Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan Hollifield.
Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us how you got started?
I started playing music when I was 11 and immediately fell in love with it! I began to teach myself how to play guitar from YouTube videos and tabs found in books and on the internet and quickly found myself playing guitars for multiple hours a day. Once I started to get a handle on guitar, I would occasionally try to sing along with my playing, and I quickly realized I had a knack for it. The first song I learned that I successfully played and sang along to was Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire”; since then, I’ve added so many more of his songs to my repertoire. It wasn’t until January of this year that I started to take my music more seriously and began pursuing my musical career. My first live performance was at a good friend and colleague, Anthony Rugowski’s, set on New Year’s Eve at the bar I work at in Downtown Wake Forest, Tonic! I so well received the few songs I played that night that I booked a gig at Tonic for the next week, and the turnout for my first-ever paid gig was amazing! If it weren’t for Anthony not only letting me hop up on his set that night but also letting me borrow all the music equipment I needed for gigs for the next few months, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Now I find myself regularly booking gigs with new venues, having several regular gigs in and around Raleigh, and I’ve got an awesome music event I’m putting together on August 27th. The event is called “Love Local Music Night,” and the show is the first of its kind in the area! It will be a concert-style show by some amazing local musicians, and all the ticket sales and tips collected that night will go straight to support the acts! It will be an awesome night to come out and support local music! My friends Story Charlemagne and Alex Dunlow, with his new band “Nothing Good,” will join me to put on one of the coolest, most entertaining nights of music the Triangle has seen! You don’t want to miss out!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a smooth road?
I have had it pretty good as far as beginnings go! I’ve had nothing but love and support from family, friends, and other super talented musicians to help me start this awesome journey! But that’s not to say it has been without its challenges. Starting, even getting one show booked was a challenge. I didn’t have a lot of material to show to potential venues to get myself booked, I didn’t have a website set up yet, and I barely even knew where to start! Who should I talk to? What were the standard rates for pay, or how to garner a following? These are all questions I was asking myself, and I had no idea what the answers were or even how to find their answers. On top of all that, I began to struggle with imposter syndrome. I sometimes still struggle with those sorts of doubts. Am I good enough? Are people just saying they like my music because they’re just being kind, or do they feel like they would hurt my feelings if they said otherwise? It’s difficult to try and talk yourself out of those sorts of thoughts, but the support I have from relationships I have both in and outside of the music scene, along with the crazy amount of gigs I’ve been booking and other things like that has helped me quiet those thoughts quite a bit!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a homegrown live musician based out of Raleigh! I play all sorts of music, and there are very few genres that I don’t play at least a song or two from. While I have an eclectic list of songs from all sorts of different genres in my repertoire, I do feel like I specialize in the Alternative Rock & Indie genres of music. I have a unique vocal quality and “vibe” that I bring to every song I cover, and I try to show off my uniqueness in the best ways that I can. I feel like I set myself apart from other musicians with my background in magic! I’ve been practicing close-up magic & sleight-of-hand since I was 8 years old, and I like to apply principles & techniques I have learned from magic and apply them to all other aspects of my life! It helps me “read the room” and figure out what people want to hear from me. It influences my showmanship and has been a big part of my success in life overall!
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
While my background in magic is pretty well-known by people who work with me. Not many know that I used to do it semi-professionally pre-COVID and learned how to breathe fire to get more gigs through the entertainment company I was working with then! I went through the whole safety training and practiced breathing fire, but by the time I was comfortable enough to perform, the pandemic had broken out, and the live entertainment scene had all but shut down.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dylanhollifield.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylanchollifield/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dylanhollifieldmusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRBaBZC523kv9gFn7x6AM7g
- Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/love-local-music-night-tickets-388877221237
Image Credits
Tobacco Roots (@tobaccorootsnc on Instagram)
