(Credit: Abraham Rowe)

There have always been different types of country music. Although the sounds of the American South and beyond have had their antecedents in pop music as of late, the core ethos of the genre has always come from blending every sound of the US into one pot, from the soulful grit of Motown to the dirty sounds of rock and roll. Whereas most country artists might like to play up the superficial aspects of the genre these days, Dylan LeBlanc is throwing it back to the days of the old-school outlaws on Coyote.

Much in the tradition of artists like Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, LeBlanc’s fourth outing consists of characters that populate the wrong side of the tracks. While other artists like Chris Stapleton may be one of the clearest examples of what LeBlanc is doing here, his expression comes in the form of a lavish concept album about what happens when a good ol’ boy turns bad.

Playing out like a lavish concept album, much of Coyote gives listeners a look at a softspoken badass ripped right out of an old western movie. Throughout the album, the titular ‘Coyote’ weathers through his fair share of hardships, leading off the record on the title track as he narrowly escapes prison.

Living the rest of his life on the run, much of the album creates subtle vignettes of what the life of an outlaw entails. Throughout various tracks, the devil is in the details of LeBlanc’s writing, talking about falling back into his nefarious habits on ‘Dark Waters’ and seeing the past that he loved so much crumble in his fingers on ‘Dust’.

The production of the album is fairly serviceable for this sort of genre. Favouring an old-school approach to his arrangements, this feels like the kind of LP that may have been lost in an abandoned record store circa 1976, which would benefit from the crisp sound of vinyl working with it. 

Though LeBlanc has drawn from the wells of artists like Cash, there are also some classic rock infused into his sound as well. When listening to the backing tracks of songs like ‘Hate’, it’s easy to hear the more acidic side of someone like Bruce Springsteen in his delivery, preaching his unholy sermons with conviction no matter how disturbing his life may come across.

Then again, no good country song would be worth a thing if there isn’t something to sing it to, and tracks like ‘No Promises Broken’ give the character a goal to achieve, looking to do everything for his significant other. Even though the songs tend to favour the darker side of life, LeBlanc isn’t willing to count out his lead just yet.

For all of the harsh realities that he might come across on a song like ‘The Wicked Kind’, ‘Stranger Things’ is a good indicator of the optimism that anyone in this position needs to survive. It might not make much sense to try to change the world around you, but changing yourself may find you in a completely different place just a short time down the road.

While there are more than a few fantastic country-tinged tunes across the track listing, it does give the listener a little while to adjust. For those fans that swear off country music, the record isn’t interested in meeting the listener halfway. If you’re willing to take the deep dive, though, this is a feast for the ears taken from the glory days of singer-songwriting.

Whereas most country and rock artists are looking to use their retro aesthetics as a mask to hide their true intentions, LeBlanc is the rare breed willing to expand on what the old school did. Rather than copy and paste the sounds of Cash and Nelson, LeBlanc sings his songs like he inhabits the stories in real time. He’s running on empty on some of this album, but he’s unwilling to give up on that dream. Hey, stranger things have happened.