Last year was a big year for Jackson Dean, meaning it’s going to be a hard one to beat, however he’s going into 2025 more motivated than ever and predicts that this year is going to be “the best one yet.”
He rounded out 2024 with the release of his sophomore album, On The Back Of My Dreams. This 13-track concept album was a powerful follow-up to his debut, Greenbroke, as it tackled heavy themes of life, death, freedom and the power of dreaming. While sitting down with Country Now during Nashville’s Country Radio Seminar (CRS), Dean reflected on this chapter and how it sets the tone for the raw energy and soul-stirring honesty he plans to bring into his upcoming releases.
“I wanted to take it further,” he revealed. “I didn’t want it to just be all bunch of songs that were together that had no business being together because there’s not two songs on that record that are the same. The more and more we started getting mixes back, there was just this dash of the surreal within all of them that was just like, okay, this is either really intense or this is just a lot coming at you, whether it be the lyrics or the music, but they all just had this little flare of it.”
Part of his process leading up to the completion of this record involved a “big sound hunting” expedition which allowed him to get a better feel for the type of music fans were searching for, or maybe give them a taste of something they never knew they needed.
“A lot of my stuff is like frog rock and psych rock, but if you don’t have the songs, you can’t make the record. What you’re listening to, it should be influencing, but it shouldn’t dictate it…I did a big sound hunting last year, closer to the beginning of the year and put 200 songs in a bank. It was just like on Apple and just things I didn’t even know existed, and I wanted to make things that people stumbled upon. They’re like, ‘oh my God, where has this been all my life.’”
This journey allowed him to freshen up his signature sound, which we now hear through this entire project as well as teasers of unreleased tracks he’s been sharing online.” Before we get to hear where this sound will lead him next, Jackson Dean is pouring his focus into celebrating the rapid success of his Top 30-and-climbing single, “Heavens To Betsy.”
Fans have been buzzing about the clever songwriting of this song since the day it dropped. It started out as a live-show favorite, but quickly evolved from there as more and more listeners began resonating with the message emotive enough to bring even the strongest person to tears.
“To see it hit the people that it has, not only on this continent, but Australia, Europe, it’s truly amazing to see people come and be like, ‘I think my dad was in the room when you wrote this, in spirit.’ I’ve watched that wet many a eyeball. It’s just one of those twist of the knife songs…the first time that was recorded was an acoustic demo. It was one take that I just built upon, stuck around, started playing it to kill time, and slowly, organically took over the hearts and minds of a lot of radio people and a lot of people out there. This song’s something that you can’t buy, you can’t buy them spins. It’s a very organic thing and I’m truly grateful for it. I’ve sang that song a lot and it really doesn’t ever get old.”
The Maryland native’s haunting vocals can be heard not only through the radio with hits like “Heavens To Betsy,” but also on television. His song “Duct Tape Heart,” which can also be found on his sophomore album, recently appeared in the season finale of Yellowstone, marking Dean’s third musical appearance in the series.
Reflecting on the opportunity to showcase his music in a new way, Dean shared, “It’s so cool. It’s so cool. It is surreal. You’re just like, oh, that’s Kelly Riley right there, and my song’s playing. Or that’s Kevin Costner right there and Cole Hauser and they’re just, it’s wild. It’s wild. It’s an incredible honor to be a part of the score.”
Beginning March 13, Dean will bring his latest record to cities around the U.S., including his hometown, with his On The Back Of My Dreams Tour. Once he wraps up the first leg at the end of March, he will bring the live shows international for his first-ever headlining European tour.
“We’re very, very excited. We’re going to some places I can’t pronounce, and all my men are really excited. They love it over there. The last time I was there, I hopped on stage at the O2 in London with Carly Pearce. I walked out of the shadows and I mean, I had my ears in, everything, and they were so loud that I lost all the music in my ears. It was just them for like nine seconds as I walked out of the back. It was wild. They love us over there and I love them very much.”
In preparation for this trek, he carry on the lessons learned from his time on the road with Lainey Wilson last year.
“She made me know that ain’t nobody else could be her and that’s infectious. I don’t know of anybody else that can go and do an hour and 30 like that and move as much as she does, and not to mention all the stuff that she does with the kids, which is just amazing,” he gushed over the “4x4xU” singer.
Jackson Dean is just getting started, and with each stage he steps on, he will take his music to new heights, thus readying fans for the next chapter that’s ahead.
The post After A Groundbreaking 2024, Jackson Dean Plans To Make 2025 His Best Year Yet [Exclusive] appeared first on Country Now.
