Book Dylan Murray

Smooth, sweet, and mellow Dylan Murray’s music has the right blend of folk, rock and reggae. The singer-songwriter is able to strum out chords and melodies made for a beachside campfire where sometimes you catch yourself singing out loud among friends.

Armed with only his guitar, his voice and the feelings in his heart this Toronto native hopes to spread his music to the masses.

“If you’re not true to yourself you’re doing everyone else a disservice,” he said.

Coming from a musical family, Dylan spent most of his childhood singing. He remembers at a very early age his whole family singing together. For Dylan music was something he felt from his roots.

Growing up he remembers listening to classic rock with his parents like The Beatles. Living at home was always a “musical and conscious place to develop” and to this day he often collaborates musically with his brothers and parents.

In middle school Dylan heard reggae music for the first time on the radio and instantly connected to it. Around the same time his brother gave him a Bob Marley tape. The first song was good but by the second Dylan felt he was listening to something “on a whole different level.”

He knew then for sure this genre of music was something he wanted to explore more deeply. At a high school event he watched a young girl dance to a popular reggae song and thought – “oh my god this music is amazing, you can really feel it.”

It was after this Dylan started to think about reggae as part of his musical journey and some of his influences include Shaka Demus, Matt Cobra, and Shaggy.

Dylan spent the majority of his teens playing in a Toronto-based rock band, graduated high school, and explored different genres of folk-rock and reggae music. He wrote almost continuously throughout his teens and some of those songs he’s recorded recently.

In 1998 Dylan heard about the non-profit human and community development organization, the St. Patrick’s Foundation in Kingston Jamaica. The foundation seeks to bring aid like medical supplies, food, clothing, housing and electrical installation to poor communities in an effort to re- build and empower them.

Dylan connected with the foundation and took a number of trips to Jamaica with a group of students who spent their time helping bring relief to those living in the ghetto. Inspired by reggae music he also wanted to see “how the culture affected their music and vice versa.

Dylan’s group brought support including medical supplies and food to places where there was no structure at all. It was a promise that he would be involved with local children, along with his love of reggae that convinced him to go.

Dylan fondly recalls bringing tennis balls and playing with locals. It struck him how little these children had after coming from Toronto, a “world of abundance.” For three weeks Dylan stayed sometimes playing, sometimes teaching in the library and he noticed the positive and welcoming energy of the Jamaican people.

Dylan said these people became his friends and because of this he came back the next year and again the year after. He finally decided to stay for a couple of months. The experience was extraordinary and Dylan maintains some of those friendships still today.

Dylan could feel the power and the passion of the Jamaican culture and this changed his perspective of music because everything he writes comes from his experiences, he said. Throughout his stay he felt connected to the people and the culture both physically and ideologically.

Dylan said his writing process is a natural one and for the past few years he’s really been putting himself in a position to write. Now that he’s in the music business for a living it’s essential to his craft.

For him music is part of his life more all the time than anytime. Dylan often starts out with a melody - which he said is like “a feeling” and tries to put it to words. The result, to some degree, is a part of his soul.

Staying true to his feelings Dylan carefully chooses the words he puts to his melodies. By doing so he’s able to connect to his audience and relate with them on an emotional level. He’s constantly working on his songwriting craft by actively thinking about story and melody.

Dylan said his songs are timeless because they’re honest and true to his emotions. He thinks everybody is connected and ultimately the audience is “going to be able to relate to that at some level.”

During the beginning of his career Dylan played almost every venue in Toronto. He felt when he wasn’t playing cover tunes he wouldn’t be able to survive as a songwriter. But over time and with a lot of hard work he kept packing and playing shows. Dylan managed to stay true to himself and kept the music real, and free from frills.

After playing in both big and small venues Dylan said he enjoys a more intimate setting. His favorite thing to do is play by the campfire with friends or to be somewhere “where I brought my guitar, where you can really connect with the audience.”

For the past three years Dylan took his experiences from the road, put them to music, and is seriously getting the songs out there. Dabbling in reggae and folk-rock he’s developed his own sound.

“I love playing by myself ‘cause you can do it anytime or anywhere, but there’s something special about playing with other people,” Dylan said “it’s like having a relationship with five different people that can be very difficult or it can be extremely rewarding because there’s so much energy there.”

Dylan said he loves collaborating and although it’s something fairly new to him he finds it inspiring. He describes the collaboration process as magical because everybody brings something different to the table. The end result is a smooth folk-reggae sound, soft but powerful.

Looking forward to playing in bigger venues for larger audiences Dylan said he aspires to keep a sense of intimacy. It’s important to him to be able to look at a person and feel like the music is right there between them.

In the process of recording a new album Dylan’s just trying to absorb it all, take it in and turn it over into beautiful music. At the end of the day Dylan hopes his music inspires the masses.

“With age I find I value in a different way, now I’m realizing how much a part of my life music has been and how much joy it brings me,” Dylan said.

“After going to Jamaica and seeing how much love there is there, and how welcoming those people were and what they gave to me, I just want to give back,” he said.

By participating in a collective consciousness through his songwriting and music Dylan can give back.