Portland, Oregon lap steel slide
guitarist, singer
and songwriter Dylan-Thomas Vance brings an open-country pioneering
spirit to his music which incorporates his extensive knowledge of jazz
with elements of country blues, roots, folk, and Americana. Born to a musical family in 1971, Dylan’s early childhood was
alternately spent in the wilds of
Yellowstone National Park and on a remote cattle ranch in the desolate
serenity of Montana’s Cinnabar Basin. Always knowing that he would one
day be a musician, Dylan began studying drums in fifth grade. By the
age of 15 Dylan had graduated to the guitar, then at 17 he met, and
began studying music with jazz bass player Rob Kohler in Bozeman
Montana. On the verge of moving to Boston to study at the renowned Berklee
School of Music, Dylan received an invite to form a band with some
friends in Portland Oregon - and Tao Jones was formed. Fueled by the
grunge epidemic, Tao Jones quickly carved out a large following in The
Northwest, toured extensively, released a CD on Elemental Records, and
headlined many a Portland club alongside such acts as The Jesus Lizard,
Tad, Sprinkler, Hitting Birth, and The Dharma Bums. However, in spite
of Tao Jones’ success, rock-n-roll did not feel like home to Dylan. Jazz came next. The Leroy Vinegar Quartet changed Dylan’s religion.
Thara Memory’s trumpet became his preacher. Dan Faehnle became his
teacher, and soon Dylan was both working as the guitarist for The Sweet
Honey Dijon Bad Ass Jazz Quartet at the 1201 Club and Jimmy Mak’s, and
majoring in music at Portland State University where he studied with
great players and teachers of the jazz tradition including Andrew Hill,
Jerry Hahn, John Gross, Darrell Grant, and John Stowell. Though inspired by the acid jazz scene at Jimmy Mak’s, Dylan’s next
project, The Groove Revelation, was closer to jazz-fusion. Between
playing regular gigs at Jimmy Mak’s and touring The West Coast, The
Groove Revelation self produced their first CD, The Arch Cape Sessions, which was
hailed by The Oregonian newspaper as one of Portland's best releases of
1998. Yet again, in spite
of the success of the band, Dylan began to feel a strong sense of
disconnect with the music. Jazz did not feel like home, so Dylan left
The Groove Revelation in search of his muse. The turning point in that search came when Dylan had a slide bar
made for him. What he thought would be a fun experiment changed his
life. Here was the muse he had been searching for. Though her voice was
undeveloped, Dylan knew he had found a conversation to last a lifetime.
Dylan had found home.
A prolific songwriter, Dylan's engaging performances and debut solo release combined with heavy touring began to yield national attention in 2003. In 2002, shortly after Vance's first solo effort, Cowboy Soul and Country Blues Vol. 1 was picked up for national distribution by Burnside Distribution, Vance was voted the region's best unsigned blues artist by The Cascade Blues Association. Dylan went on to become one of just over 50 artists culled from more than a thousand blues acts in 24 countries to compete in the prestigious 2003 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. While on a tour that took Dylan from his home-town of Portland, Oregon to legendary blues clubs in Kansas City and along Beale Street, Dylan's song "Old Man Devil" was picked up by the syndicated radio show, Blues Deluxe and aired on over 100 stations across the country. By the time the August/September 2003 issue of the world's largest blues publication, Blues Revue hit the stands with a commendation of Cowboy Soul and Country Blues Vol. 1 which stated, "Vance's starkly arranged compositions draw the curious ever closer... and his slide guitar playing is innovative"... Vance was already wrapping up production on his second solo release, Bittersweet.
On Bittersweet Dylan digs deeply into his musical heritage and emerges with his most personal expression to date. While he embraces a more traditional Americana/roots sound on Bittersweet, Dylan's love of the blues remains, along with his years of jazz training which course through the work, a subtly apparent and polished undercurrent. Proclaimed a "quickly endearing album" by Sing Out! Magazine, Bittersweet shows Dylan to be an artist matured, one who has honed his vocal and song writing skills and become the master of his own style on lap steel slide guitar.