The C2C Sit Down with Jackson Dean
As soon if people found out that we were heading to Berlin to cover C2C: Country to Country in Germany, pretty much everyone that we spoke to said the same thing to us. It was not about the great history, food and culture of the German capital nor was it that we were able to experience the festival for two weekends running but how jealous they were that we would get to watch Jackson Dean.
One of our highlights of 2023 was his headline show at The Garage in Islington (review HERE) which followed his appearance at The Long Road Festival on his second UK trip of last year after his debut at The Royal Albert Hall’s Highways Festival. The Maryland native who released his debut album “Greenbroke” in 2022 became an instant favourite for UK audiences with his high intensity live shows and soulful voice but despite an industry showcase and a special guest appearance during label mate Carly Pearce’s set in London it was only the crowds in Rotterdam and Berlin who got to experience his full show on this trip across the pond and hence why there was a lot of envy towards us having that privilege. After Ian spoke with Jackson at Highways last year, it was now Jamie’s turn to hang out with Jackson during his time in London following the festival in mainland Europe.
It’s so good to see you man, we spoke on Zoom a while back so it’s always good to get to say hey in real life but we have both just been in Berlin. You headed to Rotterdam too so, how did you find the European shows went down and did you find the crowds there different to how they are in the UK?
“Yeah man, the thing about over there is that I realised that they are very respectful and a little bit quieter than you are over here but they gave the love, we had them going a couple of times during the set and it wasn’t ever flat. The rooms were great, I loved the big floor and the three tiers in Berlin, that was really awesome and I thought we were really well received.”
It was my first time in Germany and the festival there has a really cool vibe, it’s obviously a lot smaller and calmer than it is here in London but I really picked up on the audience there. I hear so often about how people dig the UK crowds being so engaging and attentive but there in Germany it really was another level of how respectful they are to music as an artform and how they are fully captivated and switched on.
“They are very attentive, we did Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin last time with Ingo Pohlmann, Kelvin Jones and Breland. That was my first time there and for that stuff absolutely in those writers rounds you want them right there in the palm of your hand where you want to hear those notes coming back to you off the wall. That stuff was really awesome, they were really great with that but this time we were trying to put on a giant rock show.”
For me and with coming to shows all the time here, whilst the audience is receptive and they will give you their full attention but like you hopefully saw at TLR and Highways, if you get on stage and want to blow people’s faces off and you really give it some, they will one hundred percent give it back to you. The crowd are ready for it here and when we need to be we are a naturally rowdy crowd who have three more “legal” years of drinking than you guys do in the States but where we were stood in Berlin, there were plenty of people in that crowd who had that vibe too.
“That’s what we want man, we just want everybody to have a good time and to express themselves. The whole time I was up on that stage in those last two shows, I was like how can I pull you in further, what can I do to get you more but overall, I think we went and did what we did then killed it!”
I want to talk about a song that you have only put out a live version of so far but when you were introducing it on stage you had said that it was the song that you and your boys had been playing live for the longest.
“You’re talking about seventy-one.”
Yes indeed I am! I know there is another record on the horizon and you will tell us more about that when the time is right but are we likely to hear either on this project or one in the future, a studio version of that song about being born in the wrong time?
“So “1971” is probably one of the more interesting songs that we have in our catalogue. I wrote that when me and the boys hadn’t even been together as a unit, I had been with Sean (Mercer) for two or three years, I had been with Rich (Kolm) for about a year and a half, then Brandon (Aksteter) came in when I was about sixteen so, that was the first one that all four of us sat down and were like OK, we can all play together, we can all vibe together and it’s really great but can we write together? We did that at a rehearsal night at our house on like a Thursday and it just came together so fast. We’ve tried to cut that, well we’ve tried to cut that twice and it just can’t be done! That energy cannot be harnessed inside of a studio.”
One of our highlights of 2023 was his headline show at The Garage in Islington (review HERE) which followed his appearance at The Long Road Festival on his second UK trip of last year after his debut at The Royal Albert Hall’s Highways Festival. The Maryland native who released his debut album “Greenbroke” in 2022 became an instant favourite for UK audiences with his high intensity live shows and soulful voice but despite an industry showcase and a special guest appearance during label mate Carly Pearce’s set in London it was only the crowds in Rotterdam and Berlin who got to experience his full show on this trip across the pond and hence why there was a lot of envy towards us having that privilege. After Ian spoke with Jackson at Highways last year, it was now Jamie’s turn to hang out with Jackson during his time in London following the festival in mainland Europe.
It’s so good to see you man, we spoke on Zoom a while back so it’s always good to get to say hey in real life but we have both just been in Berlin. You headed to Rotterdam too so, how did you find the European shows went down and did you find the crowds there different to how they are in the UK?
“Yeah man, the thing about over there is that I realised that they are very respectful and a little bit quieter than you are over here but they gave the love, we had them going a couple of times during the set and it wasn’t ever flat. The rooms were great, I loved the big floor and the three tiers in Berlin, that was really awesome and I thought we were really well received.”
It was my first time in Germany and the festival there has a really cool vibe, it’s obviously a lot smaller and calmer than it is here in London but I really picked up on the audience there. I hear so often about how people dig the UK crowds being so engaging and attentive but there in Germany it really was another level of how respectful they are to music as an artform and how they are fully captivated and switched on.
“They are very attentive, we did Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin last time with Ingo Pohlmann, Kelvin Jones and Breland. That was my first time there and for that stuff absolutely in those writers rounds you want them right there in the palm of your hand where you want to hear those notes coming back to you off the wall. That stuff was really awesome, they were really great with that but this time we were trying to put on a giant rock show.”
For me and with coming to shows all the time here, whilst the audience is receptive and they will give you their full attention but like you hopefully saw at TLR and Highways, if you get on stage and want to blow people’s faces off and you really give it some, they will one hundred percent give it back to you. The crowd are ready for it here and when we need to be we are a naturally rowdy crowd who have three more “legal” years of drinking than you guys do in the States but where we were stood in Berlin, there were plenty of people in that crowd who had that vibe too.
“That’s what we want man, we just want everybody to have a good time and to express themselves. The whole time I was up on that stage in those last two shows, I was like how can I pull you in further, what can I do to get you more but overall, I think we went and did what we did then killed it!”
I want to talk about a song that you have only put out a live version of so far but when you were introducing it on stage you had said that it was the song that you and your boys had been playing live for the longest.
“You’re talking about seventy-one.”
Yes indeed I am! I know there is another record on the horizon and you will tell us more about that when the time is right but are we likely to hear either on this project or one in the future, a studio version of that song about being born in the wrong time?
“So “1971” is probably one of the more interesting songs that we have in our catalogue. I wrote that when me and the boys hadn’t even been together as a unit, I had been with Sean (Mercer) for two or three years, I had been with Rich (Kolm) for about a year and a half, then Brandon (Aksteter) came in when I was about sixteen so, that was the first one that all four of us sat down and were like OK, we can all play together, we can all vibe together and it’s really great but can we write together? We did that at a rehearsal night at our house on like a Thursday and it just came together so fast. We’ve tried to cut that, well we’ve tried to cut that twice and it just can’t be done! That energy cannot be harnessed inside of a studio.”
“We tried to do it at Magpie up in Baltimore, where Sean works out of there a lot because he’s an engineer and we tried it in Nashville one time too and it just cannot be done. You get it back and you’re like na. It was made and written to be played live, even just getting the Live at the Ryman recording of it was huge, it was absolutely huge for us but I don’t think it will ever be put in a studio because you can’t harness that energy. That song ebbs and flows in terms of tempo and bust into literally a completely different song in the middle of it and come right back. It’s just one of those wild things and you cannot recreate that in a studio.”
That’s really cool to hear the story, I totally get what you are saying how that song is made to be played live and it just came so organically when it happened.
“That original programme is what we left on the day with and we just haven’t stopped playing it since.”
Hopefully, even if you’re not going to cut it, it’s a song that’s not going to fall out of your setlist for a long time.
“Nooooooooo, God no! It’s been at the end of the set for the last six years and it’s right before “Don’t Come Lookin’” so automatically puts you up here where you can ride right into that and you’re like all right, let’s go! It will not leave the set!”
Keeping with songs in your set that you haven’t recorded, you were the way that I first got introduced to Uncle Lucius. I have never watched Yellowstone so I didn’t see the resurgence of “Keep The Wolves Away” but I spoke to Kevin Galloway at the back end of last year and it’s awesome that they are back together with new music and are touring again. That song really is something else though.
“It’s one of the best. The guitar playing and solos in that are just special. A lot of why I kept going with music was so I could revel in guitar solos and be the voice that queues it. I love my guitar player, Brandon is MIIIIIIIIINNNNNE! You write these sons so your men can cut loose on them and do what they do but we’ve been playing that song for a long time, even before it was in Yellowstone.
That’s really cool to hear the story, I totally get what you are saying how that song is made to be played live and it just came so organically when it happened.
“That original programme is what we left on the day with and we just haven’t stopped playing it since.”
Hopefully, even if you’re not going to cut it, it’s a song that’s not going to fall out of your setlist for a long time.
“Nooooooooo, God no! It’s been at the end of the set for the last six years and it’s right before “Don’t Come Lookin’” so automatically puts you up here where you can ride right into that and you’re like all right, let’s go! It will not leave the set!”
Keeping with songs in your set that you haven’t recorded, you were the way that I first got introduced to Uncle Lucius. I have never watched Yellowstone so I didn’t see the resurgence of “Keep The Wolves Away” but I spoke to Kevin Galloway at the back end of last year and it’s awesome that they are back together with new music and are touring again. That song really is something else though.
“It’s one of the best. The guitar playing and solos in that are just special. A lot of why I kept going with music was so I could revel in guitar solos and be the voice that queues it. I love my guitar player, Brandon is MIIIIIIIIINNNNNE! You write these sons so your men can cut loose on them and do what they do but we’ve been playing that song for a long time, even before it was in Yellowstone.
When that song came out it was like this song is an entire genre in itself and that was like four years before Yellowstone was even a thing. It was all Whiskey Myers, Blackberry Smoke, Shane Smith & The Saints, Uncle Lucius and that whole world where this was one of the best songs of that time I think and it was just so easy to play. We just started playing it, we would absolutely kill it and people would love it because people would know it. We kind of took the shuffle away from it and kind of went more cross-stick with it and it is way more moonwalkish and way bigger but I’ve always loved that song.”
To finish off, I wanted to touch on when you jumped on Ashley Cooke’s record and recorded a duet with her, which sounds so cool but looking ahead to the next project of your own, are collaborations something that you are thinking about?
“Not on this one, not this next one. This next record that is coming out is a labour of passion, there are one or two that don’t make it because they just didn’t shake out the way that they needed to but this is shaping up to be upwards to sixteen or seventeen songs. There are no duets coming, this is all me and I’m very excited about these recordings. The biggest reason I went and did that with Ashley was because I had hold of that song for like three years, they sent it to me when they wrote it because it’s the same publishing and that’s Lainey Wilson, Laura Veltz and Luke Dick. Luke Dick produces my records so, I’ve had hold of that song for about three years with Lainey’s vocal on it then I was doing something with Ashley and she said we cut one of your producers songs so, I was like OK which one? Then when she said “what are you on fire about” I was like no way!”
To finish off, I wanted to touch on when you jumped on Ashley Cooke’s record and recorded a duet with her, which sounds so cool but looking ahead to the next project of your own, are collaborations something that you are thinking about?
“Not on this one, not this next one. This next record that is coming out is a labour of passion, there are one or two that don’t make it because they just didn’t shake out the way that they needed to but this is shaping up to be upwards to sixteen or seventeen songs. There are no duets coming, this is all me and I’m very excited about these recordings. The biggest reason I went and did that with Ashley was because I had hold of that song for like three years, they sent it to me when they wrote it because it’s the same publishing and that’s Lainey Wilson, Laura Veltz and Luke Dick. Luke Dick produces my records so, I’ve had hold of that song for about three years with Lainey’s vocal on it then I was doing something with Ashley and she said we cut one of your producers songs so, I was like OK which one? Then when she said “what are you on fire about” I was like no way!”
Ashley said that the two of you got it together after you were doing a Morgan Wallen cover at an awards show.
“Yes, it was at the rehearsal for that. We were in the studio the same week, she came in and we just ran it down twice so it was going to be what it was going to be. Ashley’s great, she’s going to open up a couple of shows for us when we get back and she’s wonderful because she’s a real one, I like her a lot but in terms of duets happening I’m not opposed to it and I would like to do something but they’ve just got to be right.”
The new version of “Fearless (The Arrow)” from Jackson Dean is out now via Big Machine Records and is available HERE. You can find details for all of Jackson’s upcoming US shows by checking out his WBESITE or you can be the first to be in the know about any news of forthcoming new releases and what he is up to by following along on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK TWITTER & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return in 2025 for three days of festivities in Berlin over the weekend of March 7th to 9th which you will be able to find further detail on their WEBSITE and on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK where you will also be able to relive highlights from this year’s event.
The event will then roll into London, Glasgow and Belfast the following weekend between March 14th and 16th which you can keep a look out for all forthcoming details at the event WEBSITE or socials (INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK) with line-up details expected to be announced later in the year.
“Yes, it was at the rehearsal for that. We were in the studio the same week, she came in and we just ran it down twice so it was going to be what it was going to be. Ashley’s great, she’s going to open up a couple of shows for us when we get back and she’s wonderful because she’s a real one, I like her a lot but in terms of duets happening I’m not opposed to it and I would like to do something but they’ve just got to be right.”
The new version of “Fearless (The Arrow)” from Jackson Dean is out now via Big Machine Records and is available HERE. You can find details for all of Jackson’s upcoming US shows by checking out his WBESITE or you can be the first to be in the know about any news of forthcoming new releases and what he is up to by following along on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK TWITTER & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return in 2025 for three days of festivities in Berlin over the weekend of March 7th to 9th which you will be able to find further detail on their WEBSITE and on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK where you will also be able to relive highlights from this year’s event.
The event will then roll into London, Glasgow and Belfast the following weekend between March 14th and 16th which you can keep a look out for all forthcoming details at the event WEBSITE or socials (INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK) with line-up details expected to be announced later in the year.