Live Review: Dylan LeBlanc, The Sun Inn, Beverley – 11th December 2024

Tonight’s concert saw my return to the historic Minster town of Beverley for the third time this year, and my second visit to its premier live music venue, The Sun Inn, that sits within the shadow of the magnificent gothic building. The pub is widely considered to be the oldest in the town with its heritage tracing back to the early 16th century, ratified by its traditional wooden beams and cosy nooks that endorse the warm homely atmosphere which emanates from every corner. The bar area tonight is crammed full of extra chairs to accommodate the enthusiastic crowd, full of anticipation in seeing one of the finest singer/songwriting guitar players to emerge from the U.S. in recent years, and much credit must go to local Promoter Chris Lee along with the pub Landlord, Paul Bell,  for bringing such an auspicious talent to this small East Yorkshire town.

Dylan LeBlanc, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, was born into a musical family with his father James working as a staff writer and session musician for such iconic studios as Muscle Shoals and Fame. He moved to live with his father at the age of 10, and spent much of the time over the following years in and around the studios, soaking up the experience that would prove so invaluable in later life. Moving back to his home town in his mid teens LeBlanc began playing music in local alternative rock bands before finally recording his first solo album “Paupers Field” to much critical acclaim in 2010. Since then another four albums have followed culminating with his most recent release, the excellent “Coyote”, which came out towards the end of last year, and sees him return to these shore for a short run of solo shows.

Taking the stage to atmospheric walk-on music that one would associate more with an arena concert rather than a local public house, guitar in one hand and a pint of John Smiths in the other, Leblanc is at first softly spoken as he quickly becomes aware that he has left tonight’s set-list in his jacket pocket off stage. With the missing jacket fetched and the required set-list retrieved, the show proceeds with ‘Bang, Bang, Bang’ that first appeared on the 2019 album “Renegade” and immediately Leblanc has the audience captivated, as the soft-spoken slight nervousness of the introduction is replaced by some emotive vocals and dazzling guitar playing that are the trade mark of his craft. Between songs, LeBlanc’s patter grows apace with topics such as drink, he admits to already having drunk four pints and a glass of wine, while his fascination with guns along with his addiction to the X-Box are also high on his agenda. The next two songs, ‘Look How Far We’ve Come’ and ‘Easy Way Out’, both originally from 2016’s “Cautionary Tale”, continue to endorse his genius as a songwriter though the second gremlin of the night appeared halfway through the latter as a string broke. It was difficult to tell how much this threw Leblanc, but as he contemplated his next move, his between song rapport found a new target with the state of the music business and the lyrical banality of songs from the more pop orientated end of Country music coming in for some tongue-in-cheek derision. The beautiful ‘Stranger Things’ is the first song in the evening’s set from his most recent album, but having appeared to negotiate the absent of a guitar string seamlessly, LeBlanc decides that despite only four songs into the set, though almost an hour has passed since he took to the stage, this would be the right time for an interval, allowing the opportunity to rectify the issue.

The decision to swap guitars rather than change strings truncated the interval, with LeBlanc borrowing the landlord Paul Bell’s guitar. Bell confessed pre-show to being a long-time LeBlanc fan, so one can assume those strings on his guitar won’t be getting changed any time soon. Back on stage the show commenced with ‘Lone Rider’, another sublime number from the “Renegade” album, LeBlanc’s eyes closed as he sings, as if transported back to the song’s gestation. Then a phone rings. Few things can annoy a performer as much as a member of the audience’s phone going off but in this case it was it was LeBlanc’s phone, apparently his daughter. With phone switched off he continued to regale the crowd with stories regarding the Italian mafia and their link to the death of J.F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill and tales of his own miss-spent youth, selling weed and spending time in jail.

Stories told, there followed a run of songs starting with ‘Dark Water’, another from the “Coyote” album that, like each of the songs throughout was rapturously received, the appreciation intensifying as the set built. LeBlanc introduced ‘Honour Among Thieves’ as one of his own personal favourites, a feeling clearly shared by the congregation, while ‘Dust’, the fourth and final track from last year’s release is just as spellbinding. From here, LeBlanc took time to delve into his back catalogue, returning to his debut album, firstly for ‘5th Avenue Bar’ on which, somewhat bizarrely, he stopped halfway through to poke fun at his own lyrics, which considering the age of the song one can only wonder why before a breathtaking rendition of ‘If The Creek Don’t Rise’, received the proper adoration from an audience that from the beginning had been happy to accommodate LeBlanc’s extended between song rambles, laughing in almost all the right places, if sometimes accompanied by a rather bemused shake of the head.

The title songs to his most recent two albums followed back to back. Firstly ‘Coyote’, then ‘Renegade’ and both captivated and astonished in equal measures with such emotive depth in the vocal delivery while the guitar accompaniment would make most players lay down their instrument for good. More story telling followed, this time the tale of getting his first record deal, playing the Bluebird Cafe, meeting Geoff Travis and signing to the Rough Trade Record label made for a more interesting and informative interlude.

Having informed the audience that he wouldn’t be leaving the stage to come back for an encore, LeBlanc proceeded to play what was believed to be the final song of the night with the majestic title song from his 2016 album ‘Cautionary Tale’. However, after a request from what appeared to be the landlady of tonight’s venue, he agreed to play one more song, ‘Angel’, which had appeared as a bonus track on the expanded version of “Coyote” and which had apparently been played at the soundcheck. Needless to say there were no complaints from the crowd who rose to their feet in appreciation at the conclusion of the set.