No need to dream, Gossett's got it

One might assume that Dylan Gossett is living the dream. After all, the 25-year-old singer from Austin never had played Boston before in his ultra-short career, and here he was with an excited, sold-out crowd of 2,500 singing along in song after song – even one released just two weeks ago.

But the reality is that Gossett isn't for the simple reason that the idea of releasing music and touring was never his dream. It wasn't even a pipe dream for the Texas A&M graduate with a sports management degree.

No matter because Gossett is doing just fine in his new line of work (he left events work at a race track in Austin behind) in a show that underscored time and again that this guy is the real deal.

Gossett occupies a musical space that is country and Americana in the mold of the Zach Bryan, Wyatt Flores, Sam Barber spectrum with a slight amount of rock.

Like many of the people in the same realm, Gossett is a sharp, keen songwriter. With songs like "Beneath Oak Tree," about the place where he married his wife two years ago, Gossett creates pictures, moods and emotions with his lyrics. Gossett went the other end of the love spectrum with "Lone Old Cowboy," about a jilted cowboy who's being hunted and ready to face his doomed fate. Yet again, the song painted vivid scenes. Kudos to the sound guy who continually mixed Gossett's vocals above the music so you could actually hear the lyrics and the honesty in Gossett's delivery.

For someone who doesn't have a long history of touring, Gossett seemed entirely comfortable on stage. He was authentic and genuine, letting the audience into his own thoughts and perspectives in talking about his career and how the songs came from real places for him. The sense of joy and connection among the five-piece band and with the audience was palpable from the moment he hit the stage.

Gossett changed it up a bit musically with a number of songs starting off with himself on acoustic guitar, blowing some harp and spare instrumentation before the band would kick in. Older brother Blake had a number of sharp-edged guitar runs. Sidekick Colton Hardy was superb with numerous banjo runs and on keyboards. The cascading closing "Somewhere Between" about being on the road and heading west was the perfect close to an uplifting 85 minutes.

Gossett has come a very long way in a very short amount of time with the songs, singing and presence to make. That's no dream. That's reality.

Coleman Jennings may be pinching himself. He has only released four songs and never did a legit tour until this summer. More is in store for Jennings, who came out with a black cowboy hat. That means something these days because it's not de rigueur for country artists like it used to be decades ago. From the opening strains of his 45-minutes onstage, it was clear that the Austin resident is a traditionalist. In a free-flowing set Jennings, 23, has the singing down, is a real good guitarist and like Gossett, has a lot of songs of merit. He also gets a lot of props for employing pedal steel and banjo.

Jennings could benefit from more of a stage presence. He didn't engage all that much with the audience, which would have been important considering that scarcely anyone would have heard of him. Perhaps that will come with seasoning. In fact, Gossett may him more of a shoutout than Jennings did in his own defense.

Despite that, Jennings had a lot to commend. His songs made you want to listen.