Dylan Marlowe joins Katie Neal inside the 'Katie & Company' studio.
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00:00We've got company in the studio. He's got a top 25 single. His debut album Mid-20s Crisis
00:06is officially out today. Dylan Marlowe, thanks for having me. How long have you been waiting
00:10to say the words like my debut album is out now? A long time. Yeah, I feel like it took
00:15us a little longer to get a record going, but it felt it feels like the perfect time
00:19and now so don't feel rushed or anything. Yeah, I want to talk all about the album.
00:23But since this is our first time meeting and sitting down, I really just want to know your
00:26story from you because I don't hear it from other people. But just talk about like getting
00:30into music, getting to Nashville, because I think things started like happening for
00:34you like mid pandemic like a lot of people. Yeah, I mean, I went to college for one year.
00:41I started learning how to like sing and write and play in college. I didn't really know
00:45like my whole life that I could do any of that because I always did baseball. And so
00:50uh, yeah, I started learning guitar and moved to Nashville and met a guy named Dallas Davidson
00:57who's written tons of tons of huge songs for like Luke and all those people and he signed
01:03me and we've just been going since then. Yeah, like a blur. I'm sure. Yeah, it's all there's
01:09so many probably details I'm missing out. But yeah, it just kind of like started. Yeah,
01:13time flies. At what point could you realize like, not only could you like you're learning
01:16to play guitar, but like, when do you realize you can sing? Um, I started doing these like
01:21open mic nights back home in a place called Locos. And somebody had like videoed it and
01:26sent it to me. And I was like, sounds terrible. You know, what made you want to do the open
01:30mic night? Um, I've always been kind of a competitive person. And there was a dude in
01:37my neighborhood, Colin, who like, pretty much gave me his extra guitar to learn how. And
01:41so he was doing it. And I was like, well, I could probably go try it out. And I started
01:44kind of writing songs. So I started, I would go up there and you'd play two songs. And
01:50I would just always go play songs that I'd been working on, see what people like reacted
01:53to, you know. And once I started hearing videos of it, like kind of sounded decent. I was
01:58like, maybe I can work on this, you know, started taking vocal lessons and really trying
02:01to like dig in and learn how to sing. And you said you've been playing, you'd always
02:06played baseball up until that point. So you start trying to sing and stuff. Are your friends
02:09like supportive? Or are they like, what? Yeah, I think it's one of those things where someone
02:12were probably like, okay, this is just like a phase. Some kind of thought it was cool.
02:18But even my one of my best friends, Colton, he'll tell you like, he was like, there's
02:22no way I thought you would ever like make it really out of that town out of Statesboro
02:26doing it. So he's like, yeah, I'll eat my words all day and tell you that I thought
02:29that. So it's kind of cool, like having some people like that, that have kind of seen it
02:32from the beginning. And it's funny seeing those people like now that we kind of have
02:36like some stuff going on. They, they still keep me humble.
02:40Oh, I'm sure that they do. Yeah, I've got plenty of friends back at home. They're like,
02:43don't worry, we've got all the dirt in the stories. You know, it's right there. Have
02:49you ever heard the Luke Dick song called polyester? I don't think so. Um, Luke Dick, who like
02:54wrote the Miranda Lambert and all those great songs. He has a song called polyester. It's
02:57one of my favorite songs in the world. But it's like, you might wear leather, but you're
03:00made of polyester. And it's all about like, with the place that you come from. And like
03:03how people back home still kind of see you think of that. It's really funny and quirky.
03:08You should listen to it. Um, all right. So you start doing that. You said went to college
03:11for a year. Yeah. They told me like, Hey, you don't have to come back. You're good.
03:15College. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They're like, you're good. Which is, is that the story you told
03:19your parents? Yeah. Yeah. No, they actually, uh, my dad was the one that said, Hey, if
03:23you don't want to do college, like just leave, quit. Like if you want to go do music, like
03:27there's no point in me paying for you to go to college if you're going to quit. So yeah,
03:31they were, they kind of helped me get to where I'm at. At what point in all of this did like
03:36the viral Olivia Rodrigo cover moment happen? That was sometime over COVID. Uh, Cade, who
03:43we were talking about earlier, my manager, he's like, you got to start doing TikTok.
03:47And I was like, well, I don't, I don't know what to post on there. Like at the time it
03:51wasn't really music heavy on TikTok. It was kind of just funny stuff. Yeah. So I was like,
03:55I'm not, I'm not trying to be a comedian. Like I'm, I'm worried about my music. And
03:58he was like, well, just take a song that's not country and make it country. Like just
04:02something. And he was kind of kidding. And I took it serious. And I, the first song I saw was when
04:07I opened it was driver's license. And I was like, well, this would be cool to make country. Cause
04:11it had like three or 4 million views on her video of her posting it. And I did it and kind of blew
04:17up a little bit. And that was my first like, Oh shit. Or sorry. Oh crap. That's like pretty crazy
04:24how that can happen. And, uh, we just kind of kept rolling since. Have you ever like met her
04:29or talked to her about it? No, I haven't. I think we, uh, reached out about me getting like writer's
04:36credit on my version and they're like, no. So sorry. No. Yeah. Maybe there's hope for like,
04:41at some point, I mean, one of my favorite things that happens at CMT is the crossroads. So like
04:45maybe at some point I'd love to, cause I feel like some of her new stuff is like kind of pop
04:49punky and some of my minor records pretty pop punky too. So maybe we could. Right. Like you,
04:53Megan, Olivia Rodrigo, like there's something there that like really would work and be really
04:58fun. Okay. So that all happens. You meet Dallas Davidson here. Like you were saying, I just like
05:02want to like, for people who don't know who Dallas is like really explain like Dallas Davidson is a
05:07big deal, big deal in town. Yeah. He was right. I knew of Dallas before I moved to town just from
05:12like, I'd kind of gotten into like digging into who wrote what and his name was everywhere in
05:18that time. Like, and, uh, I had listened to all his demos on YouTube. Like there's demos of him
05:23singing, like, you know, the one that got away that Jaco and cut like his versions. And I always
05:27thought it was so cool. And so I was like a big fan. And then Dallas, I'll never forget when I
05:33was signing my publishing deal, uh, I was talking to Ashley Gorley's company tape room and, uh,
05:39they'd wanted me to come in for a meeting the next week. And Dallas had called me and he was like,
05:44I don't need a meeting. Like, I just heard your stuff. Like I'll sign you like, just come over
05:49here. And I was like, crap, this puts me in an awkward spot. And he was like, look, he's like,
05:53I have a 1200 acre farm that you can hunt and fish anytime you want. If you sign with me. And I was
05:57like, all right. So I immediately agreed to him and called the other beaten off. And Oh my God,
06:03that is so cool. Like so fun. That's so wild. So Dallas, this happens at some point, like in the
06:09chaos between all of this, you also got married, right? That was pretty recent. Yeah. About a year
06:13and a half ago, probably. Oh my God. That's like, talk about all, like a lot of things. What is
06:16like a four year time span? Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. A lot, lots been happening. Do you feel like
06:22you've had any time to process it or are you still like, Oh yeah. I don't know. I think it's
06:28so grind, like such a grind and always go in that. I don't know if I have stopped. Uh,
06:36I went to Montana this year to Turkey hunt. And after I shot a Turkey, I kind of just sat
06:40there in the woods for like an hour, just like thinking about it, how crazy it was. And other
06:45than that, like, I don't think I really have slowed down to even think about it. Well, it's
06:48like you were saying earlier, like you leave this interview, you've got to like get on a plane and
06:51you're like, got somebody trying on a suit for you for a wedding. You don't even have time to
06:56try on a suit. I'm hoping I didn't gain any pounds since the last time I got fitted for a suit.
07:01I might have to hit the track ordering some skims from yeah. All right. So next thing I want to ask
07:07you is like, I think I know how I would describe your sound, but how would you describe your sound
07:11to somebody who hasn't heard your music? Um, it's kind of all over. It's like a chaotic mess.
07:17You said pop punk. Yeah, I feel like that. Definitely. Yeah, it's it's found its way in.
07:21It's always had it always has been like, we had a song a few years ago called while we break up
07:26again. And then on the on the EP, we had a song called you see mine that when we play live are
07:30super just energetic, but it's kind of just trying to make it my own thing. I don't necessarily want
07:36to like, label it as anything, but I feel like it's just me just doing Marlo what what me writing
07:43songs that have been fun to write and fun to play live and just aiming for that. Yeah, for me, like
07:48whenever, like when I listened to the whole album, I was like, to me, it feels like all American
07:52rejects. Yes, his brothers with plain white tees, and they both grew up listening to Carth Brooks,
07:57like something like that. I love that. Somebody commented on my tick tock yesterday of heaven's
08:02sake. And they said this sounds like a blank 182 went down to Georgia and drank some moonshine.
08:08And I was like, Yes, I love that. I feel like you could do like a whole post on like people's
08:13different like takes on that. But I you and I aren't that we're pretty far apart in age, but
08:18like grew up on like a lot of the similar like pop stuff like that. And so like it's those shows are
08:25always the most high energetic concerts that I ever went to. And you know, I, I've never
08:30I don't think I've even ever been to a pop punk show. Oh my god. There's because growing up like
08:36we just didn't go to concerts. Really? Yeah. I mean, we went to Luke Bryan would come to
08:41Claxton right down the road and do farm tour and we'd go to that.
08:46But yeah, we, we never really went to like concerts going up. So it was like the first
08:49arena show you ever went to. The first arena show I think I went to is Jason Aldean and Macon
08:57Jordan. Really? Yeah. And yeah, so I really want to get to some I've got to go to a few rock shows
09:04since like we did a festival in Nickelback played the day before. So we got to watch that.
09:09And that was really sick. We almost got to see Creed last week in Phoenix, but our bus was a
09:13little late getting there. Oh, but yeah, so I just it. We play a song called you see mine every night
09:20and it's not even like probably near my top five best streaming songs, but it's my favorite song
09:24to play. And that's just fun. And when we play headline shows, you know, people, they sing it
09:28like it's was back home. So that's awesome. Well, let's talk about the album mid 20s crisis. Talk
09:33about the title track for this and like naming the album that Yeah, yeah, it was the it was the last
09:39track to get to like make the record. We were about a week away from having to turn the whole
09:45thing in and I still didn't have a title. And I wanted it to be special. Like I didn't want it
09:50to just be a random title of a song on the record. And I had been praying a bunch about finding the
09:56title because I just didn't know what to call it. And but I felt like it had to be another song,
10:02which is what scared me because obviously I didn't have time to record another song.
10:07And then one night, I got up like 4am a little little midnight, you know,
10:12pee and it came just came popped in my head while I was getting up and
10:19I knew that that was like the title of the record immediately. But then I was like,
10:23there's got to be a song with this. I don't have time to record it. So I just sat with it. And that
10:27was on a Tuesday. And then that weekend, I ended up writing that song on the road just by myself
10:33in the back lounge of the bus. And it's really just an honest, open, vulnerable song about kind
10:37of what I felt like I was going through probably for the last few months. And I sent it to my
10:42producer Joe and my team at Sony and they're like, this is definitely it. But how are you going to
10:48make this work? And so I figured that the song would just be me and an electric guitar. So I
10:53got Joe, my producer to go ahead and lay an electric guitar track down. And then I came into
10:57town the next day on Sunday and sang it. And then we turned the record in on Wednesday.
11:02Isn't that so wild? Like you'll be like waiting? Like I feel like there's so many times somebody
11:05will ask me a question like that's creative and I'm like, I don't have it yet. Like you just give
11:09me a minute and it'll come to me. And it usually is like in the middle of the night or like as
11:12soon as I lay my head down on the pillow or something like that. So it totally is. I mean,
11:17I took I went fishing like four or five times by myself just to see if it would come. Like I
11:22literally told Nat like, hey, I'm going to go just kayak down the creek, catch some smallmouth and
11:27see if I can figure out the name for this record. And I get back. She's like, you got it? I'm like,
11:30no, not yet. You know, it's funny. Did you read the Rick Rubin book? His is a creative way. I
11:37think is what it's called. It's now I can't think of it. It's all about how creativity like flows
11:41through people like that. Really? It's so interesting. I feel like as a creator that
11:46or listen to it. Oh, yeah. So I've like said this in so many interviews, but I was talking to Keith
11:51Urban recently and he was like, I took that book to the studio with me every single day. Really?
11:55It's magical. But like in terms of like serendipitous like moments like that with
11:59creativity, it really is like, yeah, I need to do that. I need to read it. I suck at reading books.
12:03Listen to it then. That's what I can read. Yeah. All right. So the current single with Dylan Scott,
12:09talk about writing this song. And then when you decided to bring Dylan in on it.
12:12Yeah, we we wrote it me, Joe Fox and Seth Ennis. We wrote it and I think we wrote the chorus first.
12:20And then like two weeks later, came back and finished it. And I knew it was like an anthem.
12:25And I just was kind of missing the dudes back home hanging out with that that I grew up with. And
12:31we we wrote it and it kind of sat for a little bit. And when I went on tour with Dylan Scott,
12:36he had asked me to show him some songs that I was pumped about. So I showed him that. And
12:40he was like, there's never been two Dylan's on one song. So let's make it happen. So we did.
12:44And then he had a record coming out. So we didn't put it out when we thought we were
12:49kind of forgot about it, put out a song called Record High. And that kind of ran its course.
12:53And then we're like, what do we do next? And I was like, I think Kate or Jason at the label was
12:59like, we have boys back home still like what are we doing with that? And so I called Dylan up and
13:03I was like, what now that your records out? Would you be down? He's like, yeah. So I actually had
13:07to go resing it because I sounded like two years younger. So I went and resang it and then we we
13:13put it out and it's it's changed my life for sure. That's wild that you've sat on it for this long.
13:18Yeah, it's probably three and a half years old by now. I'm dying that you had to go back in
13:21and record it because. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I could show you like the original one and you'd
13:25be like, wow. So that's wild. Do you feel like your voice is done changing or do you like still
13:30hear it? I don't know. I think it it's also just like getting better at singing, too. I probably
13:38have just got more confident. Like your vocal cords have probably got a lot stronger. Exactly.
13:41Like that is a real thing. No, it is. Yeah. But they build calluses. I mean, if you listen to
13:46people's projects like their first one versus now, it's so funny. Yeah. Hearing the difference.
13:50You've also got a song on this album with Riley Green. Yes. Talk about getting to work with Riley.
13:55Yeah, it was sick. We I had that song stick to my guns and I knew that it needed a feature and I
14:01kind of always knew that it was Riley. I thought in my head like either Riley or Hardy would be
14:05sick. Yeah. And the more I listened to it, I just I kept thinking like Riley's got to be the guy.
14:12So we hit him up first and he he said yes immediately and went in and sang it. I think
14:18I was on the road. So he went in and sang it like two days later and he crushed it, though. It
14:23sounds great. Sounds amazing. Yeah, it's a great song. Thanks. You also have been out on the road
14:28with Dan and Shay. Yeah. Playing tons of dates. I love those two. Like I think that they're like
14:32they're the funniest people I've ever met. So I'm curious, like what has been your experience
14:36spending time with them? It's a blast. It's like the funnest time. They don't like just sit in
14:41their bus all day. They get out and hang with everybody. I mean, they've like remembered the
14:45name of my whole band and crew. They love them just as much. Like we get out and watch their
14:50show in the pit every night and they give me a heck of a shout out. And all every single one
14:54of my crew guys that's out there in band, like they say their name, like they know them, like
14:58they've gotten to know us. Like it's kind of like feels like family. So yeah, that's really,
15:01really awesome. Yeah. I feel like Dan is the most intentional person I've ever met. Probably.
15:05That is a very good way to describe Dan. He remembers everything. And if you watch him,
15:09like he takes it out like he of course he knows everyone's name. Like he's very intentional,
15:13very thoughtful. I strive to be that intentional. I'd probably be better at marriage if I was that
15:17intentional. We'll ask Dan's wife and see what she says. But he also like, I just think he always
15:25blows me away. Like I think he still to this day does all of their socials. He does. He does
15:29everything. He does all the recording, all the producing. He's a mastermind. Yeah, he really,
15:36really is. It's really, it's really fun to watch. Who would you say has become like your person that
15:40you go to for like advice or when you're like not really sure because like you're doing this for the
15:45first time you really are in your career. Like has there been a person that you've been like,
15:49I don't know what the hell this is. I'm just gonna call. Yeah, I call Dylan probably once a week.
15:53Really? I call him once a week and then I call Connor Smith whenever I just want to complain
15:57about something. Me and Connor are kind of like in the same little spot. He might be
16:01a little ahead of me, but we're kind of going through the same stuff at the same time. So
16:05I'll call him and he'll be like, yeah, no, what about this? And we'll just like complain about
16:09stuff for 45 minutes and vent and then we're good. It's like a good little support group. Yeah,
16:13yeah. Me and Connor, I know if he's calling me, something's wrong. If I'm calling him,
16:16something's probably wrong too. But honestly, it's really good to have somebody like that because
16:20like you're not what you do. And like what I do is a little bit similar. Like there's not a lot
16:25of people that can relate to it. No, not at all. And you try to explain to somebody, they're like,
16:28I don't, what is your problem? Yeah. And the funniest thing is both of our wives will call
16:32each other when they're both angry at us. So at least we know they're figuring it out over there
16:37and we're just figuring it out over here. So that's really cool. That's awesome. Well,
16:41the record sounds great. It was really great to just like sit and talk to you and get to know you.
16:44I feel like I've been hearing things for so many, so long. So I'm going to, I'm going to bring you
16:48an animal, a dead animal in here. Oh, you've seen the taxidermy. Yeah. Somebody, Paula told me about
16:54it and I just kept, I keep forgetting. I hadn't really been home, but I'll have a few. Well,
16:58I think you're perfect for it because is this, is it deer on the wall? Yes. Like that. My pitch to
17:03every artist has been bring me the taxidermy your wife doesn't want in the house, which is usually
17:08all taxidermy. If I brought you all of it, you'd have like, you know, 10 turkeys, two deer. No,
17:13I don't, I don't need any of that. I just need like what's your weirdest, most obscure. I need
17:18to find, um, I'm sure I got something weird. How about, yeah, I got something. You do? Yeah. I
17:26shot this hog in, uh, in Florida and it was the biggest hog, the taxidermist that he'd ever seen.
17:31What? The skull is like this big. Hog hunting scares me. Like that. Pretty crazy. Yeah. Yeah.
17:37Is this like a regular hog hunting trip or one of the ones you're like in a helicopter? I was turkey
17:40hunting. You were turkey hunting and you killed a hog. And I saw it. Yeah. What? Yeah. That's,
17:46do you need like a special permit for that? Or you can just kill a hog? No. Cause hogs are like
17:49a nuisance. They tear up crops, like especially in Florida where we were, they tear up the orange
17:54groves and all that. So farmers like, they kind of want you to take them out. Okay. Good to know.
17:58I don't want the game warden coming in here. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. I had a license. I
18:02had another story about that. I will tell you off the air. Dylan Marlowe,
18:06thank you so much for coming to see us. Thanks for having me. Yeah.