Dylan Marlowe Interview - Boys Back Home, Songs, Album

In just the past two years, country singer/songwriter Dylan Marlowe has made the transition from being an unknown indie artist, to being a breakout artist who has co-written two big hits. Impressively, he has been a mainstay on the Billboard country charts for over a year with his hit, “Boys Back Home,” which is a duet with country star Dylan Scott. He has also written the single “Last Night Lonely,” which was a #1 hit for Jon Pardi in 2023.

Bolstered by the hit success of “Boys Back Home,” Marlowe released his debut album, Mid-Twenties Crisis, in September on Sony Music Nashville Records. This album is a strong collection of 15 songs that he co-wrote or wrote. The song highlights include the rollicking, hooky hit “Boys Back Home,” the autobiographical “Mid-Twenties Crisis” (which he wrote by himself), and the high energy, rock-edged cuts, “Heaven’s Sake” and “Deer on the Wall.”

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	Here’s an excerpt of our interview with Dylan Marlowe, who tells how he wrote his hit single, “Boys Back Home” (featuring Dylan Scott).

In his new bio, Marlowe discussed his new album. “Mid-Twenties Crisis is a record I wrote in my mid-twenties, really over the last two or three years. There’s a bunch of songs that are going to be fun to play live. I also thought it was really important to make sure I had some deeper lyrics as well. “Mid-Twenties Crisis” was actually the last song to make the record. I’m so proud of that song—it’s kind of vulnerable but I hope y’all can relate and that you love the record.”

Marlowe grew up in a college town, Statesboro, Georgia, where Georgia Southern University is located. He loved listening to a wide range of music, from country stars Eric Church and Kenny Chesney, to rock bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Good Charlotte.

When Marlow was a senior in high school, he suffered an injury playing baseball, which led him to focus more on his music and songwriting. Soon after, he moved to Nashville to pursue his music career full-time. Marlowe began releasing songs & videos as an indie artist, and he signed a music publishing deal.

Here’s the video of Dylan Marlowe’s hit “Boys Back Home”
(feat. Dylan Scott).

As a new artist, Marlowe had a breakthrough when he posted his country-flavored cover version of Olivia Rodrigo’s hit, “Drivers License.” His version went viral, and suddenly he had a massive following on TikTok. Then he added to that momentum with the release of his song “Record High,:” and his EP, Dirt Road When I Die.

It was in late 2023 that Marlowe released his single, “Boys Back Home” (featuring Dylan Scott). This song quickly entered the Billboard Country Airplay chart, and it has since stayed on the chart for a remarkable 57 weeks, and it’s still going strong. Currently “Boys Back Home” is #7 on the chart.

In addition to promoting his album, Marlowe has launched his nationwide tour called the Mid-Twenties Crisis Tour. He recently played shows in North Carolina and New York, and he’s looking to playing shows in his home state of Georgia.

We are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with Dylan Marlowe, He tells how he got started with music and songwriting, how he wrote his hit “Boys Back Home,” and he discusses the making of his album, Mid-Twenties Crisis.

DK: I read that you’re from Statesboro, Georgia. How did you get started with music and writing songs?

Dylan Marlowe: During my senior year of high school, I got hurt playing baseball, and picked up a guitar and started learning some songs. Then I found Eric Church, and that’s when I really started going. I heard his song “Where She Told Me To Go,” and I was like…Holy Smokes, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write one this good. But damn it, I’m going to try. I’m going to try to write songs like this, and we’ll see where it takes me.

DK: When did you move to Nashville, and what was your first big break in the music business?

Marlowe: I moved to Nashville in 2018. I guess my first break was when I covered Olivia Rodrigo’s song, “Driver’s License.” I changed it to a country version. Then it blew up on TikTok, and it gave me a little bit of a platform. And from there, it’s just been a wild ride.

Here’s the video of Dylan Marlowe’s song, “Heaven’s Sake.”

DK: Two years ago you co-wrote Jon Pardi’s hit, “Last Night Lonely.” How did you write that song, and how did it become a hit for Jon Pardi?

Marlowe: I wrote it for me (as an artist) in mind, and I wanted a song with a really cool baritone riff. So we cut that song. But then Jon Pardi heard the song and not only did he want to cut it, he said it would be the single. So I was like, “Well I guess you can have it if it’s going to be the single. And it definitely worked out…it was the best possible outcome.

DK: Did having a hit with Jon Pardi help you get your record deal?

Marlowe: I’m sure somehow it did. It probably added relevance to my name at the time. But I think it was more that we had a song called “Record High” that we put out, that blew up on TikTok as well. That was when everybody started reaching out.

DK: You’ve been on the chart for many months with your hit, “Boys Back Home.” Can you talk about writing this song, and how did you connect with Dylan Scott to sing a duet with him?

Marlowe: Yeah I wrote it with my producer, Joe Fox. Around 2022, I was on tour with Dylan Scott and I showed him the song. Dylan was like, “Hey man, show me what you’re excited about,” so I showed him the song. And he was like, “Dude, you’ve got to let me hop on this.” I looked up to him so I said, “Of course.” Then we recorded it, but the timing didn’t line up with his label for him to put this record out. And around that time “Record High” was blowing up, so I put “Record High” out instead.

Then fast forward a year and a half. I called Dylan and said, “Hey, since you’re done with your record that you just put out, what do you think if we put out ‘Boys Back Home’ now?” And he was like, “I’d love to.” So it was a year and a half later than intended, but it was a blessing for the song to come out when it did. I was better prepared as an artist when it finally did come out, so it was great.

Here’s the video of Dylan Marlowe’s song, “Shop Radio.”

DK: A few months ago you released your debut album, Mid-Twenties Crisis, Can you talk about the making of this album?

Marlowe: Yeah we just dropped that one, and it was a lot of long days that went into making that record. Every song on it was written by me and it’s really personal to me. The whole project is special to me, and I’m super thankful for that record. I feel like it’s already done so much for us, so I hope it continues to be a game-changer for us

DK: Besides your song “Boys Back Home,” what are your other favorite songs on your album?

Marlowe: I really love the song, “Shop Radio.” It’s really fun to play live. I also love “Heaven’s Sake,” which opens the album and has a rock vibe. And I really love “Heaven’s Sake.” My other favorite is “Deer on the Wall.”

DK: I like your song “You Were Right (Nat’s Song),” which you wrote for your wife Natalie, and there’s a beautiful video of your wedding. Can you talk about writing that song and making the wedding video?

Marlowe: I wanted to write her a song, a love song. She loves love songs, and she doesn’t get a bunch of them because I’m not a big love song guy. So that one kind of fell out. I was trying to figure out when we were writing it, you know, what girls want to hear. And to my knowledge, the female population really loves to hear that they were right (laughs). So that’s how I came up with that one. It wound up really perfect, and then it happened to line up with my wedding. So I actually surprised her with that song. The came out the night before our wedding.

DK: I want to ask you about your live show and tour. Can you talk about your new Mid-Twenties Crisis Tour? I also read you’ll be opening shows this summer for Bailey Zimmerman.

Marlowe: Man, the live show has been amazing. We started off in New York City which was cool, and we played this weekend in North Carolina. And I get to play one of my dream venues on Friday, which is the Georgia Theatre in Athens. It’s been a dream of mine to play there and I’m really excited about that one.

Here’s the video of Dylan Marlowe’s song, “You Were Right
(Nat’s Song).”

Then in the summer we’re out with Bailey Zimmerman and he’s a really cool dude. He’s been nothing but insanely nice to me, so I’m excited to get out there on his tour, play some shows with him and hang with him.

DK: Thank you Dylan for doing this interview. Is there anything that we haven’t talked about yet, that you’d like to mention for this article?

Marlowe: Oh man, um, I’ve just been really blessed, and I’m fortunate to have a job where I get to talk to you right now about me doing music. Because I think sometimes I forget how lucky I am and how blessed and fortunate I’ve been to be able to do this. So I’m thankful for the opportunity to even be here talking to you about some songs I wrote.