Dylan Gossett (2025)

One Liner: Another Zach Bryan acolyte, from Austin, making good acoustic tunes
Wikipedia Genre: Country, red dirt, Texas Country, Americana
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 7

Friday

Both Weekends

Thoughts:  This guy was at Two Step Inn two years ago, when it felt like half of that poster was made up of Zach Bryan-ified guys.  I like ZB, but it feels like one or two of those stripped down guys is enough, before we'll just have singer-songwriter night on every stage.

He actually grew up in Austin, the son of a school teacher and a high school basketball coach.  He tried guitar lessons as a kid, but those didn't pan out.  He ended up teaching himself via lessons from YouTube, immersing himself into classic country and some of the new school guys like Turnpike and Flatland.  Maybe I need to give the guitar a try again.  I wonder how you go about finding the best guitar lessons on YouTube, so that I'm not just wading through garbage for hours?  Anyway, he went to A&M, and after he graduated he took a job at the Circuit of the Americas in the Operations team.  He kind of reminds me of Jackopierce's early stuff, but also of the kind of guy you would hear in the corner of a bar just rocking out by himself while everyone talks and drinks.

He started posting covers online ("Ophelia" by the Lumineers, for example), and then finally caught on with "To Be Free," which apparently became a thing on TikTok.  But it was "Coal" that really blew up and catapulted him into the big time.  At 294.9 million streams now.  Impressive.

Great central line - "they say pressure makes diamonds, how the hell am I still coal."  Good tune, very low key, DIY, basic singer-songwriter vibe.  That song blew up, with the New York Times calling it one of 2023's best country songs.

When he came through Two Step, he only had six songs available on Spotify, so there was a limited amount of vibe to figure.  "Coal" blew up and he quit his job.  Now, he has two EPs - 2023's No Better Time and 2024's Songs in the Gravel.  He also scored a single on the Twisters soundtrack, which is kind of cool.  He definitely went for it on that song, cranking up the banjo and the tempo.  His tune "Somewhere Between" is sort of the same, where he cranks up like a Mumford and Sons freakout.  Even with all of those new songs, his second-most streamed tune is still his first sing, "To Be Free" and is lovely.  61.1 million streams.

Still just a boy and his guitar, but that one gets a little more of a snappy tempo going.  "Beneath Oak Trees," which is about him getting married in Wimberly under an oak tree canopy, is really nice.  "Lone Old Cowboy" is good too, like a REK story song.

Two new singles, and they add in a little more instrumentation, but still stay pretty low key and pure.  He still sounds like a singer/songwriter.  I'd go catch his set.  Even if it is chill, he feels like the kind of guy who may be on the up elevator right now.