At the tender age of 14, Dylan Schneider stepped onto the stage with a fearless spirit and a talent that belied his years. His journey began as a young songwriter and performer, crafting melodies and lyrics that resonated deeply with audiences. With songs like ‘Two Black X’s' (2016), ‘How Does It Sound' (2017), and ‘How to Country' (2019), Schneider quickly made his mark on the country music scene, earning a devoted fan base and a strong online following.
Now, at just 23 years old, Schneider's achievements are nothing short of remarkable. With over 1 million social media followers and a staggering 240 million on-demand streams, he has become a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Sharing the stage with luminaries such as Florida Georgia Line, Morgan Wallen, and Chris Lane, Schneider has proven himself to be a promising presence in the world of country music. With new EP ‘Bad Decisions' full of banging songs like the title track, ‘Carharrt' and viral hit ‘Ain't Missin' You' and an Autumn ahead full of shows with Kane Brown, Luke Bryan & Mitchell Tenpenny and a headline tour of his own: we were thrilled to catch up with Dylan to talk about it all.
Thanks for your time today, Dylan, we appreciate it given what a busy guy you are. We last spoke in London at the C2C festival. How was that trip for you? Did you leave with some good memories?
Oh dude! Absolutely. I love coming to the UK. London is one of my best fan bases and it was also great to be able to go to Amsterdam and Germany too. That was my second time in London after I'd done the Nashville Meets London show a few years previously in 2018.
It was cool getting to make some new fans and spend a week in the city this time too.
You told me back in March you'd taken a shine to drinking Guinness. Is that something you can find easily in Tennessee?
Yeah, you can get it over here. The first time I had it was up in Nottingham and it was so good. We'd gone out with some locals that night, done some karaoke and it was them that said that I needed to try it. I'd describe it as kind of a coffee type of drink and I love iced coffee so I guess that's why is appeals to me.
I often tell people it's like having a meal in a glass!
It is, man! If you're drinking them, man, you don't need an appetiser! A couple of them and you are definitely full! (laughing)
It was great to see your ‘Bad Decisions' EP come out since we last spoke. Have you been pleased with the reception to it?
Absolutely! ‘Bad Decisions,' the song, has been getting some recognition over here on the Highway radio station. I think it's number four this week on their countdown chart, which is really exciting. It's my first song on The Highway so I'm thrilled about that. ‘Carharrt' has been getting a lot of attention on social media and ‘Ruin My Town' is going down great in the live set.
When we play ‘Buy That Girl a Beer' it goes down so well live, kinda the slow down moment of the whole set where we can interact with the crowd – I often tell the guys in the crowds that this is their moment, if they've noticed a pretty girl in the crowd, it's their time to go get her a beer, right? They're all killing it for us right now.
I'm also getting very excited about the new music we have coming towards the end of this year as well.
We'll definitely circle back round to that in a minute. I think ‘Buy That Girl A Beer' could be a big radio song because I think it's one of those songs that relate to both men and women.
I agree with that, man. The girls always want to hear songs about guys being into them and the guys always need a nudge, like being out at the bar with your friends and they encourage you to make a move, right? I wrote it with my best friend in the world, Gabe Foust………….
I was going to ask you about Gabe so let's jump in with it right there. You wrote four of the six songs on the EP with Gabe. He's clearly your go-to guy – what makes the two of you such good collaborators?
I can hear him downstairs working on something right now! (laughing) Dude, we've known each other since we were 9 years old. We grew up together, we played baseball together, went to high school together……..we've been best friends since we were little kids.
When I started writing songs and chasing the dream we were probably about 15 years old and it was always the two of us together. Gabe ended up giving up baseball to come out on the road with me and we've been writing together ever since then and now we are both signed to Kane Brown's company, which is really, really cool. We just get each other, it' s a chemistry thing. I know what he likes, he knows what I like. The weirdest thing comes when we are in a room with somebody else we've never worked with, it must be difficult for them sometimes because we are such a tight and well oiled machine together. It's like telepathy.
The most successful artists of the past decade all have their trusted writers. Lainey Wilson has Trannie Anderson, Morgan Wallen has Ernest and HARDY, Luke Combs has Drew Parker and Ray Fulcher amongst others too.
Finishing up some of this latest music we've been working on I've been in the room with Gabe and a couple of other friends and writers that we like to work with – Jaxson Free and Jacob Hackworth – they're also my go-to guys. Getting to work consistently with them starts to develop almost a ‘house sound' and they start to understand what we have for the project and what we still need in terms of styles and moods.
‘Ain't Missin' You' helped establish you as an artist as it went viral on platforms like TikTok and Youtube. When you've had a hit like that does it put pressure on you to replicate it on future releases or do you just enjoy the success of the moment?
That's a great question. I would say I probably approach it both ways. There's definitely a pressure to replicate it but I also think it's important to be thankful for what has happened as well. When you're trying to replicate success like that you can be guilty of over doing or overthinking things sometimes.
With ‘Aint Missin' You,' I had no idea that it was going to do what it did. It just worked on TikTok out of the blue and you can't really predict it happening, which was fun at the time. There's no pressure that comes with that, something that just takes off. You've just got to work hard and hope that something like that happens again or that other platforms and avenues for success open up for you because of it.
I saw a video last night where someone asked Willie Nelson what he attributed to his success and and he said that he just stopped worrying about things he can't control and I feel like that is great advice. Take it day by day and really just concern yourself with things you can control. I mean, Morgan Wallen is the biggest artist in the world right now but if he's running around worried that it's all going to end tomorrow it probably will!! Why worry about it?
You've been writing and releasing music for a decade now and you're still a young guy. How have you grown and evolved as a writer over that time?
I would say……It's funny, I've always said this to people, when I was younger and just coming into the industry I just wanted to write good songs and tell good stories. Gabe and I were those type of kids that would be always making stupid scripts for movies and posting the films on youtube…..I know we never lived what we wrote and that extended to songs too. I could put myself into the situation of the story, even if I had never lived it. I hadn't lived a whole lot of life at that point but what has changed now is that I have lived a bit of life in the last 9 years and experienced a decent amount of bullshit to where there is more honesty in my songs now.
I've had some heartbreak, I've had family issues, seen a bit of the world – there's a lot more that's real and authentic about what I write now based on the life I've lived. Doing the grind, day in, day out, as a songwriter has also honed my skills and I do believe that I am a better songwriter now than I was when I first came to town.
Do you have a favourite song on the EP? Mne might be ‘Carharrt' but that's because I've played the hell out of ‘Bad Decisions.'
I'd say ‘Ain't Missin' You' because I'm so proud of that song and grateful for what it's done for my career. It's given me a more mature look. I sometimes go to shows and people don't realise that it's my song – they know the song and it's cool when they realise that it was me that wrote it! (laughing) That song feels like it really did something and it's cool to see an idea come to fruition and be successful across multiple platforms.
I love to put the mic down in the third chorus and let the crowd sing along to it too. That's so cool to be able to do that with one of your songs.
Do you have a favourite cover version you like to toss into your live sets as well?
Right now, we've been doing ‘Someday' by Nickelback. That one goes crazy. We were playing it out on the Nate Smith tour. Nickelback was the reason I picked up a guitar back in the day when I was younger although I didn't stick with it for more than, probably, 6-7 months. I wanted to be a rockstar, no pun intended (laughing) Their ‘All the Right Reasons' album is one of my favourite of all time.
We've also been doing ‘What Was I Thinking' by Dierks Bentley at our most recent shows. That's such a fun song, we played it in Ohio the other night and the crowd was unhinged! People were jumping about, some girl through her bra on stage……..everything!!!
You've got such a busy fall ahead with shows with Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Mitchell Tenpenny and your own headline shows too. What does a typical show day look like for you? Are you all ice baths and workouts or beer and fast food?
It depends and changes over the years. There has been times when I've been locked in and working out in the gym but right now, things are so fast paced that I haven't really been able to do as much as I'd like. I'm working on this next project, working on the shows, trying to get some sleep so, right now, I'm more of a fast food and beers guy!! (laughing) We're still rolling around in a van – I've only ever had a tour bus for one weekend of my career – so I'm more of a road dog at the moment, working up towards that bus, which would make things a little easier.
Once I get a couple of number ones and get that bus……. you know what I'm sayin'? (laughing) Right now we're all about the craft and and the grind and that requires certain sacrifices. Balance is difficult for everybody and right now things are so hectic that we haven't got much time for much else! Have fun, enjoy yourself and yet still work towards your end goals – that's the reality, man.
You've hinted here a couple of times that you are working on new music and a new project. What can you tell us about that?
I can't say dates and nothing is set in stone yet but we have some big stuff heading your way! We got a lot of good songs a couple of weeks ago and we've been bouncing mixes back and forth between the group since. There's some great songs, some great writing with the guys I mentioned earlier – I'm really proud of what we've captured and created right now and I can't wait for it to be out. You'll have some new music before the year is out, for sure.
Check out Dylan Schneider's ‘Bad Decisions' EP in all the usual places now and keep an eye out for him out on the road with Kane Brown, Luke Bryan and Mitchell Tenpenny in the coming months. He's also doing a headline tour of his own and the dates are here.
