BY LESLEY HASTINGS
Photo Credit Spidey Smith
Signed to BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville and having recently released his debut album “Puzzled“, it’s exciting times for sure for rising country artist Dylan Schneider. And that’s without taking his current US headline tour into consideration! I caught up with the Indiana native for a quick chat while he was taking a few days off from the road in his now-home of Nashville ….
I began by asking how the first 14 dates of the “ Bad Decisions Tour” had gone…..
“It’s been great, really cool to finally play headlining shows. You know we’ve done so many opening slots this year and to finally have the new album out and be playing a bunch of the new stuff has made it really cool and fresh“.
That led nicely into my next question as I wanted to know if he’d learned anything from touring with established artists such as Nate Smith, Luke Bryan and Kane Brown…..did they give him any advice?
“I feel like I just kind of picked upon things out there. Some gave me advice one on one, but in general what I usually pick up from guys like that is they are such good people. Some were good friends beforehand but even more inviting out on the road, making me feel at home and like it’s our tour as well. I think that kind of graciousness goes a long way and keeps everyone in a good mood and makes for the best show. So I think about that, if I’m the one headlining and bringing somebody out I want to do my best to have that kind of mentality and inviting energy, be like that too“.
As Dylan had mentioned, he’s getting to play songs from his new album and I wondered if he and the band had any they were particularly enjoying performing live …..
“I think we like ‘Country Like‘ a lot, it’s towards the top of the set list and it’s fresh and new which makes it fun. I personally like ‘Gone Is What I Get‘, one of my favourites to sing and perform and one of my favourite spots to get to in the set. ‘Better Than You Left Me‘ has been fun too, the crowd love singing along and it’s had such a good reaction on social media. It’s cool to see people singing along to some of these new songs. But they are all fun and special, they all add a new flair to the other songs we’ve been playing for so long“.
As well as fans picking up on songs and learning the lyrics I wondered if any were particularly resonating on a personal level?
“I would say ‘Better Than You Left Me‘ for sure, it’s funny ‘cos that song was being described as ‘Ain’t Missing You Part 2’ by people when they first heard it. And I’m like yeah, it’s cool that you say that cos I always liked that one and teased it on social media and got a great response which convinced me to record it. Moving on songs always seem to work well and people always seem to have a personal story they can talk about!”
There’s a lot of variety throughout the album, and I felt it shows the different sides of Dylan as not only an artist but also a person …..was that something he had set out to do intentionally?
“It was definitely a kind of theme. The idea of growing pains and navigating life in general and lessons learned. Everyone was asking me what I wanted to say with the album, so I thought maybe I needed to figure it out . Then one night I got given this puzzle at a festival out in Arizona, a picture of me and I thought that was pretty cool, look I’m a puzzle….that’s a great way to sum up what I’m saying! Through the years I’ve been puzzled, and putting the pieces when they need to go …..I wanted to get a bit more personal and share more about my story“
I was interested to find out if the particularly personal themes of the title track was the reason why “Puzzled” was the only solo write on the album ….
“I texted my producer, Zach Abend , and I wanted him to help write it …..he’s signed to HARDY’s publishing company and he was already saying at Stagecoach he wanted to get a write on the album. But we needed the song the next day as we were going in to record! I told him the idea for the album title and what I wanted to say and he said well we kind of need to get the song done if we’re going to cut it, and he hadn’t heard back from HARDY yet, so I started to write it and it just fell out that night.
It was ready to go the next day! I was really pleased at the end of it, and also thought it was really cool that as it was the only song I totally wrote myself it was the last track on the album ….my story, it makes sense and makes everything more real “.
Also included on the album is Dylan’s version of “Momma’s House“, the massive hit for Dustin Lynch which he co-wrote…..but there’s a few lyric changes when it comes to the song’s bridge so I wanted to know what all that was about !
“We wrote it in 2018, during a songwriting camp, with some of my favourite writers I’d picked out to write for my project. I wasn’t gravitating towards it initially, which is crazy and I still don’t get it ‘cos I love the song now and loved it when Dustin did it! Right after he’d cut it I decided I wanted to do it…and texted him… but they got there first and I thought ‘well I could have worse kind of problems‘. When we originally wrote it tho, the bridge was different…..Zach Crowell wanted some different options for Dustin’s version so we wrote three bridges in total, Zach put the other two together (half of one with half of the other) ….and I used the original one! Which is kind of cool “.
I wondered if Dylan had done much co-writing before his move to Nashville…something you get thrown into fairly quickly there I’d imagine and which could be daunting.
“Yeah, it’s interesting…..and no I hadn’t! I’d written a couple of songs with my best friend Gabe Foust back home in Indiana when we were about fifteen! Now he’s had hits like ‘I Can Feel It‘ (Kane Brown), we’ve sort of come up together…..so being in a room with two or three people in Nashville was a fun new thing to try out!! But now it’s just normal”.
I said I’d noticed Gabe’s name a lot in the album’s writing credits but wasn’t aware they grew up together, and assumed he was someone he’d met in Nashville …..and that shared history helps explain why they gel so well together…..
“We started playing baseball together when we were nine, and became best friends. We live here together too….he’s here in the house somewhere right now, so it’s cool. It’s fun having someone like that to be so close and creative with, we just really get each other and understand each other, especially in a writing room. We bounce ideas off each other and say when something’s right or wrong, it makes things real easy“.
I’d heard Dylan mention that HARDY (who had already come up in conversation) was on his bucket list of co-writers, and that in fact they had finally written together but too late for this album…..did they come up with anything for a future project?
“Oh yeah definitely! I think he’ll have a couple of opportunities to have some stuff for my next project…..I’m excited for that! And the fact that he wants to work with me as well is really fun. Hopefully we can even do a song together. I’m working with Zack Abend and they are really close too, so I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of co- writes to come with those guys “
I was glad to hear that Dylan’s finding his “tribe” in music city which I said I think that’s what is is often all about ….
“Oh yeah”
Talking about the future…..are there any plans for Dylan to visit us here in the UK again, and what memories does he have of previous visits (including of course C2C earlier this year) ….
“Definitely! We’ve been talking about it the last couple of months, figuring out when we we’ll be back…..next year is possible, tho’ nothing is set in stone but it’s on the table….but if not next year then definitely early 2026. I enjoy it, I love everyone over there and I know I’ve got fans over there now. I love to travel the world and do something different from over here…..I’m excited and we’ll definitely be back“
I finished by wishing Dylan all the best for the remainder of the “Bad Decisions “ tour……which wraps up in early December in his home state where I assumed there’d be one helluva party?
“Oh yeah, it’ll be awesome!” was his reply!
Stream/Download “ Puzzled” here https://dylanschneider.lnk.to/puzzled
More artist information at https://www.dylanschneidermusic.com/welcome/