This Week’s Backstage Country Host: Jackson Dean
Joining Kelly Ford this week on Backstage Country is fast-rising country music singer and songwriter, Jackson Dean! His debut single, “Don’t Come Lookin’,” was one of 2022’s biggest hits. Don’t miss out! Tune in from November 4-8 and get to know him better!
Jackson Dean Sings a Bop
Ford said that “Real, Real” is her favorite from Dean’s latest album, On The Back of My Dreams. Dean chuckled, “’Real, Real’ is a beautiful little bop. That was me and Luke [Dick]’s attempt at modern lingo.” He added, “The philosophy of that song is you don’t get the moments that everybody writes about, and everybody sings about, and everybody dreams of. They just might not look the way that you thought that they did in your head.”
Dean also disclosed that being in the industry made him ponder it a lot. “My time in this industry and having a peek behind the curtains of what we do is a crazy experience. So naturally, it’s going to feel different. But I feel like that’s the thing with life, though.”
His Origin Story
Ford noted that not a lot of country stars came from Maryland where Dean is from. “No, no, but we got the Brothers Osborne. Yeah. They tear it up. They toured. They were a couple of years ahead of me. But my origin story is I started playing music in the town of Boothby, where my parents grew up less than a mile away from the Irish pub that I started in.” He added that he was at every open mic for four months when he started playing at 14.
Dean shared, “The first three songs I sang on stage were ‘Cost of Livin’,’ and then Drake White’s tune, ’50 Years Too Late’ and ‘Always Want What You Can’t Have.'” Ford asked Dean about the moment he told his parents he wanted to pursue a career in singing. Dean chuckled, remembering how his parents had an email list for their business and everybody within 30 miles came to see him play. He added, “So it went from an older fan base to playing out more and people starting to come. And, you know, the technology that we’re using now to promote all of this stuff started doing it our own.”
Dean recalled, “There was no moment. It just kept going and going and going. I was like, ‘Well, if I can do that, then I can do this.’ I just started trying to get into every bar that would have someone under 18 come and play music for them.”
Jackson Dean will be taking over the airwaves on Backstage Country for the whole week. Tune in and discover why he’s one of country music’s rising stars.
