Dylan LeBlanc, at 29, steeped in '70s singer-songwriter traditions

San Diego Union-Tribune

July 16, 2019 3:08 PM PT

Dylan LeBlanc grew up in Louisiana and Alabama, but much of his music is steeped in the Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter canon of the late 1960s and early 1970s — an era the predates his birth by nearly two decades.

LeBlanc, who turns 30 next year, also cites Fleetwood Mac and Todd Rundgren, circa the mid-’70s, as key inspirations.

He’s now on tour to promote his fourth album, “Renegade,” which pays homage to Neil Young (on “Born Again,” “Damned” and “Domino,”), Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (“Renegade,” which should not be confused with Petty’s song of the same name) and the pre-Joe Walsh era Eagles (“I See It in Your Eyes”).

Like The War On Drugs band leader Adam Granduciel, LeBlanc is a dedicated tune-smith and a relatively young man who unabashedly draws from music of the past.

Whether he can match War On Drugs’ Grammy-winning, chart-topping success remains to be seen. But — with more time to evolve and hone his music — LeBlanc could build on his influences to develop a distinct sound of his own. He clearly has the ability.

Dylan LeBlanc, with Erin Rae: 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. $12 (advance), $15 (at the door); must be 21 or older to attend. (619) 234-4355. casbahmusic.com

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George Varga

San Diego Union-Tribune music critic George Varga began drumming in rock bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, Varga has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing at the U-T and is a voting member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to providing live coverage of the Grammy Awards and festivals from Coachella and KAABOO to the 1994 edition of Woodstock, he has interviewed everyone from Miles Davis, Britney Spears and (over a game of chess) Ray Charles to Willie Nelson, Kanye West and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis. A triple first prize-winner for criticism and arts writing at the 2022 San Diego Press Club awards and a double first prize-winner at the 2022 San Diego Society of Professional Journalists awards, Varga is also a contributing writer for Jazz Times magazine and has written for Billboard, Spin and other publications. After attending San Diego City College and San Diego State University, he created and taught the 2002 UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga has written liner notes for more than a dozen albums, including by jazz sax greats James Moody and Michael Brecker, and contributed two chapters to the book, “Dylan: Disc By Disc.”