I am here to announce the thrilling news of co-headlining a 5 week tour with Cat Clyde. Our powers combined, we’ll be playing some of Canada’s and America’s finest (non-colossal) venues and we cannot wait to have our lovely music fans mingled together in the wombs of great sounding rooms.

I’ve been seeing Cat play live every chance I get for the last 3 years (ever since her Back in the Garage Session with Luke Pelletier and Mason Stoops) and always admiring her touring prowess and ever-evolving recording projects and collaborations. She is the fab combination of awesome singer-songster and a great adventurer. She’s also fab in the style department!

Artist Presale tickets go on sale today with the code: DREAMBOOGIE

Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, Aug. 7 @ 10am local time.

Oct 28 Victoria, BC - Studio 919

Oct 29 Nanaimo, BC - The Queens

Oct 30 Vancouver, BC - The Pearl

Nov 1 Kelowna, BC - Revelry

Nov 2 Rossland, BC - The Flying Steamshovel

Nov 5 Lethbridge, AB - The Geomatic Attic

Nov 6 Canmore, AB - Communitea Cafe

Nov 7 Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room

Nov 8 Calgary, AB - Commonwealth

Nov 10 Missoula, MT - The Show Room at the ZACC

Nov 12 Ft. Collins, CO - Aggie Theatre

Nov 13 Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep

Nov 14 Denver, CO - Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox

Nov 17 Fayetteville, AR - George’s Majestic Lounge

Nov 19 Oklahoma City, OK - Resonant Head

Nov 20 Dallas, TX - Sons of Hermann Hall

Nov 21 Austin, TX - Sagebrush

Nov 22 Houston, TX - The Heights Theater

Nov 24 Santa Fe, NM - The Bridge Indoors

Nov 27 Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room

Nov 28 Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room

Nov 29 Boise, ID - Treefort Music Hall

Dec 1 Bend, OR - Volcanic Theatre Pub

Dec 2 Eugene, OR - Soreng Theater at Hult Center

Dec 4 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater

Dec 9 Bellingham, WA - Wild Buffalo

Dec 10 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre

Part of our adventure together will be sharing a band (Sam Peterson on guitar, Isaac Story on bass, & Mickey Bayer on drums) under the stewardship of beloved tour manager Sasha Pearl. This will be a fun experiment and I look forward to hearing people muse, for example, whether Sam plays his guitar more enchantingly for my songs or for Cat’s songs or who’s Mickey’s harmonies blend better with, Cat or Dean…? Come hear us roar and let the opinions fly:D

In celebrating the adventure of playing on stages with an ever-changing cast of musicians, I’m going to conclude with a quick nod to all who’ve joined and beautified my songs over recent months and mention those doing so at shows to come…

Back in March I played a few songs with the eTown Radio band at eTown Hall in Boulder, CO which included a Beatles duet with the incredible Billie Marten. It was a flash rehearsal and turned out to be a very special experience. Thank you forever, Nick Forster. Thanks, Helen, for your harmonious ways!

In early July, I played Denmark’s Roskilde Festival. Sam Peterson very generously navigated extreme logistic hurdles to provide his gorgeous guitar parts, while 2 gentlemen from Copenhagen agreed to learn 14 of my songs- Jacob Mundt on bass/harmony singing and Arto Eriksen on drums. With one rehearsal, there we were in front of a couple thousand people and had one of my more joyful moments on a stage. Jacob and Arto are brilliant and I feel very honored and grateful for that experience with them and Sam. Thanks guys! Jacob, your harmony singing is divine!

(photo by Rikke Søgaard)

Then in mid July I had my biggest headlining show to date at (picture perfect) Topaz Farm outside Portland Oregon, and days before the show, found myself without a bass player. Never fear, musical savant Sam Peterson offered to drop guitar duties and play the bass (amazingly deftly- my songs, simple as they seem are actually a pain in the ass) and, because Sera Cahoone was drumming with me and had a duo show of her own the day after Topaz with Jenny Conlee (The Decemberists) on keys, we asked Jenny if she’d learn 18 of my songs in 2 days… songs she’d never heard. And yes, with one rehearsal we played with Jenny on keys and Sam on bass to 1500 people and it was laughingly awesome and joyful bonding with everyone there among the wildflowers.

This coming weekend, August 6-8th, is the Subdued Stringband Jamboree. My set will be me and my acoustic guitar at a condenser mic with various people coming onstage to accompany me in different ways, most of them singing harmony as well. Joining me for 1-3 songs apiece will be: Devin Champlin, Louis Ledford, Clinton Davis, Joel Ricci (& maybe another horn player), The Goldenrods, Jackero, and maybe Forty Drop Few. Come be as surprised as I am by whatever they do. I’ll also be playing with The Sons of Rainier later the same night. We’ve just put out a new album a few days ago called Nothing But Time. It showcases Andy Rick on pedal steel and, as ever, a bunch of wonderful Devin Champlin originals (who also painted the lovely tour poster for the upcoming tour with Cat).

Next week, I head to eastern Canada for a quick four shows in four days:

In mid-September I’ll be playing four midwest shows backed by Old Pup, led by Milwaukee’s Will Hansen. We’ll head into those with one rehearsal as well and I feel absolutely ecstatic about it. I’m hoping it will be very unique and possibly the most heavenly my songs have ever sounded.. bring your recording equipment! Old Pup will be opening those same shows which is about as cool as it gets if ya ask me. Can’t wait!

Last but not least, starting with OffBeat Fest in Reno, Oct. 2nd & 3rd, and straight into California with more shows to follow, including a return to L.A.’s Zebulon. I’ll be playing with aforementioned dynamo Sasha Pearl on drums and supernatural songstress Emily Hines on bass and singing harmonies. We’ll be heading into those with one rehearsal as well. Sam Peterson will be on guitar, swoon.

Thanks all you folks who still venture to see live music. See ya out there on some limb!

Xo,

Dean

Let’s see… besides taking walks around the neighborhood, going to friends’ shows (see the awesome hat below, recently acquired at a Jonny Fritz show), playing 3 outstandingly special local shows- Ballard, Vashon Island, & Tacoma, and trying every day to get my guitar to surprise me with some secret my belly told it through its back wall…

…besides that I’ve been looking for a house to rent so the brilliant Sam Peterson (Don Piano) and I can set up shop and start recording our next albums and demo many albums into the future. A beautiful rental house fell in my lap recently and I got all moved in only to realize there was a moisture problem in its basement which was too monumental for me to stay… so I’m still on the hunt if anyone has any hot leads on an empty house. I wanna get to work!

Fortunately, among spring tidying, music business organizing and the Zillow Redfin Craigslist FB Marketplace rental immersion, I have the pleasure of anticipating more Pacific Northwest shows this summer season.

The first to come is Zephyr Folk Festival, just east of Spokane at Liberty Lake. I’m last of the Friday line-up, June 5th, after a bunch of other great performers including the artful rippers, Smokey Brights. It will be an intimate and easygoing festival, and a sweet tease of early summer- get your tickets and come find us!

Saturday, June 6th, I’ll be trading one beautiful lake for another, heading to Sandpoint, Idaho’s Panida Theater. This is an 80 capacity room. It feels like a nice surprise waiting to happen.

After a quick trip to Denmark to play Roskilde Festival (video from Roskilde 2024 above), I’ll return in early July for back-to-back evenings opening up for The Head and the Heart at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, July 10 & 11. These will be big shows in celebration of their 15 year anniversary and stellar debut album. It’s easy to make my heart race thinking of these nights. Here we are with Matthew from the band below:

Next, I’ll be taking a band down to Portland to play Topaz Farm on July 17th. It’ll be a sweet crowd on beautiful grounds for relaxing and soaking up the outdoors. Chris Pureka is gonna open up with her hallowed tunes.

From there I’ll be performing with The Sons of Rainier for a farm show in Conway of Skagit Valley on July 25th… AND THEN…. comes the wonderful time of year that is The Subdued Stringband Jamboree at Deming, WA up in the foothills east of Bellingham, August 6, 7 & 8.

This intimate festival is the one I’ve bonded with by far the most, thanks to Devin Champlin & The Sons of Rainier, as well as the festival’s founder, Robert Blake, having me out for my music as early as 2017. It’s so perfect that it’s a little scary exposing it to the world. But you should come. It’s an idyllic setting and the 2 stages have immaculate sound and charm. The Sons of Rainier will be playing and I’ll have my own Dean thing. Chris Acker and Dylan Earl, too!

August 13th to 16th I’ll be in eastern Canada for 4 shows: Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough Folk Fest, and Toronto.

And lastly, I’ll be off with the band to one more classic PNW setting- the Olympic Peninsula. August 29th I’ll be at the Quilcene Lantern. They provide a big ol’ barn party on some mighty fine land with meadows and forest afoot. Joining the folks living on the peninsula for a music adventure always feels good and real.

Take a trip to the waters of The Pacific Northwest if you wanna refresh during your hot months. All tickets are available on my website.

Happy summer to you,

Dean

Firstly, I wanna give big love and thanks to all who came out to support my tour with Lily Seabird in the heart of an arctic blast. Every audience and venue was tremendous in making us feel it was absolutely worth risking our lives driving around the Midwest and Northeast in January’s sub-zero temperatures.

The travel went as smoothly and enjoyably as possible under the wing of our trusty tour manager, Sasha Pearl, and every show was sweet times with Sera Cahoone, Sam Peterson, Aaron Khawaja and I giving our best to the songs. Most of the tunes from both records (also the two mentioned below) were played each night.

Lily was a total inspiration pouring her heart of fire into every set. The whole gang thrived together. We played Toronto 36 hours after its biggest snowstorm on record. I forgot to propose marriage to the Canadian audience. Canada, will you marry me?? We also had an exceptional show in Nashville’s Blue Room with Emily Hines!

Now for the thriller announcement…

A Deluxe Edition of I Hope We Can Still Be Friends is available for streaming if you’re interested in hearing 2 tracks of the recording session not included on the original release:

‘The Rapture’ & ‘My Mistake’

Even though it didn’t make it on the record, "The Rapture is the biggest inspiration for the album’s title. It is a comedy song poking fun at people who have reportedly quit their jobs and given away their belongings for believing they were going to get floated up to heaven on a specific date predicted by some modern-day Rasputin. It further jests the world will be a more peaceful place without them, with the narrator (me) hoping “it all comes true.” The song is antagonistic and unfairly generalizes these people as fearful, war-crusading zealots, in absurdly simplistic verse. I sincerely hope that you have a laugh and we can still be friends. If not, farewell in this song keeping us apart.

My Mistake is a uniquely spooky sounding tune. I’ve always felt happy with its chord progression and melody in creating a mood. It has depressing lyrics about a person realizing too late that their whole existence has been squandered by indecision and only ever sticking a toe into the waters of life. Basically, it is about being a coward and really quite fun if you listen to the wonderful slide and baritone guitar playing by Sam Peterson, who also played Hammond organ on it. There is lovely harmony singing by its producer and drummer, Sera Cahoone. Abbey Blackwell treats the song beautifully with the upright bass. It’s the same players on The Rapture along with some beautiful pedal steel by Jon Hyde, Sam just playing Hammond.

I hope you enjoy these 2!

On March 31st I’m returning to play my tunes in Boulder, Colorado on eTown Radio. I’m extra proud to be on the show with the incredible singer-songwriter Billie Marten. Sheesh, I have butterflies to tell you the truth. Come hold my hand at eTown Hall, Colorado!

And July 2nd I’ll be back to Roskilde Festival in Denmark. I played there in 2024 and had the most shockingly awesome audience reception of my life. Denmark, I can’t wait to come and see you again!

Best wishes to all,

Dean

We’ll have both records available on vinyl at the merch table.

There’s also an I Hope We Can Still Be Friends (Deluxe) on the way soon, digitally. Sneak peek at one of the songs below:

See you on tour!

Jan 23 Omaha, NE - Reverb Lounge

Jan 24 St. Paul, MN - Turf Club

Jan 25 Milwaukee, WI - Vivarium

Jan 27 Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall

Jan 28 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Ballroom

Jan 29 Boston, MA - The Sinclair

Jan 30 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg

Jan 31 Washington, DC - Pearl Street Warehouse

Feb 1 Philadelphia, PA - Milkboy

Feb 3 Pittsburgh, PA - The Andy Warhol Museum

Feb 4 Newport, KY - Southgate House Revival

Feb 5 Nashville, TN - The Blue Room

Feb 6 Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern

Photo by Ryan M. Robson. Poster by the brilliant Lou Hazel.

Nothing For Me, Please back in stock on vinyl!

Nothing For Me, Please is back in stock on Oxblood Vinyl. You can grab yours here or from the merch table. It continues to make my heart leap to see these songs recorded in 2018 find new ears.

& here is a rapturous new song. Coming soon:

In late August, Sera Cahoone, Rebecca Young, Sam Peterson, Aaron Khawaja and I went to KEXP for an in-studio performance. It is now available to watch here. DJ Cheryl Waters hosted us and we had the loveliest time with her and the deft film and audio crew. Give it a watch to see if you think we’re the cutest people you ever saw and if Cheryl Waters might be the most thoughtful interviewer on the air anywhere.

See if you can you tell I was nervous? Behind me that wall is actually a window through which an audience of 75-some people were watching us and I would like to thank my teeny brain for forgetting they were there or I’d have been even more breathless than you see me… but golly dang thanks for coming to see us, and thanks to everyone who tuned in to hear us live on the air.

This has come right on the heels of an OurVinyl session which took place in Portland’s The Hallowed Halls studio. Four solo-Dean songs and an in-depth interview, artfully filmed, recorded and edited by the caring hands of the vaunted OurVinyl folks. If you might enjoy some of my tunes unadorned, give these a try.

November brings a special tour. Not only my first headlining tour on the West Coast, but my first headlining tour with a band. It’s the same angels mentioned above from the KEXP session who’ll be joining me.

Tickets are on sale:

Nov 5 Boise, ID - Shrine Ballroom

Nov 6 Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room

Nov 8 Fort Collins, CO - The Armory

Nov 9 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater

Nov 11 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater

Nov 12 Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf

Nov 14 Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar

Nov 15 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress

Nov 16 Jacumba Hot Springs, CA - The Old Bath House ($20 donation at the door)

Nov 17 Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room

Nov 18 San Francisco, CA - The Chapel

Nov 20 Portland, OR - Revolution Hall

Nov 21 Seattle, WA - The Showbox - Market

We just did 6 shows in September opening for Rilo Kiley and had the jolliest time together. Take a peek at this fun little show review from that tour… I truly can’t wait to do it again. And this time we’ll be playing every song from I Hope We Can Still Be Friends and many from the first record as well. It may interest you to know that my band has a very soft touch and we will be priding ourselves on making it an intimate experience. A lot of these tunes we still haven’t played together very many times, so a fun challenge will be had trying to hone them into the utmost delicacies for your ears and well being.

The tour will be opened by Emily Hines until Theo Lawrence takes over for the last four shows. We are very happy for the chance to be around them both and help share their stellar talents of voice and song. The Showbox show will include short sets by Don Piano and Brenna Bruce among other special guests sitting in with my band.

Thank you to Gregory Alan Isakov and Rilo Kiley for inviting and welcoming me to play to your music-loving audiences this past September, and to be lifted by your generosity in all ways.

After Rilo Kiley I had the pleasure of trading solo sets with Lou Hazel for 8 nights. I am happy to call him a friend and can’t wait to be witness to his music and art life for the rest of my days.

Thanks to everyone who came and saw me and Lou, and to anyone who comes out to listen to live music and support with buying a ticket or some merch.

Also wanna say The Sons of Rainier recorded more music recently, so keep your ears and eyes peeled for that! And look out for my next Substack in which I’ll elaborate on the one and only Esther Rose and our tour to come this December.

Most of the time since the album’s release I’ve been touring around the country playing to the largest audiences of my life, opening shows for Gregory Alan Isakov and then Rilo Kiley.

I spent my first night on a tour bus with Gregory‘s lovely team (slept 4ish hours at least), and from my last show with them in Oregon, I took a redeye flight to New York City and played in Central Park the very next night opening up for Rilo Kiley on 3.5 hours of plane sleep.

Fortunately, it all went amazingly well. There were firsts with Rilo, too: touring with a 4-piece band and using a tour manager in the U.S. (Sera Cahoone on drums & harmony singing, Rebecca Young on bass, Sam Peterson on electric guitar, & Sasha Pearl, our tour manager- all brilliant goofs).

I felt so proud of all of us performing beautifully in front of those big crowds. We constantly had the jolliest of times together along with some cute hangs with Jenny Lewis and the loving Rilo folks. 

They all flew home from Omaha and since then I’ve been doing solo shows and having fun times with the incredibly soulful and down to earth Lou Hazel. We just have four more shows together— Boonton, New Jersey (sold out); Northampton, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Brooklyn, New York. 

Come November I’ll be out with the same killer players for my very first band tour in the western states. Starting in Boise on 11/5 and ending with 2 big ol’ shows at Revolution Hall in Portland 11/20 & The Showbox at the Market in Seattle 11/21. Tickets for all of those shows can be found here.

The 2 PNW shows will also include Aaron Khawaja on Rhodes piano. 

Most of the tour will have Nashville’s Emily Hines opening, with the last 4 shows opened by Theo Lawrence. Both have enchantingly burly powers. 

Okay I gotta try and get some sleep, obviously. 

New York, come see me and Lou Hazel at Baby’s All Right, already why dontcha?! Monday night, 9/29 😘

OurVinyl Session

“Annabelle Goodbye” out now, full session out October 14th

You can watch “Annabelle Goodbye” here and pre-save the full session at this link.

New tour shirts are up in the shop

Shop this new tour shirt design & old favorites here (while supplies last!)

Howdy friends!

Last week the 3rd and final single from my new album was released. By the time you’re reading this, the full album I Hope We Can Still Be Friends will be out.

The final single is called “So Much Better.” It’s about a guy who’s gone and gotten electroshock therapy to delete someone from his memory. It works pretty well, but gets tricky as he watches people diving off the pier making swimming look fun and easy. He can’t remember if he’s ever learned…

Dive right into the new album.

It’s available on Sunset Cream Cake and So Much Better Now Blue Vinyl, as well as CD:

To celebrate, I'm giving away vinyl copies of my new album to five plucky winners on Instagram. All ya gotta do to enter is comment the name of the city for the show you're coming to. We'll draw names on August 27th, so if you haven't gotten a ticket yet, there's still time. One entry per person :)

Winners can collect their vinyl at the merch table night of the show- Dates below! These shows are with Lou Hazel. He’s really a special songwriter:

Sept 18 St. Louis, MO - Old Rock House

Sept 20 Washington, DC - Songbyrd Music House

Sept 21 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s

Sept 23 Cambridge, MA - Club Passim

Sept 24 Portsmouth, NH - Press Room

Sept 26 Boonton, NJ - Boonton Coffee Co. (sold out)

Sept 27 Northampton, MA - The Iron Horse

Sept 28 Providence, RI - Alchemy

Sept 29 Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right

There are also a bunch of other tour dates with Gregory Alan Isakov, Rilo Kiley, and headline shows in November. They’re all listed here.

I want to thank Sera Cahoone for her work on the album. She produced I Hope We Can Still Be Friends and was by my side for the whole process start to finish. She’s indispensable.

We mostly recorded it at The Unknown in Anacortes with Nich Wilbur engineering and then finished it with Johnny Sangster and Crackle & Pop! in Seattle.

Abbey Blackwell, Sam Peterson, Aaron Khawaja, Dan Walker, and Jon Hyde played on the record.

Rachel Field & Ed Brooks mastered the record at Resonant Mastering.

And last but not least, the wonderful Becca Fuhrman painted the album cover.

We’ll be performing live on KEXP this Wednesday, August 27th at 12pm PT. If you’re in Seattle you can listen on the radio. If you live elsewhere, you can listen online at kexp.org

I’m back forming sentences for you, keeping you updated and reminded of the more important happenings in the land of Dean music. I Hope We Can Still Be Friends, is releasing August 22nd on Saddle Creek Records. Its second single IS OUT TODAY.

Learn all about it below, along with some exciting tour news and a last of their kind T-shirt sale. Before we get started, I’d like to give many thanks to all the folks out there who listened to the first single and checked out the video by Ryan McMackin.

Among the handful of thorny songs on my upcoming album, the second single, “Death of the Party,” is the most overtly offensive… hopefully in a way that makes you laugh. We all know people who ruin parties for talking nonstop. People you avoid with all the evasive powers you can employ; who don’t seem to understand that the reason they’re isolated and lonely is because they haven’t learned that a conversation is a two-way endeavor; that listening to and being curious about another person is one of the best ways to make them genuinely like you. Well, this newest single is a not so subtle attack on these social monsters.

For some further inside scoop, this track is the original and foremost inspiration for the new album’s title. In short, I Hope We Can Still Be Friends after you’ve heard this blatant FU to narcissistic energy vampires throughout the world.

The recording has mellotron flutes and baritone guitar, both played by Sam Peterson along with segments which rock the drums (Sera Cahoone) & electric bass (Abbey Blackwell) a little harder than usual. Sera also adds some burly harmony singing.

Here’s some lyric samples, “Will you ever hear our collective groan, and realize why you’re all alone… why no one answers when you phone? Even Father McKenzie’s goin home.” Or, “Shut your mouth and maybe make a friend.”

Tomorrow I’m hitting the road with Erin Rae. We’re starting in Vermont at Billsville and ending in Wisconsin on July 27th, so take a look and see if we’ll be singing our tunes anywhere near you… Kalamazoo?

• July 16 Manchester, VT - Billsville (more tickets released)

• July 17 Brattleboro, VT - The Stone Church

• July 18 Portland, ME - SPACE Gallery

• July 19 North Haven, ME - Crabtree Sessions @ Etta’s Place

• July 20 Exeter, NH - The Word Barn

• July 21 Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater

• July 23 Nelsonville, OH - Creekside Stage

• July 24 Kalamazoo, MI - Bell's Eccentric Cafe

• July 25 Berwyn, IL - FitzGeralds

• July 26 Spring Green, WI - The Shitty Barn (sold out)

• July 27 Madison, WI - The Bur Oak

Hearing Erin sing and having her lyrics sink in is one of the best things ever, if you weren’t yet aware. I’m gonna be singing along on one of her songs which says, “Flip a coin and bet on change, if it ends up all the same, I love playin old games.” Sheesh! She’s gonna sing with me, too, on a couple of my songs. It’s a co-headline tour so we might mix it up from night to night who goes first, idk. Erin has a lyric, “Try to find a window to the sunlight..,” and I have a lyric, “Maybe tomorrow I will get it right, and find the sun somehow..” So, I’m calling this the Try to Find the Sun Tour.

Anyhow, we’re definitely looking forward to goofin off with everyone.

In other momentous and massive show news…

I’ll be playing to the biggest audiences of my life opening up a string of 4 shows for Gregory Alan Isakov. It would be a comfort and a thrill to get a buncha dear ol’ pals and Dean fans at Remlinger Farms in Carnation, WA or Mcmenamins Edgefield just outside Portland… tell yer sisters, brothers, ma & pa!

Come see me tremble and shake, buddies… I need you!! Can’t wait to witness Gregory’s nuance and spectral tenderness, and stoked he’s getting me on some grand stages in Boise and Salt Lake City, as well :D

From Edgefield’s 9/7 show, I’ll be getting on a red-eye, and the very next night opening for Rilo Kiley in Central Park, NYC, 9/8 and doing a run of shows with that sly, taut band of stalwarts. I’ll be joined by Sera Cahoone (drums/vocals), Rebecca Young (bass), and Sam Peterson (electric guitar+) onstage as well as TM stewardship by Sasha Pearl. We’re all gonna laugh our heads off!!

Heck I’m gonna be flying to AmericanaFest in the middle of the Rilo Kiley dates for a quick couple sets on 9/13, one being an official showcase at Third Man Records’ Blue Room. My, my I reckon all this time will fly on by. Maybe you’d like to behold the blur I’m becoming? Do try!

Dean Johnson webstore:

Lastly, please take note that all the Dean T-shirts at my online store are 20% off (with the code newsletter20) and they are likely the last of their kind… not many were made in the first place. “The Beware of Dean” ones are especially apt for the upcoming album release:D

As my friend Aaron Nelson would say, “Until Soon!’

Hope to see ya out there,

Dean

It’s my first time writing specifically for a newsletter. I feel free here, with more of a mind to deliver some juicy details and expose what a clusterf**k my brain is… Do you think I’ll embrace a writing habit which would continuously provide you with generous Dean tidbits? Feels doubtful, but let’s at least start strongly with several momentous announcements.

The first thing is that I have a new album coming out on August 22nd via the music label Saddle Creek. It has 11 tracks and is titled I Hope We Can Still Be Friends. Ah, you balk at that title, perhaps? Don’t fret too much, folks… while much prickly content does reside within these songs, there’s always a little tenderness and humor to be found around every corner (well, some corners), along with long-familiar live-set sounds. Yes, at many an old pal’s (and YouTube commenter’s) request, I decided to record some songs for this collection that go way back. One of them is the first song I ever wrote! Maybe we’ll play some games with facts like this at a later date…

Sera Cahoone produced the record and was beside me every step as a caring, scrutinizing, decisive and thoroughly committed dynamo. We recorded the heart of the songs in Anacortes, Washingon at the Unknown Studio with wonderful counsel and engineering from Nich Wilbur, Sera on drums/harmony singing and Abbey Blackwell on bass. I will give more details and story to the process and players as the full album gets released.

For now, let’s focus on the album’s first single, “Before You Hit the Ground.” It was released yesterday, 6/17, with a beautifully shot video by Ryan McMackin (more below). You can hear the track on all the streaming platforms and find the video on my YouTube channel - please subscribe :D

At its most innocent, the song is about me struggling to write feel-good lyrics and looking to Buddy Holly’s music for help. On its darker side, Buddy doesn’t help at all and it feels more like the world’s collective plane is going down amongst the literal and figurative tornadoes and tempests surrounding us, with a little wake up call from Mother in the last lines. It’s a fitting song to introduce an album full of widening divides and unhappy endings. The upbeat, poppy sound of “Before You Hit the Ground” includes acoustic guitar/electric guitar (Dean), drums/harmony singing (Sera Cahoone), upright bass (Abbey Blackwell), Rhodes piano (Aaron Khawaja), baritone guitar (Sam Peterson). Sam and Aaron’s parts, along with my electric guitar, were overdubbed at Seattle’s Crackle & Pop! Recording Studio with the illustrious Johnny Sangster engineering, as were most of the album’s overdubs. All the songs were mixed there by Johnny, too. I hope you enjoy the tune and get a sense of what’s to come on the record [and it encourages you to preorder… maybe one of the handsome vinyl options]

Next, let’s give some attention to why MTV and the Oscar Academy have been leaving me messages… It is because I was brave enough to ask my friend Ryan McMackin if he’d make a video for “Before You Hit the Ground”… which started our charming volley of phone calls (right before I left for a tour in Europe) pondering if it was a sane decision for him to commit to the endeavor considering the minimal budget and short window of time we had to work with. Like a true artistic maniac he said YES, dreamed up his vision, gathered a team, and shot and edited this cinematic triumph all in the days between my return from Europe and the label’s deadline.

The team he put together for the shoot were the perfect people for making me feel as good as I possibly could doing something I wasn’t very comfortable doing. It didn’t hurt that we were on the beach at Fort Worden State Park surrounded by nature and vistas I’d grown up with and are very much a part of me… yet that was tempered by the 13-hour days and in the wind and sun, cold and hot, wet feet all day sorta thing. But far and away, Ryan’s leadership for making our team a collaborative, cohesive and joyful entity was a very special experience and now we have this wonderfully odd video for the world to see. May it tease your eyes right out of your head.

Onward to announcing some TOURS! Apart from opening shows this summer for Kurt Vile, Vincent Neil Emerson, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Rilo Kiley, along with co-headlining a tour with Erin Rae, playing Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Colorado and solo touring in continuation of the Rilo Kiley dates…

NOVEMBER will be my first headlining tour on the west coast. I’ll be out with a full band.

Tickets are on sale today at 10am local time with the artist presale code BUDDY.

And speaking of things long-overdue…

DECEMBER will have me out co-headlining with my musical superfriend, Esther Rose, and her new album of brilliant songcraft, Want. If you wanna be lit up with deep and lasting song connection, take some time to soak up Esther’s music.

She and I have sung together on stages, in Western AF videos, and I sang on a Want album track called “Scars”- a dusky haunter to say the least. So, we’ll certainly be singing together some on tour! The most fun I’ve ever had singing, period, has been backstage warming up with Esther. We stand face to face and look each other in the eye. It’s pure joy and really tricky not to laugh or cry.

Those shows are also on sale today at 10am local time with the artist presale code BUDDY.

Other news to celebrate is my interview with Paste Magazine’s Matt Mitchell, who has been my first record’s biggest voice of celebration in the press world.

Chatting with Matt about music felt like hanging out with a dear old friend. We had a great time going over my experience recording Nothing For Me, Please and the music community surrounding it, as well as the album to come and the joys of making it.

Last but far from least, if you’re curious about the wonderful album art, it was painted by Becca Fuhrman. The fonts involved are also of her hand-made design. I have turned to Becca again and again for album art, merch design and show posters (my first record she made me 3 designs because of my indecision and bad communication). She is a comprehensive art stud with the kindest disposition and easiest laughter.

I guess that’s it, folks. I know there are some long, convoluted sentences above, but my metamorphosis into J.D. Salinger will be a slow process. You’re probably the only one who made it to the bottom here, anyway. Way to go, Superfan.

Love,

Dean

Reunited with Jenny Lewis for some shows opening for Rilo Kiley with a full band in September (tickets still available in DC and Omaha!), then playing solo in St. Louis and the Northeast.

Tickets for most shows are on sale today!

Supporting Rilo Kiley (full band):

Sept 8 New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage (sold out)

Sept 10 Washington, DC - Anthem

Sept 11 Pittsburgh, PA - Roxian Theatre (sold out)

Sept 14 Grand Rapids, MI - Meijer Gardens Summer Series (sold out)

Sept 16 St. Paul, MN - Palace Theatre (sold out)

Sept 17 Omaha, NE - The Astro Amphitheater

Headline shows (solo):

Sept 18 St. Louis, MO - Old Rock House

Sept 20 Washington, DC - Songbyrd Music House

Sept 21 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's

Sept 23 Cambridge, MA - Club Passim

Sept 26 Boonton, NJ - Boonton Coffee Co.

Sept 27 Northampton, MA - The Iron Horse

Sept 28 Providence, RI - Alchemy

Sept 29 Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right

Cambridge, Northampton, and Boonton will be on sale soon. Keep an eye on venue calendars.

This July I’ll be goofing off with Erin Rae across New England and the Midwest. We’ve been booked to play shows in barns, churches, houses, art galleries, breweries, and theaters. Laurel and Hardy, look out! :D

Tickets for all shows are on sale now:

July 16 Manchester, VT - Billsville
July 17 Brattleboro, VT - The Stone Church
July 18 Portland, ME - SPACE
July 19 North Haven, ME - Crabtree Sessions
July 20 Exeter, NH - The Word Barn
July 21 Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater
July 23 Nelsonville, OH - Creekside Stage
July 24 Kalamazoo, MI - Bell’s Eccentric Cafe
July 25 Berwyn, IL - Fitzgeralds
July 26 Spring Green, WI - The Shitty Barn [sold out]
July 27 Madison, WI - The Bur Oak

Blue Moon / Lake Charles 7” Out Now!

My new Document 7-inch with Saddle Creek Records was released last week. Listen to Blue Moon / Lake Charles.

Peter Nevins was kind enough to let me use his beautiful woodblock for the artwork, which is also gracing new Dean tshirts currently available on the Euro tour.

Saddle Creek is currently sold out, but are accepting preorders for a second pressing available in June.

We’ve got a few in the online shop. You can order here or pick one up on tour!

Three days into the European tour. The first three shows in Denmark have been a dream! Thank you. Here’s what’s next:

April 18 Oslo, NO - Salt (Pyramiden) 

April 19 Stockholm, SE - HUS7

April 20 Tampere, FI - Telakka

April 21 Helsinki, FI - Kuudes Linja

April 23 Esch-Alzette, LUX - Kulturfabrik (free show)

April 24 Groningen, NL - Der AA-Theater

April 25 Eindhoven, NL - Rozenknopje

April 27 Duffel, BE - Cinema Plaza

April 29 Manchester, UK - The Lodge

April 30 London, UK - St Pancras Old Church

May 1 Newcastle, UK - The Cluny

May 3 Edinburgh, UK - Voodoo Rooms

May 4 Glasgow, UK - The Hug and Pint

May 7 Bristol, UK - The Louisiana

May 8 Brighton, UK - Komedia

🛷Holiday adventure anyone?

Catch one of the dazzling John Craigie dates, or come find me in one of these charming spots around the PNW. 

All solo, all intimate, all high and leansome 🤡

12/5 & 12/6 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall

12/7 - Eugene, OR - Soreng Theater 

12/8 - Ashland, OR - Ashland Armory

12/11 - Sisters, OR - The Belfry

12/12 - Baker City, OR - Churchill School

12/13 - Trout Lake, WA - Trout Lake Hall

12/14 - Bellingham, WA - Wild Buffalo

12/15 - Vancouver, BC - The Pearl

Come find your little Xmas clown singing songs in the PNW this December 🛷 

*12/5-12/8 opening for the brilliant John Craigie *

Then it’s Dean headline shows- 12/11-12/15 with mystery guests.  

Tickets for all shows are on sale now!

Tickets

New merch store has launched!

There’s now a merch store online with new items and some old favorites going out of print. Head to the store and take 10% off with the code “newsletter” at checkout.

Merch Store