[Dylan Cessna]

About Me

After I graduated from high school I knew I wanted to pursue a career in music but was unsure of where to start. Reluctant to take a year off, I began taking general education classes at Harper College in Illinois. I spent the next two years studying, performing, and recording. I was approached by my former guitar teacher and was asked to join his group, The New Recliners, as an extra guitar player and lead vocalist, and I accepted. With the New Recliners I would go on to play several shows, including the Downtown Mount Prospect Block Party two years in a row. In this same time I was also involved with Small Places, an independent group of Mount Prospect musicians that performed originals. Small Places played several shows in Chicago and had a regular gig on Montrose Beach in the summer of 2017. I was also featured on bass on their 2017 III EP. I had exponentially broadened my horizons and became used to playing three two-hour sets back-to-back.

In the fall of 2018 I began my degree at Belmont University. With no previous musical theory background, I had to start from scratch. I graduated in April of 2021 with a Bachelor's in Music.

Originally after moving to Nashville for school I had planned to concentrate my first two years on learning the material and the last year applying what I learned and gigging. Unfortunately ,due to the pandemic, myself along with many other performers have been unable to perform in any meaningful capacity in over a year. Instead of wasting this time, I decided I had been given a great opportunity to double down and solidify the theory material I learned. I don’t like wasting time or resources, so I have really tried to spend this last year bettering any aspect of myself that I can.