Dylan Charles

"A Skillful Songwriter" - John Gjaltema Alt-Country Netherlands 4/24/2010

"A Skillful Songwriter" - John Gjaltema Alt-Country Netherlands 4/24/2010

"Showstopper Dylan Charles [...] caused someone next to me to exclaim, 'How does someone so young manage to sound like that?' You could string a rake and Dylan would make it sound good." - Dave Resto - The Bisbee Observer

Dylan Charles is a Bisbee-based singer-songwriter who recently self-released a fine debut album, Time for Breakfast, which he recorded at Tucson's Wavelab Studio with co-producer Craig Schumacher. After opening for John Hammond at the Rialto, Charles embarked on a tour of Texas. This week, he'll be back in Tucson, at Plush.

Charles' songs veer all over the spectrum, though most all are rooted in some form of country. Opener "Cool Mountain River" is an acoustic-guitar-led number with some lovely piano-playing and even prettier harmonies, while "Cheyenne" could be one of John Denver's more rambunctious songs, if Denver's voice had been throatier. "Quite Like You" is all Southern-fried Dixie funk à la Little Feat—a slinky little groove you can shake your ass to. There are a few relatively twangless, fangless ballads that veer more into singer-songwriter fare than country ("Mother Please," "Fly on the Wall" and "Sophia," which could have fit right into the singer-songwriter movement of the 1970s), while "It's Only the Wind" is an eerie homage to Tom Waits that never devolves into imitation. "Don't Go Out Tonight," meanwhile, adds a bit of Latin flair to the mix.

With a few exceptions, Charles played almost every instrument on Time for Breakfast (he also moonlights as a mandolin player for The Dusty Buskers), which only serves to make a darn good album all the more impressive. - Tucson Weekly 5/13/2010

Multi-instrumentalist Dylan Charles is one of those players. Charles arrived in Bisbee three years ago to visit his father, a local art gallery owner, and was so enthralled by the town and its culture that he decided to stay.

"I studied at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory," says Charles, who recently recorded his first solo CD, "Time for Breakfast."

"I was tired of the scene there. I found Bisbee to be a cool, funky little place where I could write some songs. I ended up becoming enamored of the people and with the place. You can get real comfortable here. I started playing with different kinds of bands. In Cincinnati, I was doing mainly jazz," says Charles, defining his current genre as Americana, influenced by folk, country rock, blues and bluegrass.

Charles played mandolin with the Dusty Buskers as well as with Dan Simonis and the West Texas Millionaires (two of Bisbee's mainstay bands) before recording on his own. Charles says he thrives artistically on the spirit of the place: "I felt free here to explore my art and do my own thing, and the audiences here are real receptive to that. I could do whatever was coming from my heart. For me, Bisbee is considered an artists' community or retreat."

View full article at:
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-bisbee14-2010feb14,0,2447650.story
- LA Times - Charlie Vascellaro

Multi-instrumentalist Dylan Charles is one of those players. Charles arrived in Bisbee three years ago to visit his father, a local art gallery owner, and was so enthralled by the town and its culture that he decided to stay.

"I studied at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory," says Charles, who recently recorded his first solo CD, "Time for Breakfast."

"I was tired of the scene there. I found Bisbee to be a cool, funky little place where I could write some songs. I ended up becoming enamored of the people and with the place. You can get real comfortable here. I started playing with different kinds of bands. In Cincinnati, I was doing mainly jazz," says Charles, defining his current genre as Americana, influenced by folk, country rock, blues and bluegrass.

Charles played mandolin with the Dusty Buskers as well as with Dan Simonis and the West Texas Millionaires (two of Bisbee's mainstay bands) before recording on his own. Charles says he thrives artistically on the spirit of the place: "I felt free here to explore my art and do my own thing, and the audiences here are real receptive to that. I could do whatever was coming from my heart. For me, Bisbee is considered an artists' community or retreat."

View full article at:
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-bisbee14-2010feb14,0,2447650.story
- LA Times - Charlie Vascellaro