Dylan Gardner is not your typical 18 year old boy; when he’s not learning to play another Ben Folds song on piano, he’s adding to his own collection of original pieces. He’s been intrigued with the development of music since he was ten and has looked up to multiple musicians like The Beach Boys, Prince, and Everly Brothers, in hopes of one day becoming as accomplished as them. He studies his favorite artists to see how and what makes their songs so successful. When asked about his writing methods, Gardner said,“I delved into what made The Beatles’ songs so good… what made Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson so good. I delved into what made Sam Cooke so prolific. It was like, ‘I’m going to dissect everything they do. What’s their philosophy? How do they write?’” After being signed to Warner Bros. Records, his manager, Geoffrey Weiss, helped the young musician select ten songs out of the one hundred pieces he’s composed to create Gardner’s debut album, Adventures in Real Time, featuring his most popular song, “Let’s Get Started”.

The 18-year old comes from a musically experienced family; his father owns a music store in Illinois and was the bassist of an 80’s pop group called The Kind and his older brother learned to play drums when he was young. Gardner draws his inspiration from 60s rock groups and bands he later discovered like Led Zeppelin and The Ramones. Reviews for his album have been nothing but praise and admiration; phrases like “richly rewarding” and “purely entertaining” are synonymous when talking about Adventures in Real Time. Dailyuw.com said “[The album] exudes the work of an old soul with a modern edge. The collection of ten tracks resonates a 1960s feel while simultaneously offering something refreshing and new.”

  With other critiques made by the writers from Popdose.com claiming, “This is one hell of an accomplished debut…I don’t give that kind of praise lightly, and in all honesty, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to find good reasons not to love Adventures as much as I do.”, it’s simple to see that Gardner is just beginning a career that will get him closer to his dream of being associated to his musical inspirations. At the age of 18, he’s already experienced a multitude of musical exposure, via YouTube, Spotify, and multiple radio show appearances and has compiled a lifetime’s worth of original works, just now being discovered; he’ll be promoting his new album this year in his East and West coast tour this March. Gardner may be young and has a lot of time to explore his musical capabilities, but at the moment he seems to know what he wants and how he wants to be heard, making him a truly distinct artist on the rise.