Dylan LeBlanc

Tickets cost $18 in advance, $23 day of show (plus a $2 service charge). They are also available by phone through Hold My Ticket at 505-886-1251.

Tumbleroot is a mostly-standing-room venue. Limited seating available.

Dylan LeBlanc is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who often finds himself flirting with the edge—or "dancing on a razor," as he calls it—as it is all he has ever known. A vagabond since he was a little boy tossed between Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, LeBlanc thrives on the precipice, never staying in one place for too long. It is that nomadic spirit that drew him not only to a life as a touring musician, but also to the beast that titles his newest record: Coyote.

LeBlanc says he has always related to the insatiable, scavenging nature of the wily coyote. Much like the animal, LeBlanc is a wanderer who knows when to trust his instincts, musically and otherwise. It is a spiritual kinship that runs deep, but he credits one particularly hair-raising face-to-face instance with solidifying his bond with the animal.

LeBlanc was in Austin, Texas, climbing the face of a 100-foot cliff, gambling with Mother Nature's good graces as he pulled himself up by tree branches. Once he reached the top, all that laid ahead of him was a lush treeline. There was a breath of stillness, then the sound of a thunderous rustling that drew closer and closer to him. In a blink, LeBlanc watched as a frenzied raccoon came speeding out of the treeline, trailed by an animal that stopped and stared at him with striking intensity: a coyote.

"We're looking at each other dead in the eyes... and I'm saying—out loud—'If it's you or me, I am going to kick you off the side of this cliff. I'm not going down.' It was intense, this human-animal moment," LeBlanc recalls. "I've never forgotten that... he was just trying to survive and so was I."

Based in Victoria, BC, Jesse Roper is a blues/Americana artist with a penchant for writing modern indie infused blues music and delivering bombastic live performances buoyed by his virtuosic guitar playing. His innate and impressive musical talent has served him well in recent years. It has given him the flexibility to play with soul icon Booker T. Jones, rock veteran Colin James, blues belter Beth Hart, and Canadian legend Burton Cummings, then turn around and headline nightclubs and festivals to younger audiences, and look perfectly comfortable in each scenario. The stage is where Roper shines. It has been his home since overcoming crippling stage fright during his early twenties. Fear is a part of Roper's past that barely seems real today—especially when you see the in-concert image of a six-string soldier, hair matted to his face, tearing up the stage, without a hint of second-guessing.