Sue Bonzell: This is Up N Country on 93.7, The Bull. It’s powered by the Livecast. I’m your host Sue Bonzell. Let’s get this show started. He is going out on tour with Dylan Scott and he has a new song. I am so excited. Dylan Marlowe is here. Dylan, how’s it going?
Dylan Marlowe: It’s good. It’s good. It’s living life, trying to get by.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah. Well, okay. First of all, I love your accent. Where are you from?
Dylan Marlowe: I’m from Georgia.
Sue Bonzell: Georgia. I see, Southern guy. Got to love that. Got to love that.
Dylan Marlowe: Yes, ma’am.
Sue Bonzell: So, okay, so I’m so excited for you going out on tour with Dylan Scott. I mean, I love Dylan Scott. I love that. It’s kind of like the Dylan show.
Dylan Marlowe: Oh yeah.
Sue Bonzell: So, tell me about how all that happened.
Dylan Marlowe: Well, first of all, he’s been the coolest of anybody with any kind of status in this town to me. My boss, Dallas Davidson, the guy write for, he’s buddies with Luke Bryan. He writes a bunch of his songs. They went to farm tour and I kind of tagged along and that’s where I met Dylan and we kind of connected there and kind of a couple weeks later we got a call and they said he wanted us to go on tour, that he was a fan of what was doing. It was kind of crazy. Here we are. I think we’re a couple weeks out. We’re about to start rehearsals next week. So it’s getting down to it.
Sue Bonzell: That is so exciting. I’m super excited for you. I read that you moved to Nashville right before the pandemic and then you started doing co-writing via zoom. How was all of that?
Dylan Marlowe: I hated it. I hated to so much. This is the first time I’ve been on a virtual meeting probably in a year. I just decided at some point I just couldn’t get creative on it. I just decided we could write in person if they wanted to and if not, it was cool, we could reschedule it. It was a blessing and a curse. I didn’t really have any momentum yet at the beginning of COVID, which was good because I know a lot of people that did have momentum going into it and it was kind of hard to get it back because COVID paused everything. So I kind of got lucky with not putting me music out yet and not having any really big momentum in town. Now we’re kind of trying to go up.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah, I love that. I do have a question about… Your style of music I would say is probably a little more traditional country.
Dylan Marlowe: Sure.
Sue Bonzell: I get a lot of pushback on TikTok and on all my posts and everything that people go, “Eww, new country. I hate it. It sucks. It’s not real country.” What do you have to say about that?
Dylan Marlowe: It’s hard really. There’s so many different ways to look at it. I have my opinions on it, but I feel like what I want to do is just bridge a gap. I feel like there’s a new country and there’s an old country and I feel like there’s not too many people kind of in the middle. Just through what I’ve seen on TikTok and videos we posted that have done good and we kind of have a good… I’ve seen a lot of like, “Hey, I only like old country but I’ll listen to your music.” Which is kind of really cool to me. If you could touch both crowds and nobody hates you, you’re doing pretty good.
There’s all different people that hate you, but I do what I like and I write what I like and what I want to hear and what I think a lot people back home want to hear, like my redneck buddies back home, what would they want to hear riding their [inaudible] or going to parties. That’s the life of everybody listening to my songs and so I kind of like to tip my cap to those people because that’s going to be the people that help me have a career.
Sue Bonzell: I appreciate that. Your song, All About It, that’s your latest, and it’s a little bit different. Tell me about writing that song and then when you went to go record it and how it actually ended up.
Dylan Marlowe: Okay. I wrote that song with Kyle Fishman and Billy Montana, which, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Randy Montana, but he’s a big songwriter in Nashville, it’s his dad. We actually wrote it to a really upbeat track and nobody really liked it. And Kyle, he does the tracks, he just [inaudible] everything with just me and a piano. We were like, “Wow, this is something.” It’s crazy because we probably wrote that two years ago or three, maybe two and a half years ago. I finally put it out in May and I was kind of over it just because I wrote so many more new songs, but it’s opened a lot of doors from me. We played some shows and New York a couple weekends ago and people were singing that song and it’s crazy from TikTok and just being on a couple playlists. That song’s opened a bunch of doors and I think it’s gained a bunch of fans for me. It’s been crazy seeing that thing.
Sue Bonzell: I think it’s really cool. I think on Spotify, you’ve got like over two million downloads on Spotify alone, which is pretty incredible. You also brought in the Dobro, which I love.
Dylan Marlowe: Yes ma’am.
Sue Bonzell: I think that’s incredible. I love that you did that.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah. I don’t think there’s enough of it. I think that goes to part of me wanting that traditional sound but wanting to have a little modernist to it, kind of having those old school instruments. That’s what I grew on. I just love Dobros and banjos and steel guitars. I some people probably use it just to make their songs country, but I genuinely love those instruments and my producer, Joe, he’s awesome, he’s a genius, and he’s been killing it. We’re about to put an EP out probably a week before the tour starts and he’s just crushed all those songs and it’s been crazy, but I’m thankful for sure.
Sue Bonzell: I’m really glad that you said steel guitar because I’m, right now, I want to push it out to the new country people and say-
So I’m glad that you said steel guitar because… I got this thing, I really want somebody to bring the steel guitar back because I love a good steel guitar and you just don’t hear it really in new country anymore. Maybe on one of your songs coming up, we can hear a little steel guitar.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah, for sure. A thousand percent. I think Goodbye Gets Around is one that we put out a couple months ago and it’s got a steel guitar solo. I was really pumped about that just because let it have its own little thing.
Sue Bonzell: See now right there. You’re already a trend setter because nobody’s really doing that. So it’s like, “Okay, Dylan Marlowe said steel guitar’s cool.” And now everybody’s just going to jump on the bandwagon. You’re going to be like, “I did that.”
Dylan Marlowe: Hey, any way I can help bring it back, I will.
Sue Bonzell: I love it. I love it. So. All right. Do you want to play a little game with me?
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah, let’s do it.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. So we’re going to play the old traditional Never Have I Ever. Are you familiar with how this works?
Dylan Marlowe: Yes ma’am.
Sue Bonzell: I’m going to do the never have I ever and if everybody wants to play home, you can play at home if you want to. So I’m going to do the never have I ever statement and if you’ve actually done it, you got to drink.
Dylan Marlowe: All right.
Sue Bonzell: It’s only a drinking game today because it’s kind of early. So Dylan’s got some water.
Dylan Marlowe: I got-
Sue Bonzell: Got my tea.
Dylan Marlowe: Trying to get my voice back.
Sue Bonzell: I know, right. It’s cold out there.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: All right. We’re going to do this. I’ve got about 10 of them.
Dylan Marlowe: Okay.
Sue Bonzell: All right. You ready?
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Never have I ever been kicked out of a bar.
Dylan Marlowe: I have different reasoning than most people though but I have been kicked out of a bar.
Sue Bonzell: I have been kicked out of a bar too with a group of people. We all got kicked out. That’s all good.
Dylan Marlowe: But you go together.
Sue Bonzell: That’s right. Okay. We’re the rebels. Okay. Never have I ever gotten a tattoo I regret.
Dylan Marlowe: No.
Sue Bonzell: Any tattoos?
Dylan Marlowe: I do have one, but I love it.
Sue Bonzell: You love it. What is your tattoo?
Dylan Marlowe: It’s on my bicep right here. It’s a heartbeat and it has a music note in the middle of it.
Sue Bonzell: That’s awesome.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah. It’s cool.
Sue Bonzell: I would love that tattoo also. I actually don’t have any tattoos, so can’t have any regrets. No regrets me. Okay. Never have I ever been bungee jumping.
Dylan Marlowe: Never done that.
Sue Bonzell: No, me neither. That’s crazy. Sorry.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah. I’m good.
Sue Bonzell: I’m a hundred percent too old for that these days. Never have I ever been in handcuffs for any reason.
Dylan Marlowe: I’ve never been in handcuffs. I’ve been arrested though.
Sue Bonzell: He’s like, “Oh wait. That’s right.” That might be a story for a different show.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah. We’ll we’ll hop on that later.
Sue Bonzell: We’ll hop on that later. I am with you. Okay. Never have I ever spent more than $50 on underwear.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah, I’ve done that.
Sue Bonzell: All right. We got fancy pants up here.
Dylan Marlowe: Just a couple. Just a couple.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. This is very revealing, isn’t it?
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Never have I ever pranked someone.
Dylan Marlowe: All the time.
Sue Bonzell: Are you any good at it?
Dylan Marlowe: I’m great at it. My roommate’s my TM and he hates scary movies and I got him to watch one and I went down to the breaker and flipped it on and off, turning his power off in his bedroom. He was freaking out. It’s great.
Sue Bonzell: That’s perfect. He have nightmares. There you go. Never have I ever dropped my phone in the toilet.
Dylan Marlowe: I’ve never done that.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah. I did it. It still worked after that actually.
Dylan Marlowe: That’s good. That’s good.
Sue Bonzell: Oddly enough but it was kind of gross kind of gross. I had to disinfect. All right. Never have I ever called in sick, but wasn’t.
Dylan Marlowe: Oh yeah. All the time.
Sue Bonzell: I think there’s a lot of people doing that right now.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah. I used to work with my dad before I moved to Nashville and there was some times I was sick, but wasn’t sick.
Sue Bonzell: For sure. And what were you doing for him?
Dylan Marlowe: Turkey hunting. I was working for him. I was sick and I went turkey hunting a couple times. I thought it was a good idea and then I killed something and posted it on Instagram and he was like, “Oh, so you were sick?” So yeah. There’s that.
Sue Bonzell: Yeah. Social media gets you in trouble. You have to be careful.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: I know people who have done that and gotten fired. I actually know people who’ve done that. That’s not good.
Dylan Marlowe: Not good.
Sue Bonzell: All right. Never have I ever done something totally stupid and broken a bone. He’s such a boy.
Dylan Marlowe: Done that.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. So what happened?
Dylan Marlowe: I had a dirt bike and I tried to go over this ramp that we made in our yard out of dirt, really fast because it just wasn’t high enough. I just went over real fast and wrecked and broke my arm.
Sue Bonzell: Oh man. How happy was your mom about that?
Dylan Marlowe: I think that was my second broken bone so I think she was like standard procedure. The first one I think I broke on a swing set when I was little and she was freaking out. But by the second one, I think she’s like, “All right, standard procedure.”
Sue Bonzell: And how old were you?
Dylan Marlowe: First time I was like eight. The second time I was probably 13.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Yeah, teenager, he can handle it. No problem.
Dylan Marlowe: Right. Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: All right. The last question, never have I ever been in a bar before I was 21.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: All right. Very revealing. I won’t totally rat you out.
Dylan Marlowe: Oh no, you’re good.
Sue Bonzell: My dad used to go to a local bar a lot and he used to take us. He’d take us.
Dylan Marlowe: Sorry.
Sue Bonzell: My dad used to go to the local bar a lot, like for lunch or whatever and for cocktails. He’d bring me with him and I get to play pinball on the corner. So I was like, “Yeah, I like going to the bar.” So that’s what happened and now I go to bars.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah, I think my first time was when, in Statesboro, where I’m from, the music scene was real big. Jon Langston was playing one night and you had to be 17 to get in, and my buddy had just turned 17 and gave me his paper copy of his ID. He walked in like five people ahead with his hard copy and we snuck in and watched Jon Langston, which is funny, because we played a bunch of show was with this past year. So it was kind of full circle for me.
Sue Bonzell: It worked?
Dylan Marlowe: Oh yeah.
Sue Bonzell: We did that back in the day. I’m a little bit older than you, just a little bit. Back in the day when we actually had paper IDs.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Oh yeah. I think that we had three gals. One of us went in with it and then came back out, handed it out, handed back and we went in and I think by the third one, the guy was like, “Just get in.” Back back in the good old days when they let you get away with stuff like that.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah. Good old days.
Sue Bonzell: Awesome. Well thank you Dylan. I’m so excited for you in all of your success that you’ve had so far and you’re on that track to make something big. And you’re going to be, like I said before, touring with Dylan Scott. That is super exciting. You guys go get your tickets and make sure you download Dylan Marlow’s new song. So thanks Dylan.
Dylan Marlowe: Yeah. Thanks for having me. I really enjoyed it.
Sue Bonzell: Thanks for tuning in to Up N Country where we have new episodes every Tuesday and be sure to visit upncountry.com for all of the episodes and information about our VIP Club, where you’re going to get exclusive backstage access. If you’re on Instagram or TikTok, make sure to follow me, Sue Bonzell, I’ll see you next week.
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