Meet Dylan Stewart | Singer-Songwriter-Musician-Recording Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dylan Stewart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dylan, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
I think cutting my own path. The music industry is full of songwriters and musicians who get caught in that place where they are trying to replicate something that they’ve heard that strongly appeals to them or has inspired them so much that they start thinking that they want to sound just like the source of that sound or look or style of playing. The most important thing I’ve chosen to do is make my own way.. of course I’ve been incredibly inspired by artist’s I look up to and who’s songs have been some kind of place I can turn in harder times. At some point you have to draw a fine line between inspiration and emulation. They say the road less traveled on is the path to take. I’m talking about the road never traveled on. In fact there’s not even a road…you have to literally create it. That’s what we are all setting out to do is create something and the most important choice I’ve made or direction I’ve gone in was one where there wasn’t a road before I constructed it. There’s only one me and only one you in this world. Speak with your own mouth and write from your own mind and never seek a sound that somebody else created..you’ve already got something inside you that’s yours and a story only you can tell with your set of tools and your insight and personal experience. I found mine and I crafted my own sound from that and it’s incredible important for the sake of the songs and the art of truly creating something that’s never been done before you did so..

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Was it easy? Hell no it wasn’t easy. But is anything ever easy that’s worth going all in for? I mean throwing everything you’ve got all in for it because it’s where your passion lies.. the music business is hard. Driving countless hours across state lines day after day is hard. Booking shows and managing your own career is hard. Putting in so very many hours that are completely off the pay clock that are spent practicing your instrument and mastering your craft, honing your skills as a musician and songwriter and never ceasing to become something better than you were before and are right now.. it’s a pirates life I say. Being a working musician is incredibly hard and if you set out to do it for the money then I hate to break it to you but you won’t last too long because it takes a mountain of paying your dues before they reimburse you in any financial form. It’s gotta be all heart and soul.. and putting all your heart and soul into something that is not guaranteed to be successful is also very hard and takes a heavy amount of resilience and courage to do.. I think something I want people to know about myself as a working songwriter is that I went all in a long time ago and I haven’t looked back since I started chasing the lines on the highway and my heart and soul are still just as immersed in the music and the songs as it was the day I set out on this journey.. and it will absolutely be until the day my card is pulled and i’m left pushing up daisies.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Fort Worth has a cool little thriving music scene filled with unique songwriters and players each with their own sound and story to tell. I think I would dive headfirst into that rabbit while if I was showing a friend around.

Magnolia Motor Lounge, The Post, Billy Bob’s, The Stockyards, Adairs Saloon, Double Wide Bar…Anywhere Jacob Furr is playing his incredible songs at.

There are all kinds of places around DFW to find what I’m looking for. There’s a little place just outside of the vast metro area in Azle, TX called Nos Bar that I’ve come to truly love and feel very inspired after I go to.. I love performing there..it’s worth checking out if you find your way over in them parts out West of Ft, Worth about a half hour drive or so..give or take.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Mike McClure literally scooped me up in a cheap hotel room in southern Oklahoma after one of his gigs I had attended and followed an after party to a hotel room that belonged to the musician who had opened for Mike earlier that evening and whom I was well aquatinted with. I had an acoustic guitar and was playing songs I wrote to a small crowd of about 15 people crammed into a hotel room and McClure walked in and then set right next to me on the end of the bed and listened to what I was doing. After a couple songs he leaned over and said, “Follow me.” And so I did and we ended up playing songs back and forth until sunrise. That led to Mike not only producing two records for me but he completely mentored me from scratch. From that day forward we became great friends and he taught me how to stand in my own shoes and be my absolute best at songwriting, performing, recording, and just living this life as a working musician and incredibly driven songwriter. I think Mike and I have written 9 or maybe 10 songs together. He introduced me to the late oklahoma music hall of famer, Tom Skinner, who I was fortunate to get to spend a deal of time with before he past away and that was truly a life changing experience. To know and be amongst Tom Skinner. Mike also got me in cahoots with guys like Cody Canada(Cross Canadian Ragweed), Bryon White(The Damn Quails), Stoney Larue and Jason Boland. That list goes on but it’s safe to say without Mike McClure’s mentorship and friendship, that I wouldn’t have been able to step into the music industry in a way that has gotten me recognition and helped me to build a career of writing songs and traveling all over the map playing my own music. I truly owe it all to him for seeing something in me and over a decade ago in that cheap hotel room in southern Oklahoma and for taking me under his wing like he did. I should also mention that Mike McClure is my all time favorite singer writer and had been for seven years before that night we first crossed paths. It’s wild to think about it like this now but my hero became my mentor and my great pal and that is one high troll of a lifetime for me. Much gratitude I have for all of it.

Website: https://hype.co/@dylanstewartmusic

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dylanstewartmusic

Twitter: www.twitter.com/dylanwstewart

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/dylanstewartmusic

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6L3oXPj5B7xTYpvXv1BO65?si=skfR7RxiQkKMJDRCKpt2hQ https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dylan-stewart/335359573

Image Credits
First single photograph uploaded: Patrica Isbell Second round of photographs uploaded: Valerie Betterton Melissa Payne Pearson Adams Molly McElwain Tim Blake Tom Harris