Dylan Gossett is among the new breed of artists that has found fame through social media. The Austin-born singer-songwriter released his debut single ‘To Be Free’ in 2023 but it wasn’t until ‘Coal’, that he found popularity when the song went viral on TikTok. ‘Coal’ went on to chart in the US and it wasn’t long before he was snapped up by Big Loud. With a fast-growing fanbase, and comparisons to the hugely popular Zach Bryan, Gossett is shaping up to be one of the next big things. With two EPs under his belt, Gossett has his fans captivated and he’s making waves in the Americana scene.
When the C2C 2025 line-up was first announced, there was a fair amount of head-scratching going on with Country music fans. Gossett has predominantly been labelled an Americana artist, so to see him on the line-up of a usually mainstream Nashville Country line-up was a bit unexpected. Even more surprising is that he was announced as second billing to Friday night headliner Lainey Wilson, when he’s not even released an album. No stranger to UK shores, Gossett likely knew what to expect before stepping onto the C2C Main Stage but did he manage to win over the partially sceptical crowd?
Backed by his incredibly tight band, Gossett performed a 10-song set over a 50-minute duration and for the most part he managed to keep the audience engaged. Opening his set with ‘Lone Ole Cowboy’, the C2C audience seemed genuinely surprised. Gossett’s voice rang clear as he leaned into the more Country side of his repertoire, but at times his diction was hard to understand. That’s something that did improve across the set, and honestly I’m not sure many others in the arena really noticed.
Not one for chatting much between songs, Gossett moved from one song to another with pace. ‘To Be Free’ sounded folksy and intimate, while ‘If I Had a Lover’ had a more fleshed out sound, that suited the arena setting. ‘No Better Time’ combined folk melodies with harmonica interludes, allowing Gossett’s considered and restrained vocal to shine. He hasn’t got a powerful voice in the sense that he doesn’t riff up and down scales, but he sings with passion, and you can hear the emotion in his voice.
A mash-up of his song ‘Hangin’ On’ with the Johnny Cash classic ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ evoked one of the biggest audience reactions of the night. The biggest though was saved for ‘Coal’, which didn’t close his set as I’d expected, but was the penultimate song of the night. That’s the song that gave him his viral breakthrough moment and the audience at C2C was ready for it. A sing-a-long picked up the energy for an otherwise mellow set before Gossett launched into his final song of the evening, ‘Somewhere Between’, a foot-stomping uptempo number that rounded things out with a boost of energy.
There was nothing particularly wrong with Gossett’s performance, and I’d actually go so far as to say it was a polished one. For me, what his set lacked was variety with songs often blending into one another. Whether or not Gossett is actually a Country artist is a moot point, but he certainly doesn’t craft the kind of hooky songs that you’d hear at modern Country radio. He’s probably closer to the likes of Mumford & Sons than he is the other artists that he shared the bill with tonight. In an intimate environment I could imagine his music really taking hold but as part of the first day of C2C, it felt a little out of place.
Set list: 1. Lone Ole Cowboy 2. To Be Free 3. If I Had a Lover 4. No Better Time 5. Beneath Oak Trees 6. Hangin’ On / Folsom Prison Blues 7. Tree Birds 8. Finally Stop Dreaming 9. Coal 10. Somewhere Between Venue: The O2, London Performance date: Friday 14th March 2025
