Excited and curious, we promptly got lost. The concert was an intimate one at a very small venue, one I had never been to before. As we circled the area and I cursed my GPS for finding everything BUT the venue, my frustration built. It was extremely important to us to make it to this concert! We hadn't spent boatloads of money on the tickets or found terrific seats. This concert mattered more for sentimental reasons. We personally knew the artist.
The last time we had seen this young man he was "just playing around" on his guitar outside our hotel at a Nationals competition in Virginia Beach. As most of you know, my daughter was an All Star cheerleader for many years. This boy, all of about 17, was one of her biggest inspirations on the cheer floor. He was the first person she ever saw throw a full twist in the air. She aspired to get that trick after that, and by the age of ten, she had. He moved on and so did she. We always wondered what direction he had taken, but never knew how to find out. Then, one perfectly ordinary evening, who do we see on television on a nationwide talent expedition? That young man with a guitar! We were glued to the t.v. and honestly, could not have been prouder to see him there!
Time passed, America picked some ridiculous act over talent, as usual in that genre of show, and we began to follow him on the usual social media sites. He's been a busy boy. We didn't realize just how busy until we finally made it to that intimate little concert at this gorgeous bohemian little sound studio, nestled off a main road. We walk in, fearing we were late, but just made it in the nick of time. Then in he walks. A blast from the past, but identical to the memory we both held. Dylan Andre, live and in person. No longer on a spring floor, but a stage instead. Just him, his guitar, and a microphone.
As he began to sing in accompaniment to his guitar, my daughter and I were filled with joy, pride, and (the only way we could describe it) utter happiness for him. He has truly found his niche in this insane world. Completely down-to-earth and exuding his own excitement at getting to share with even a small group of people what he loves to do, he held everyone captivated. He's the real deal, unlike so many in the music business now. He writes his own songs, he composes and arranges the harmonies, and man, can the boy sing! Rather than using a band to create background vocals or even just backup to his acoustics, he invested in his own loop pedal. Making his own beats, harmonies, and backup vocals, he put on a completely acoustic concert with a band of one. His natural ability to break down the individual melodies, beats, and imitate the natural sounds of any particular instrument with either his own mouth or manipulating his guitar and vocals, was nothing short of absolutely astounding. Most musicians that I know of have no clue how to break their music down to the bare bones like that. The ones who can, well their the headliners of sold out concerts worldwide for decades. Something tells me this kid is headed down that road.
He writes from the heart, personal experiences flooding his lyrics and fueling his fire. He makes Alicia Keys look like a smoldering ember next to him.
I have always found solace in music. It spoke the words I never knew how form on my own, it describes the pain within or the happiness I can't express. When I feel like the world isn't listening or even when no one around me wants to hear me, my music speaks for me. Early on in the set was a song entitled "Freight Train". That train had me tied to the tracks and left its marks in the mascara running down my cheeks. Hard as I tried, I couldn't hold back the tears. It spoke to me on a level very few other songs have. It spoke all the words I would never allow my proud self to say out loud.
He continued the set with some Nina Simone and Lora Love, which just raised my respect for him even higher. Ask any typical 21 year old who either of them are and I can almost guarantee a blank stare in response. His use of the loop pedal, creating wonderful backups to his vocals in conjunction with him involving us in the audience, getting us to sing along, made for such a charismatic stage presence on his part while making us feel as important to the show as he was.
His heartfelt ballads, his absolutely amazing covers of a few songs, and his incredible upbeat pop/folk sound makes him stand out for sure. What impressed me more than everything else I've mentioned was his ability to carry the song completely vocally. No acoustics, no loops, no background music playing though an ear piece. Just his voice. You could see the passion in his face and there was no denying it coming through in his song. I couldn't help but smile through it all.
I looked over at my daughter and I could see she was thinking the same thing and feeling the same thing I was. You could see it in every one's faces there-we knew we were so lucky to be there witnessing someone put their passion on display for the world to see, bearing their heart and soul to us. That young kid who was just messing around with a guitar had grown up into a master of his craft.
You would expect someone like this to be cocky, rude, and forget the little people. Not him. He seemed humbled and honored by how much we appreciated him and his music. He remembered my daughter and I, even though she's grown about 4 feet since he last saw her.
The last song in his set was a song he covered early on in his career, and one of my most favorite songs ever made- Hallelujah. The song itself is passionate, mournful, and soul-baring. He embraced and embodied that in every note as he sang his version. My daughter and I both couldn't keep the tears back.
His music touches you. You can feel his emotion, his pain, his joy, his passion with each and every lyric and chord. I see him going far and touching so many lives along the way. If you haven't googled him by now, I suggest you do. Look him up on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/DylanAndreMusic), YouTube, any way you can. His CD is now on iTunes (yay!) and I suggest you take a listen. You'll be humming his melodies long after you walk away from the computer.
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