After two acclaimed albums, this young singer songwriter from Muscle Shoals, Alabama has been hailed as the 'new Neil Young' but the pressure of his early success told to the point that "he slipped into a blur of booze and self doubt" .
Now seeing himself as a more disciplined and well-rounded person. Cautionary Tale are an album's worth of songs he wrote at the other end of this tunnel. It presents him as someone who has publicly lived and learned.
If you were of a cynical disposition you might regard this brief 'fall' as a clever career move. Still only 25, he has more than enough time to turn whatever negative experiences he went through into lucratively sensitive songs.
More Harvest Moon than Tonight's The Night, his third release steers a safe distance from the ditch and into the middle of the road.
Tasteful string arrangements and occasional backing choruses help smooth over any rough edges and add musical balm to any raw emotions and hurt his songs express.
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As a result, on big numbers like Man Like Me and I'm Moving On LeBlanc sounds more like a euphoric Jim James of My Morning Jacket than a troubled troubadour.
The songs are strong and flawlessly crafted but overall, the arrangements and delivery strike me as too slick and mannered to ring true.
For all the breathy intimacy LeBlanc exudes, this is the kind of 'sophisticated' Americana album which is more likely to clean up at The Grammys than win hearts.
Dylan Le Blanc's website
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