Up Close session and, later, sit down to chat with us about the music that excites him.
In a world full of jaded careerists and musicians out purely for a fast buck or an endorsement deal, watching someone like young Gardner, who still lives at home in Arizona with his family, and enthuses about records and songs he loves, is an absolute joy. Watch him here, listen to what he says, and you’ll get an inkling of a fascinating story that’s just beginning to unfold.
