March 19, 2025 • 21 mins
#156. Ron talks with Minnesota singer/songwriter Dillon Spurlin about a pure love of creating, our cold email courtship, growing up in a musical family, embracing baldness and The Beatles.Sponsored by DistroKid. Get 30% off your membership at distrokid.com/vip/independentmindedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're the one that should be worried.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You're a freak.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're heading for BEG trouble.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
BEG.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Hey guys, it's me teenage Ronnie. Have you heard these
rumors about music going all digital? Give me a break?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
You think you're gonna tear me away from my plastic
jewel cases and my stapled liner notes to party with
some audio file?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hah?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fat chance my CD copy of Warrnce Cherry Pie eight
going anywhere? Baby? Okay? Fine? Say, I had no other
choice but to deliver kids the digital goods. What would
old man Ronnie do? He'd probably use distro Kid. It's
the easiest way for musicians young and old to get
their music on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Title TikTok, and my
(00:51):
dad's favorite the YouTube. Not just because that's where future
babies will go for their entertainment. As a longtime DIY
indie artist, distro Kid, it's gonna have everything I need.
They're gonna give me unlimited uploads, let me keep one
hundred percent of my earnings, plus promo tools that'll tell
the future babies that I have new music in the matrix.
(01:11):
I also predict that if you go to DistroKid dot
com slash vip slash Independent Minded. Right now or in
the future, you'll get thirty percent off your first year
of membership DistroKid dot com slash vip slash independent Minded.
I could be wrong about all this, but I don't
think I am. How long does this drivele go on?
(01:31):
Not about twenty more minutes or so?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I'm not alone.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I've got you utide.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Asking ye shall receive As an ancient verse it originated
in the Bible. Ask and it shall be given. You
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be
open downe to you. For everyone that asketh receive it,
and he that Matthew seven seven. In the music and
(02:12):
the music podcasting worlds, it's a proverb that looms large.
Make the phone call, send the email, book that coffee date,
meet that manager, if you follow up. It's all about
making the ask. And even though I spend the good
amount of time on Independent Minded doing the chasing, some
episodes and encounters have come to be because I'm the
(02:34):
one being courted.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
I had just recently listened to the Bill Evans one
and I was like, you know what, I'm actually gonna
reach out.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I'm going to reach out to.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Him about that specifically, like just being on the podcast
because I loved the format is what caught me. It
was like the not just necessarily a sit down, straight conversation,
but like a like thought out produced piece of media,
which I really like. It kind of like rides the
line between like an article and a podcas it's it's
really entertaining.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh thanks, Dylan Spurlin. Flattery will get you everywhere or
featured here at least. And hold on, it's not just
because Dylan's Aron Scalzo fan. That's only eighty percent of
the reason. The rest is what brings most folks into
my orbit. Commonality. See, when I was twenty, it wasn't
cool to be bald under any circumstances you watched. So
(03:24):
I could run, Dylan and I talk about all the
things we have in common. The Indian artists struggle, the
pure love of making stuff, growing up in a musical family,
and embracing baldness and the Beatles. Let's kick things off
with Desperate Times from Spurlin's new self produced album hard Way.
Then Dylan Spurlin's gonna tell us more about why he
(03:45):
loves and is independent minded.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Run Daldo's Mazing podcast. Run Dallos Maze podcast, tugging a beat,
Bull Make God Music, plugging in their project making the famous,
helping the mouth of my nature and the talk about
all of that.
Speaker 6 (04:06):
They do.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
In a sense departed. It started a long time ago,
but in a sensor.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Recredited I was shut head and let it go.
Speaker 7 (04:50):
What did I know then?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
What did I know?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
No?
Speaker 7 (05:03):
I think God is more where.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
I did, I don't have.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I did not know.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Desperate terms go food spot.
Speaker 7 (05:31):
All my life, happy change.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
The TANGI.
Speaker 7 (05:44):
Desper Mans call for speed PLA.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
My name is Dylan Sperland. I am from Detroit Lake's, Minnesota.
It's about three hours northwest of like Minneapolis area.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Dylan Spurlin's roots run deep in the Midwest, but his
musical journey has taken him on adventures across the country.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
I was out on tour. My friends suggested just reaching
out to a bunch of the local radio stations thrown out.
I'd love to come in. I'd love to, you know,
just whatever I can do to to like self promote
this album. I'd love to take any opportunity. And honestly,
not a whole lot of people did. I got a
few really late late ones far after the tour was over,
(06:35):
the people saying yeah, if you want to come in
this Thursday, and I'm like, well it's a little late now,
I'm not going to drive all the way to Virginia.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yes, that cold email courtship an integral part of the
DIY grind, guaranteed to come, complete with tumbleweeds, depressing open rates,
and disappointment in humanity. You can't be dissuaded by that,
right If somebody responds and I at a blog review,
If somebody responds and I get to come into that
(07:03):
one radio station and play a couple of songs on
my acoustic guitar, then.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I've done my job, independent minded.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Exactly exactly. So all right, that's it. You said it that.
Once you say the episode ends, I disappear in a
puff of smoke.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
Did I ask for you for me? As for you?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
No, I'm not you hit on me.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I don't need you.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Two is as the heart you hold me the horush away.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You can hear the influence in Dylan's music Paul Simon
and Brian Wilson, but one of Dylan's earliest musical inspirations
came from a holy place.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
My dad was a part of a prais and worship
band growing up in a church, and I would play
with them starting pretty young. He threw me on the
drums and said hit the big one and the one
that goes, and I was like, okay, I had done it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
For a few years. I didn't really like it. It
felt forced.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
I was like, I'd rather be in the back goof
and off with my cousin. But everyone was just like
sitting in silence for a little bit, and I made
eye contact with my cousin. I'm sitting on the drum
set and he's over and there in the row, and
I'm like pretending to do a drum solo while everyone's
being quiet, and then it's making him giggle. So I
keep doing it more and then I go for the
big finish and I go for the crash, and I
(08:39):
just absolutely nailed it. Everyone like jumped out of their
skin there. So that's when I stopped playing drums. It
took me a good couple of years to sort of
find music on my own because I had grown up
in a very musical household. My dad was always playing guitar,
my mom was always singing harmony.
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Vie.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I started playing his old nylon string, just a wide,
wide neck tears in Heaven, learned that little lick on
the guitar, and I was like, this is so much fun.
I started playing the piano at the church and really
fell in love with that. Then I like asked my
dad if I could get a piano at home, and
he was like no. Because I started things and stopped
(09:29):
things quite frequently, like pretty much any sport. I would
go into football and I'd be like, I don't like it.
They're just like yelling at me the whole time, and
he's like, well, you committed to it, so you gotta
do it. And there'd been enough times where I jumped
off ship where he's like, no, you can't get a piano.
So I talked my brother in law and my cousin
into helping me with this two hundred dollars stand up
piano from the thrift store to bring it down into
(09:50):
the basement and I would play it when he wasn't there,
and he didn't notice it for the first like couple months,
but then he went down there He's like, got a piano, huh.
And I was like, yep, yep, and I'm playing it.
I'm playing it and I still do. So I proved
it to him.
Speaker 7 (10:07):
There is a bottle that till been me coup put
him down to my last future ribs A bed in
the last DOPI the coast, so I'll drink till the
(10:32):
man style hung on over and hung up body.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
But Dylan's dad's musical influence extended beyond just instruments.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
I was probably like six or so, and I built
a pillow fort in the living room and was just
like listening to a bunch of his music on his computer,
and I heard Here Comes the Sun and I get around.
I was just like, WHOA, what is this feeling like?
This just feels like happiness. Both of these songs. It
just feels like like pure joy. I definitely have a
(11:18):
big love for the Beatles. That's something me and my
dad can talk about for forever.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Dylan's Fab four fandom unlocked the idea that music could
be experimental and non traditional, that crafting the material was
where the juice was.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Definitely more like about the creation, the puzzle process of
like making a sonic soundscape for a song and like
making everything clicking together. One thing that really like snapped
in me to kind of pursue it more. Was some
of John Bellian's behind the scenes stuff on YouTube, and
(12:01):
there's this moment where he's sitting at a piano and
he's kind of like humming a melody and coming up
with stuff. You get to watch him on the spot
come up with this line that's I have bones in
my closet and then he like sits there and he
kind of you but you hang stuff anyway, and then
you just see like the creative spark just like ignite
in him and he's like whoa yeah, and then he
runs over and like writes it on the whiteboard, like.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Build when you know when the last in the problem shine.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
That process of finding the exciting moments within like a
recording process, that's what I want to do.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Bad Skin.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Foo, Dylan Spurling an Eye don't just share a fondness
for Abbey Road and keyboards. We also share the same haircut.
(13:29):
And when you're a creative in the digital age, practically
forced to put a face to the name, whether you
like it or not, that haircut is an immediate identify her.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
I started losing mine around the same time, nineteen or so.
It just started thinning so much, and like you're saying,
the insecurities are just they just eat at you.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Like if I was wearing a hat out at a
party and someone like grabbed it and put it on
their head, it was instantly like a shell came over
me and I felt like sniegel. I felt disgusting, and
I was like, give it back, give it back, give it.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Back, smooth.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Slough.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And so there was one day where I was like,
you know what, I'm just gonna bite the bullet. And
before I could even think about it, I just like
shaved it.
Speaker 6 (14:10):
You can call me Baldi a lot, don't bother me.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I didn't call him Baldibaldi.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Generally people have become fairly supportive, and I've just decided
to lean into it. And if I'm ever wearing a
stocking cap, it's just because I definitely don't have any
shame on showing the dome.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He stepped up to the back door, befoot just.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Was leaving. He still this screamin.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Money, whether without his comfy skull cap. Dylan Spurlin shows
up to the gig, often performing in more intimate settings wineries,
private parties. Some might consider it a musical purgatory. But
for Dylan, it's just another puzzle, a place to curate
crowd pleasing covers mixed with his own originals.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I've kind of noticed like doing the covers and stuff
gets them in and then you show them who you are.
You put your cards on the table. So what, I
love theo Katsman from Both Peck, So I'll do some
(15:19):
of his solo material, Like what did you mean when
you said love that song is so viby?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
What did you mean by it?
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Pushes your own material to be better? And so like
if there's a lot of chords in this song, and
I want to learn more chords and throw like have
more than just some cowboy chords and some songs, like
I'll pursue that, you know, learn those chords so I
can do my own things with them.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Dylan's latest album, hard Way, is self produced. He mixed
and mastered it too, a proud showcase of his dedication
to the process.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I've always loved creating things like I grew up, like
making videos and stuff and just like cutting them together,
like annoying my cousins and friends to shoot little sketches
with me, and even making like silly songs I would
open up garage band, find a loop, and then we'd
write some stupid song about ping pong over it. It's
always been like a labor of love in my mind.
(16:33):
It's sort of a field of dreams. If you build it,
they will come. Kind of a thing like, just keep
on doing it, keep pursuing the thing that you love
inside of it. I want to release an album, so
I released an album coming Back. If any sort of
recognition comes when I'm Willie Nelson's age, I'll be fine
(16:56):
with that. I have so much fun doing it. It's
such a for me to like write a song, record
it and listen to it fifty times in my own
car and being like, I did this, This sounds cool.
I'm just grateful that some people listen to it and
some people connect with it.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Connecting to a piece of recorded music is one thing
we can all appreciate. But even though that's the part
that Dylan likes doing the most, he's savvy enough to
know that even in this day and age, you gotta
take your show on the road. Enter Dylan's best friend Isaac.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
He wanted to go see every National park over like
two years, and I had agreed to, like write an
original song kind of based off of the park. At
one point we were towards the end of our lease
in Arizona, we looked at each other and we were
kind of just like a tour, would you want to
do something like that, like kind of marry the worlds
of like your National Parks tour idea, and then like
(17:47):
the music tour and we can go see the national
parks and just like log into Indie on the move
and send out like two thousand emails to a bunch
of places and see which ones say yes. It was
a very interesting experience. I played more music southwest and
west outside of Minnesota North Dakota, and it's definitely a
(18:10):
very very different vibe. Played quite a few empty rooms,
but was still just happy to be there and play
the space and meet some of the people.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Dylan isn't traveling in a Nacona line. He's styling in
a legit pimped out school bus, refurbished and reimagined by
his friend.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
While her name is Shay, let's first establish who she is.
She's a two thousand and two, she had the Express
thirty five hundred under the hood. She's got a five
point seven leader V eight gasoline engine with about one
hundred and sixty thousand miles on it.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You loved doing it.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Did it all from scratch too, just like watched a
couple of YouTube videos on stuff and just bought a
bunch of lumbers.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
And breaks to fund these ventures. The album The Bus Tour,
Dylan makes stuff for other people. His side hustles include
videography and wedding photography and for a creative puzzle solid
he can still find joy in that hustle. Independent mind.
That isn't just the name of a really cool podcast.
It's a state of being and against the grain attitude
(19:10):
laced with uncertainty, instability and a sometimes steady fear a
financial struggle. But if you're built like Dylan Spurling, you
still love the trade off.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Holy cow, making your own schedule, Like yes, it's the
best thing. Like I can't believe that I didn't do
this because like just showing up to the same day job,
day after day, parking in the same spot, saying hi
to the same receptionist.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
It's like, oh, I fade.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Find out more about Dylan, watch his videos, hire him
to play your cocktail hour at spurlinmusic dot com. Try
the Shrimp and follow Spurlin on social media at Spurlin
(20:24):
The Music. Big thanks to Dylan for reaching out with
his kind words and for the great conversation see the
system works and you know I've got kind words for you.
Loyal podcast listener, Subscribe and leave a nine star review
for Independent Minded on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Share the links,
tell your friends, buy some music at Baldfreak dot com,
(20:47):
and if you want to say hi or send me
your new music, fill my inbox at ron at baldfreak
dot com. Independentmind that it's a Baldfreak music production, and
me I'm still ron Scale.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
You're a natural, you're a freak.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
You're a Greek, Greek.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
It's a
You're the one that should be worried.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You're a freak.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're heading for BEG trouble.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
BEG.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Hey guys, it's me teenage Ronnie. Have you heard these
rumors about music going all digital? Give me a break?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
You think you're gonna tear me away from my plastic
jewel cases and my stapled liner notes to party with
some audio file?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hah?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fat chance my CD copy of Warrnce Cherry Pie eight
going anywhere? Baby? Okay? Fine? Say, I had no other
choice but to deliver kids the digital goods. What would
old man Ronnie do? He'd probably use distro Kid. It's
the easiest way for musicians young and old to get
their music on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Title TikTok, and my
(00:51):
dad's favorite the YouTube. Not just because that's where future
babies will go for their entertainment. As a longtime DIY
indie artist, distro Kid, it's gonna have everything I need.
They're gonna give me unlimited uploads, let me keep one
hundred percent of my earnings, plus promo tools that'll tell
the future babies that I have new music in the matrix.
(01:11):
I also predict that if you go to DistroKid dot
com slash vip slash Independent Minded. Right now or in
the future, you'll get thirty percent off your first year
of membership DistroKid dot com slash vip slash independent Minded.
I could be wrong about all this, but I don't
think I am. How long does this drivele go on?
(01:31):
Not about twenty more minutes or so?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I'm not alone.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I've got you utide.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Asking ye shall receive As an ancient verse it originated
in the Bible. Ask and it shall be given. You
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be
open downe to you. For everyone that asketh receive it,
and he that Matthew seven seven. In the music and
(02:12):
the music podcasting worlds, it's a proverb that looms large.
Make the phone call, send the email, book that coffee date,
meet that manager, if you follow up. It's all about
making the ask. And even though I spend the good
amount of time on Independent Minded doing the chasing, some
episodes and encounters have come to be because I'm the
(02:34):
one being courted.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
I had just recently listened to the Bill Evans one
and I was like, you know what, I'm actually gonna
reach out.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I'm going to reach out to.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Him about that specifically, like just being on the podcast
because I loved the format is what caught me. It
was like the not just necessarily a sit down, straight conversation,
but like a like thought out produced piece of media,
which I really like. It kind of like rides the
line between like an article and a podcas it's it's
really entertaining.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh thanks, Dylan Spurlin. Flattery will get you everywhere or
featured here at least. And hold on, it's not just
because Dylan's Aron Scalzo fan. That's only eighty percent of
the reason. The rest is what brings most folks into
my orbit. Commonality. See, when I was twenty, it wasn't
cool to be bald under any circumstances you watched. So
(03:24):
I could run, Dylan and I talk about all the
things we have in common. The Indian artists struggle, the
pure love of making stuff, growing up in a musical family,
and embracing baldness and the Beatles. Let's kick things off
with Desperate Times from Spurlin's new self produced album hard Way.
Then Dylan Spurlin's gonna tell us more about why he
(03:45):
loves and is independent minded.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
Run Daldo's Mazing podcast. Run Dallos Maze podcast, tugging a beat,
Bull Make God Music, plugging in their project making the famous,
helping the mouth of my nature and the talk about
all of that.
Speaker 6 (04:06):
They do.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
In a sense departed. It started a long time ago,
but in a sensor.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Recredited I was shut head and let it go.
Speaker 7 (04:50):
What did I know then?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
What did I know?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
No?
Speaker 7 (05:03):
I think God is more where.
Speaker 5 (05:07):
I did, I don't have.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I did not know.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Desperate terms go food spot.
Speaker 7 (05:31):
All my life, happy change.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
The TANGI.
Speaker 7 (05:44):
Desper Mans call for speed PLA.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
My name is Dylan Sperland. I am from Detroit Lake's, Minnesota.
It's about three hours northwest of like Minneapolis area.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Dylan Spurlin's roots run deep in the Midwest, but his
musical journey has taken him on adventures across the country.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
I was out on tour. My friends suggested just reaching
out to a bunch of the local radio stations thrown out.
I'd love to come in. I'd love to, you know,
just whatever I can do to to like self promote
this album. I'd love to take any opportunity. And honestly,
not a whole lot of people did. I got a
few really late late ones far after the tour was over,
(06:35):
the people saying yeah, if you want to come in
this Thursday, and I'm like, well it's a little late now,
I'm not going to drive all the way to Virginia.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yes, that cold email courtship an integral part of the
DIY grind, guaranteed to come, complete with tumbleweeds, depressing open rates,
and disappointment in humanity. You can't be dissuaded by that,
right If somebody responds and I at a blog review,
If somebody responds and I get to come into that
(07:03):
one radio station and play a couple of songs on
my acoustic guitar, then.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I've done my job, independent minded.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Exactly exactly. So all right, that's it. You said it that.
Once you say the episode ends, I disappear in a
puff of smoke.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
Did I ask for you for me? As for you?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
No, I'm not you hit on me.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I don't need you.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Two is as the heart you hold me the horush away.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You can hear the influence in Dylan's music Paul Simon
and Brian Wilson, but one of Dylan's earliest musical inspirations
came from a holy place.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
My dad was a part of a prais and worship
band growing up in a church, and I would play
with them starting pretty young. He threw me on the
drums and said hit the big one and the one
that goes, and I was like, okay, I had done it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
For a few years. I didn't really like it. It
felt forced.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
I was like, I'd rather be in the back goof
and off with my cousin. But everyone was just like
sitting in silence for a little bit, and I made
eye contact with my cousin. I'm sitting on the drum
set and he's over and there in the row, and
I'm like pretending to do a drum solo while everyone's
being quiet, and then it's making him giggle. So I
keep doing it more and then I go for the
big finish and I go for the crash, and I
(08:39):
just absolutely nailed it. Everyone like jumped out of their
skin there. So that's when I stopped playing drums. It
took me a good couple of years to sort of
find music on my own because I had grown up
in a very musical household. My dad was always playing guitar,
my mom was always singing harmony.
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Vie.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
I started playing his old nylon string, just a wide,
wide neck tears in Heaven, learned that little lick on
the guitar, and I was like, this is so much fun.
I started playing the piano at the church and really
fell in love with that. Then I like asked my
dad if I could get a piano at home, and
he was like no. Because I started things and stopped
(09:29):
things quite frequently, like pretty much any sport. I would
go into football and I'd be like, I don't like it.
They're just like yelling at me the whole time, and
he's like, well, you committed to it, so you gotta
do it. And there'd been enough times where I jumped
off ship where he's like, no, you can't get a piano.
So I talked my brother in law and my cousin
into helping me with this two hundred dollars stand up
piano from the thrift store to bring it down into
(09:50):
the basement and I would play it when he wasn't there,
and he didn't notice it for the first like couple months,
but then he went down there He's like, got a piano, huh.
And I was like, yep, yep, and I'm playing it.
I'm playing it and I still do. So I proved
it to him.
Speaker 7 (10:07):
There is a bottle that till been me coup put
him down to my last future ribs A bed in
the last DOPI the coast, so I'll drink till the
(10:32):
man style hung on over and hung up body.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
But Dylan's dad's musical influence extended beyond just instruments.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
I was probably like six or so, and I built
a pillow fort in the living room and was just
like listening to a bunch of his music on his computer,
and I heard Here Comes the Sun and I get around.
I was just like, WHOA, what is this feeling like?
This just feels like happiness. Both of these songs. It
just feels like like pure joy. I definitely have a
(11:18):
big love for the Beatles. That's something me and my
dad can talk about for forever.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Dylan's Fab four fandom unlocked the idea that music could
be experimental and non traditional, that crafting the material was
where the juice was.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Definitely more like about the creation, the puzzle process of
like making a sonic soundscape for a song and like
making everything clicking together. One thing that really like snapped
in me to kind of pursue it more. Was some
of John Bellian's behind the scenes stuff on YouTube, and
(12:01):
there's this moment where he's sitting at a piano and
he's kind of like humming a melody and coming up
with stuff. You get to watch him on the spot
come up with this line that's I have bones in
my closet and then he like sits there and he
kind of you but you hang stuff anyway, and then
you just see like the creative spark just like ignite
in him and he's like whoa yeah, and then he
runs over and like writes it on the whiteboard, like.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Build when you know when the last in the problem shine.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
That process of finding the exciting moments within like a
recording process, that's what I want to do.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Bad Skin.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Foo, Dylan Spurling an Eye don't just share a fondness
for Abbey Road and keyboards. We also share the same haircut.
(13:29):
And when you're a creative in the digital age, practically
forced to put a face to the name, whether you
like it or not, that haircut is an immediate identify her.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
I started losing mine around the same time, nineteen or so.
It just started thinning so much, and like you're saying,
the insecurities are just they just eat at you.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
It's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Like if I was wearing a hat out at a
party and someone like grabbed it and put it on
their head, it was instantly like a shell came over
me and I felt like sniegel. I felt disgusting, and
I was like, give it back, give it back, give it.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Back, smooth.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Slough.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And so there was one day where I was like,
you know what, I'm just gonna bite the bullet. And
before I could even think about it, I just like
shaved it.
Speaker 6 (14:10):
You can call me Baldi a lot, don't bother me.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
I didn't call him Baldibaldi.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Generally people have become fairly supportive, and I've just decided
to lean into it. And if I'm ever wearing a
stocking cap, it's just because I definitely don't have any
shame on showing the dome.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
He stepped up to the back door, befoot just.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Was leaving. He still this screamin.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Money, whether without his comfy skull cap. Dylan Spurlin shows
up to the gig, often performing in more intimate settings wineries,
private parties. Some might consider it a musical purgatory. But
for Dylan, it's just another puzzle, a place to curate
crowd pleasing covers mixed with his own originals.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
I've kind of noticed like doing the covers and stuff
gets them in and then you show them who you are.
You put your cards on the table. So what, I
love theo Katsman from Both Peck, So I'll do some
(15:19):
of his solo material, Like what did you mean when
you said love that song is so viby?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
What did you mean by it?
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Pushes your own material to be better? And so like
if there's a lot of chords in this song, and
I want to learn more chords and throw like have
more than just some cowboy chords and some songs, like
I'll pursue that, you know, learn those chords so I
can do my own things with them.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Dylan's latest album, hard Way, is self produced. He mixed
and mastered it too, a proud showcase of his dedication
to the process.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I've always loved creating things like I grew up, like
making videos and stuff and just like cutting them together,
like annoying my cousins and friends to shoot little sketches
with me, and even making like silly songs I would
open up garage band, find a loop, and then we'd
write some stupid song about ping pong over it. It's
always been like a labor of love in my mind.
(16:33):
It's sort of a field of dreams. If you build it,
they will come. Kind of a thing like, just keep
on doing it, keep pursuing the thing that you love
inside of it. I want to release an album, so
I released an album coming Back. If any sort of
recognition comes when I'm Willie Nelson's age, I'll be fine
(16:56):
with that. I have so much fun doing it. It's
such a for me to like write a song, record
it and listen to it fifty times in my own
car and being like, I did this, This sounds cool.
I'm just grateful that some people listen to it and
some people connect with it.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Connecting to a piece of recorded music is one thing
we can all appreciate. But even though that's the part
that Dylan likes doing the most, he's savvy enough to
know that even in this day and age, you gotta
take your show on the road. Enter Dylan's best friend Isaac.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
He wanted to go see every National park over like
two years, and I had agreed to, like write an
original song kind of based off of the park. At
one point we were towards the end of our lease
in Arizona, we looked at each other and we were
kind of just like a tour, would you want to
do something like that, like kind of marry the worlds
of like your National Parks tour idea, and then like
(17:47):
the music tour and we can go see the national
parks and just like log into Indie on the move
and send out like two thousand emails to a bunch
of places and see which ones say yes. It was
a very interesting experience. I played more music southwest and
west outside of Minnesota North Dakota, and it's definitely a
(18:10):
very very different vibe. Played quite a few empty rooms,
but was still just happy to be there and play
the space and meet some of the people.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Dylan isn't traveling in a Nacona line. He's styling in
a legit pimped out school bus, refurbished and reimagined by
his friend.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
While her name is Shay, let's first establish who she is.
She's a two thousand and two, she had the Express
thirty five hundred under the hood. She's got a five
point seven leader V eight gasoline engine with about one
hundred and sixty thousand miles on it.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You loved doing it.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Did it all from scratch too, just like watched a
couple of YouTube videos on stuff and just bought a
bunch of lumbers.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
And breaks to fund these ventures. The album The Bus Tour,
Dylan makes stuff for other people. His side hustles include
videography and wedding photography and for a creative puzzle solid
he can still find joy in that hustle. Independent mind.
That isn't just the name of a really cool podcast.
It's a state of being and against the grain attitude
(19:10):
laced with uncertainty, instability and a sometimes steady fear a
financial struggle. But if you're built like Dylan Spurling, you
still love the trade off.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Holy cow, making your own schedule, Like yes, it's the
best thing. Like I can't believe that I didn't do
this because like just showing up to the same day job,
day after day, parking in the same spot, saying hi
to the same receptionist.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
It's like, oh, I fade.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Find out more about Dylan, watch his videos, hire him
to play your cocktail hour at spurlinmusic dot com. Try
the Shrimp and follow Spurlin on social media at Spurlin
(20:24):
The Music. Big thanks to Dylan for reaching out with
his kind words and for the great conversation see the
system works and you know I've got kind words for you.
Loyal podcast listener, Subscribe and leave a nine star review
for Independent Minded on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Share the links,
tell your friends, buy some music at Baldfreak dot com,
(20:47):
and if you want to say hi or send me
your new music, fill my inbox at ron at baldfreak
dot com. Independentmind that it's a Baldfreak music production, and
me I'm still ron Scale.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
You're a natural, you're a freak.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
You're a Greek, Greek.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
It's a
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