DYLAN LEBLANC / USA

In the organizer's words:

Dylan LeBlanc is charming and reserved in person, but his impressive new album Renegade reflects the energy of his live performances - which he describes simply as rock 'n' roll. Although the album was recorded in just 10 days and mixed in three, the intensity of the project marks the culmination of more than a decade on tour.

"I like the idea of a 'renegade' - someone who breaks away from society or the structure of our world," he says of Renegade, his first album with ATO Records. "It felt right to call it that. I wanted to write about the crueler, uglier aspects of the world and life."

LeBlanc's observations run throughout Renegade, but he's more interested in telling the stories than judging the characters for their choices. The title track, he says, is about "problematic, arrogant young men who mesmerized young women with their lifestyles, which usually ended tragically. I saw that countless times in my youth." He later writes in "Born Again" about his personal efforts to become a stronger person after being bullied in his childhood for his long hair and experiencing an adolescence full of insecurities, fears and anger.

LeBlanc sees the new album as a departure from his earlier work, particularly because of the sharper edges of these recordings, which he recorded at Nashville's Studio A with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb. This time around, LeBlanc played mostly electric guitar, giving Renegade a Tom Petty flair with a hint of '80s rock. "I've never played electric guitar like this live in the studio," he says. "I'm so used to rhythmic, acoustic playing. It was just like I was playing at a concert."

Since 2016, LeBlanc has been touring with the Alabama rock band The Pollies as his backing band. He has known most of the band members since his childhood in Muscle Shoals and considers them his closest friends. Since they had already played the songs from Renegade live, it was only logical that The Pollies would be there in the studio as well.

"They make me feel safe to let go, to get more into the music," says LeBlanc. "It's kind of a telekinetic connection because we've known each other for so long and played together a lot. It's a band of people I know very well musically. They allow me to express myself creatively in ways I probably wouldn't have dared before."

These expressions sometimes come from conversations with strangers, like the woman in "Domino" who told him her stories about prostitution, or the man he met in New Orleans who inspired "Bang Bang Bang," a song about a life dramatically changed by gun violence. He tackles more personal themes in "Damned", where he tries to understand religion, and in "I See It in Your Eyes" and "Lone Rider", which explore the complexities of relationships. One of the album's quieter moments, "Sand and Stone", attempts to live in the here and now. Closing the album, "Magenta" explores the history of a former slave plantation in Louisiana, while "Honor Among Thieves" makes a powerful statement about ancestry, immigration laws and land rights.

LeBlanc's previous album, 2016's Cautionary Tale, had a soothing atmosphere similar to the '70s musicians who inspired him. But when he went on tour with the Pollies, the sound changed. Nevertheless, the albums are united by LeBlanc's increasing self-confidence as a singer. The vocal range and depth he showed on Cautionary Tale is evident throughout the ten songs on Renegade.

"I think my voice is something I had to find," he says. "I didn't used to have the vocal range I have now. Someone once said to me: 'Your voice is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets'. I really took that to heart. I've always tried to go beyond my limits, which is sometimes embarrassing, but sometimes it works. Over time, I was able to sing much higher and had more range and development. It also helps to play concerts. There's no substitute for experience."

As a child, LeBlanc lived with his mother, stepfather, a brother and a sister in Austin, Texas. When the children visited their paternal grandmother in Shreveport, Louisiana, LeBlanc would constantly play a videotape of his father playing guitar in a band called The Underground, accompanying him with a toy guitar. Music soon became his obsession. In his early teens, LeBlanc listened to the 80s music his mother favored, such as The Police and U2. At the same time, his grandmother encouraged him to keep writing music and introduced him to important songwriters like John Prine and Merle Haggard. He spent hours in his room learning guitar by playing along to CDs.

With his father James LeBlanc working as a songwriter at FAME Enterprises in Muscle Shoals, Dylan spent years hanging out at the office and getting to know founder Rick Hall. In contrast to the city's incredible soul and rock history, most of LeBlanc's friends listened to metal, while he was personally drawn to artists like Bright Eyes, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. At 16, he dropped out of high school to join a rock band. Since then he has pursued a career in music, and the release of Renegade means another global tour with the band, which he is thoroughly enjoying.

"I like to be goofy and joke around with them a lot, but I also like to have deep conversations, talk about the things that are important," says LeBlanc, who now lives in Nashville. "I don't read anything that doesn't help me grow as a person in some way. I don't read novels anymore. I don't read for entertainment. I only read to grow. I want to have conversations with people who are ready to grow and move forward in their own spiritual way."

Price information:

VVK: € 22.50 + service and VVK fee / B.O.: € 28 / standing room only