Dylan Gossett

In recent years, Dylan Gossett’s life has been nothing short of a meteoric whirlwind. “It’s been such a crazy time,” the Texas-based country singer-songwriter – who broke through with viral hits including the Double-Platinum “Coal,” which to date has amassed more than half a billion global streams and earned multi-platinum certifications around the world – says of the wild ride that included last year’s acclaimed debut full-length album, Westward.
Westward, released via Big Loud Texas / Mercury Records, Gossett admits, was a direct reflection of the ever-present hustle he’d endured over several years – namely pounding the pavement as one of country music’s most buzzed-about breakout artists. And while his career has only continued to ramp up in the time since, as Gossett began penning the material that would come to comprise his much-anticipated follow-up LP, the musician felt it essential the new songs reflect the place in life at which he currently sits. “It feels like a homecoming,” Gossett says one late-spring morning. The 27-year-old could be speaking of his move back home to Austin, where he’s recently settled down with his wife and a new baby boy. Today, however, he’s referring to Ramblin’, the beloved musician’s eagerly
anticipated sophomore album, due on September 25th via Big Loud Texas / Mercury Records.
A highly personal collection of thrillingly melodic, hook-laden new material, Ramblin’ is a forever earnest and always transparent musician’s window into his life off the road. The forthcoming, 12-track album, Gossett contends, is also something of a narrative counterbalance to Westward. “Where Westward is all about this change of life I went through and the craziness of touring around the world and life flipping upside down, Ramblin’ is about coming back home and having real relationships when I was off the road,” Gossett says. “Relationships with friends, with
significant others, with family, with faith. I’m grounding myself in this music.”
To that end, at the heart of the LP is the aptly titled, acoustic guitar and banjo-anchored “Headed Back To Austin.” Gossett describes Ramblin’as directly influenced by his Texas roots, and, as such, the sweet and stunning “Headed Back To Austin” serves as both the album’s sonic and emotional centerpiece.
“What do you believe in/Cause I’ve been having trouble sleeping/The only thing I’m needing is somewhere I can find/So I’m headed back to Austin/When I close my eyes,” he sings with tender longing at the chorus. “Headed Back To Austin,” which Gossett says is, in his mind, “the heart” of Ramblin’, is “about all the people and the memories you miss when you’re not at home. It’s the feeling of wanting to
be somewhere you can’t, and heading back there in your mind when you can’t physically go there.”
More importantly, the song is a quintessential example of Ramblin’s beauty: a collection of songs that, while specific and detailed, are also highly relatable. There’s a beautiful specificity to Gossett’s recent writing – plainly felt in the references to the atmospheric and environmental surrounds of Texas in songs like recent single “Honeysuckle” – that evokes a sense of place and a palpable sprinkling of nostalgia. “The songs on this album directly reflect my life at home,” Gossett says proudly, adding that the “very Texas-based” album is “highly influenced by living in the hill country – trees and sunflower fields and even clotheslines.”
“And I’m talking about relationships with my buddies, with my wife, my dog and my son,” he continues of Ramblin’s thrilling tracklist, which includes standout, sure-to-be fan favorite songs including “Clothesline,” and “Snow Melt.” “These are common-thread themes in these songs about being back home that I have not gotten to experience and express since before I was writing this album.”
“I find the more specific you are, the more relatable it seems to be,” Gossett offers of his highly personal songwriting process. “As a result, this new music has a nostalgic touch to it.” Additional Ramblin’ songs are similarly personal and sentimental. From the propulsive, forthcoming single “Loving You Like That” to the album’s title track, which Gossett penned with his brother Blake and centers on “half the relationship with the road and half with leaving home,” the album is a masterclass in supreme songwriting. “I take a lot of pride in my writing. It’s what I love doing,” says Gossett, who wrote on all 12 of the album’s songs. “When I get lyrics that make perfect sense, that’s what I crave. It’s my favorite thing in the world.”
With the new album on the horizon, Gossett – who Rolling Stone called “one of country music’s most in-demand live draws” – continues to take his music to his ever-growing legion of fans. The musician, who to date has sold over 200,000 headline tickets worldwide and performed at festivals including Stagecoach, Austin City Limits Music Festival, SXSW, and CMA Fest, in addition to making his Grand Ole Opry debut, recently toured with Mumford & Sons and The Red Clay Strays, followed by a co-headline U.S. tour with Charles Wesley Godwin and a slew of
international headline dates. In short, Gossett is approaching this next chapter with a fresh perspective as Ramblin’ arrives this fall.