NASHVILLE, TN (September 6, 2024) –Jackson Dean today unleashes his eagerly awaited sophomore album, On The Back of My Dreams, an otherworldly concept album that solidifies Dean’s reputation as a thoughtful yet refreshing artist, adept at addressing a wide range of topics–from the tangible to the metaphysical–with a rare blend of complexity and accessibility. Available now (via Big Machine Records) the 13-song set was crafted to take listeners on an emotional expedition from light to dark, exploring notions of freedom, solace, youth, mortality and the things that haunt and creep into our subconscious. Across the journey, the bigger picture comes into focus—Jackson Dean is a man dreaming of truly living–and truly living that dream.
Collaborating with some of Nashville’s finest musicians and producer Luke Dick, Dean has meticulously taken his gritty, rambling highwayman spirit to new heights, playing with turn of phrases, biblical references, soaring guitars and blink-and-you-might-miss subliminal messages to construct big, wide-open songs that demand an equally bone-shaking vocalization. Quickly earning a reputation for his strong gravel-toned vocals and awe-inspiring live performances, across the 46-minute set, Dean delivers a captivating performance that is striking, distinctive and built for the live stage.
“The title bares its name from a lyric in my favorite song on the album, a misty witchy little nursery rhyme named ‘Jane.’ It has this surreal, ‘is this real life?’ feeling to it that carries throughout every song on the project—and across my reflections on the last few years of this journey chasing the music dream,” shared Jackson Dean. “I’ve lived a lot of life and have watched a lot of life be lived and each of these songs were written from a single frame of a moment, almost as vignettes, drawn from daydreams, nightmares and everything in between.”
Two songs paired together truly pull Jackson’s perspective into focus, “Real Real” and its brooding complement “Another Century,” which is the finale of the album and ties the entire project together with its existential threads. “Real Real” blends faith, hope and the pursuit of understanding to deliver three and a half minutes of reassurance “that everything is going to be just fine.” The bouncy-yet-philosophical track finds Dean searching for peace and harmony in the simpler moments that fill up the pages of our life’s story. In celebration of the album, at 12pmCT/1pmET, Dean will premiere the video for “Real Real.”
“We’ve been working on this album for several years now and the thought of people turning it up and getting lost in the journey of it all is really doing something to this thing beating in my chest,” added Jackson Dean. “A lot of love and life was put into these 13 songs and I hope people find something in it...joy, healing, connection, thoughts, memories or even just a good groove.”
The album also features his current single which just debuted as Most Added at radio, “Heavens To Betsy,” a stand-out in his live show, which places Dean in the shoes of a regret-filled man attempting to send a transmission from the beyond to right the wrongs of his past and seek redemption with his daughter. Going from a 19-year-old Jackson hearing the expression “heavens to Betsy!” for the first time and being struck with a flash image of a man sitting on the outskirts of heaven, trying to communicate with his daughter via a CB radio, to becoming his third radio single because of fierce fan-reaction, the unexpected journey of “Heavens To Betsy” encapsulates that surreal aura of On The Back Of My Dreams and takes a gruff from the opposite side of living that carpe diem spirit and its consequences.
