Fast-rising country music singer and songwriter Jackson Dean is a name you’ll be hearing more often in the music world. After a breakout year in 2023, Dean’s gritty classic country music has brought him fame and accomplishments.
In 2022, the Maryland native’s single, “Don’t Come Lookin’” was the fastest debut to reach No. 1, making Dean the youngest solo male Country artist to reach the top of the charts with a debut song. As a result of his catchy tunes and hard work, Dean found himself on the Billboard Hot 100, the soundtrack for Netflix’s The Ice Road and smash-hit TV show Yellowstone.
At just 23 years old, Jackson has found himself performing with Country greats like Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Brantley Gilbert, Brooks & Dunn, Lee Brice and more. Last year he spent most of his time touring with Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Carly Pearce, Eric Church and Parker McCollum. He is currently gearing up to travel with Lainey Wilson on her Country’s Cool Again Tour.
We met with Jackson Dean after his CMA performance and chatted about his CMA highlights, his upcoming tour, and the story of his late dog, Carl.
You just finished your Riverfront set. What was the highlight today? Are you ready for the main stage at Nissan?
There is a big, burly bald guy that was at Losers last night and he came again today. He’s saw us perform in Ohio a couple times and he’s a good dude. But he was just going nuts last night and today. You need at least a couple of people to be like “I love you man!” Shout out to Tony the bald guy. In terms of Sunday at Nissan Stadium, it’s a big play. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a place that big, or even close to it, but I’m ready for it.
You wrote Chase Rice’s new song “Fireside.” What was the inspiration for that song?
That was done on a writing trip. Oscar Charles I’m pretty sure produced that record. He’s a great guy. He rented out a place in Gulf Shores, a house on the beach there. John Sherwood and I cruised down there the first week that he had it and wrote a whole mess of songs.
Chase wrote into it and what he did to it, he did justice to it. I was very, very happy about it. I thought the track was awesome. That’s my pickin’ on guitar, just simple. That’s just me and John riffing on stuff and finding words to put into melodies. Loving on the dangerous side.
What’s your perfect day in your home state of Maryland?
So early morning on the water, catching crabs and then eating them on the back porch at night. You can go all around the Chesapeake Bay. I’m from Bowie, which is about 30 minutes west of the Chesapeake. You can pull blue crabs out of anywhere around there. We run a 1600-foot trout line so you could catch them in the morning and have a big crab feast for all your friends.
Any cities out West you’re looking forward to hitting with Lainey?
It’s been a while since we’ve been up through Washington, so Seattle is going to be really cool. I’ve never been to the western side of Canada, and we’re doing Vancouver. I’m excited to get up there. I would like to go across and tour Canada.
Have you bonded with Lainey at all over the Yellowstone songs?
She congratulated me. You know, she was like, “Hell, yeah. That’s awesome.” I don’t press her about that kind of stuff. It’s just like, she’s killing it, you know? I’ve known Lainey since the week before she got her first bus. She’s busted her ass to get here and has earned every bit of everything she’s got. I’ve known her for a couple of years now, and she’s the same person I met then, and that makes my heart feel good.
So, you’ll have fun on tour?
Oh my God, it’s going to be a blast. Sonically, it makes sense. Her drummer and guitar player are from 30 minutes North of me. It’s a weird little full circle thing. I opened for a band that they were in when I was like 16 or 17 and fast forward and now they’re playing with Lainey Wilson.
They’ve played with the Morrison Brothers band and then they went on to play with Them Vibes and Maggie Rose and all the live stuff that they did, which is fantastic. They’re incredible live musicians. It’ll be a really cool fit, I think. We already did some shows in Australia. The Aussies are nuts. I love it down there.
Did you find any hidden places over there to visit?
I mean, I was working most of the time over there. They went and did a whole bunch of stuff on horseback and we went out to Manly Beach and surfed a little bit.
No sharks?
No, no sharks, no sharks. I don’t want any of that. No thank you.
You have a song inspired by your dog, Carl. Do you have any new pets?
I do. So, Carl died. He stayed home when I left to come down here. He never saw the tour bus. I was so close to getting it to him and getting him on there because I wanted him so badly to come out on the road for a weekend. He started having seizures about a year and a half before he died and we just tried to go as long as we could. Once he went, it messed me up a little bit.
His brother went about two weeks after him. I took a minute and I went unsupervised on a Monday a couple of months after that. I just started looking at dogs and I was like, “Oh, man.” This one came up, in Middle Tennessee, way, way south of here. I couldn’t leave it there. He was on his back within 30 seconds of being out of the cage. Just belly up.
What kind of dog is he?
He’s a mutt. His name is Elk. He’s a Healer and I want to say Mountain Cur. He’s dark brindle. He looks like a little coyote.
Tell me about “Big Blue Sky.” That sounded like a travel song.
Yeah, it is. “Big Blue Sky” is scoring a picture frame of Carl running off into the sunset. What we do is make moments last. So, when you go on down the road, you can stay in that moment a little bit longer. I wanted to make it as big as I possibly could; classic American rock, a little flair of country. There’s acoustics in there. But that song is all about him chasing the sun.