Jackson Dean bringing rural roots to Iowa State Fair in Des Moines

Jackson Dean is riding high on a pair of hit singles, last year’s “Don’t Come Looking” and the recent “Fearless (The Echo),” which served as a prelude to his newly released “Live at the Ryman” live album, creating a buzz that’s landed him on artist-to-watch lists from CMT, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora and more.

So, he said, he and his band are going to give fans a show that meets the growing expectations for the 22-year-old’s music. He’ll be opening for Eric Church at the Iowa State Fair Grandstand on Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023.

“We’re going to go out there with music and a fire that represents us,” Dean said in a recent phone interview. “I’m hoping to give them something that they’ve never seen before. We’re doing something that nobody in our genre would dare to do.”

That something isn’t Dean’s blend of rock, country, folk, gospel and blues. It’s his performance style that contains zero electronic trickery.

“No click, no track,” Dean said. “It’s all off my boot heel and the kick drum. It’s raw and it’s real.”

Some of Dean’s musical inspiration comes from an unlikely source — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the rock ’n’ roll masters of the buzzing, propulsive wall of sound.

“It’s intentful,” Dean said. “It vibes for days. Some of their best vibes make me want to be bad. Some make me want to be good, too. That’s what it’s about, being intentful, making those vibes.”

The vibe-driven rock is just one part of the musical mix on which Dean grew up.

“The thing about me being where I’m from, I grew up Catholic and my dad was a Baptist, so I grew up with a little church music around me,” he said. “The bar where I first played, they used to have this blues jam. That’s where I found my drummer when I was 16. There was some country, too.”

Rural roots

Dean’s from rural Maryland, where he grew up working in the family construction business and, at 18, was living in a cinder block, concrete-floor one-room shack on the back of his grandfather’s property.

There, he started to hone the musical hybrid that was tagged early on, as “Appa rock” as in the Appalachian Mountains. That blend, however, didn’t just bring together rock, country and gospel. It reflects the geography itself.

“This part of the world is small-town USA,” Dean said. “The only thing we don’t have is desert and rainforest. ... I felt like they were trying to emphasize me being in the woods and all that, which I understand. But I don’t think they know how I get fire from it. I know what it’s like to climb a 100-foot cliff, to be out in a boat on the rough waters. That feeling comes out when I sing, when I write.”

The songs on Dean’s 2022 debut album, “Greenbroke” (as well as “Live at the Ryman”) also reflect the contrast between the wild natural world where he grew up and the cities where he has to do his work.

“That’s what ‘Greenbroke’ is all about — walking between those two worlds,” Dean said. “You’re a human being and an animal — as much as the world is civilizing you, you can’t lose your wild. With this record, that’s what I was trying to unleash.”

Dean, who made acoustic albums when he was 14 and 17, cut a good share of “Greenbroke” when he was a songwriter kicking around Nashville a couple of years ago.

“The first half of that record was done before I was ever signed,” he said. “I had a (publishing) deal at Little Louder Music, Eric Church’s publishing company. The first half of the record was done under that. That’s kind of what got me signed.

“The second half, it was kind of a handshake deal — I’m going to make the tunes. I’m going to bring you the tunes. There was no telling me what to record.”

Big Machine Records has, Dean said, released the perfect singles to showcase his hard-to-label music.

“The thing about me is I go to opposite ends. I bring so many different vibes. ‘Don’t Go Looking’ is one of the heaviest things being played on the radio. Now with ‘Fearless’ that’s a beautifully composed thing. It’s not all the way country, it’s not all the way rock, not all the way folk. I don’t know what to call it. It’s just me and the people I’ve chosen to put next to me.”

The success of those singles helped land Dean the opening slot on Blake Shelton’s spring tour. His summer’s tour includes a mix of festival dates, gigs opening for Luke Bryan and headlining shows. And now, he’s opening for Church in Des Moines.

In the zone

If everything works right, Dean said, he’ll be able to get into what athlete’s call “the zone” shortly after the first notes come from the stage. That, he said, creates the best performances.

“When you’re there it feels like light speed in slow motion,” Dean said. “That’s what you should be driving for, to be in it like that, to possess that much focus and determination to pull it off. I want to be the best at what I do.”

Dean took working tirelessly to be able to get in “the zone” and be the best at what he does from playing stand-up defensive end for his father, a 25-year football coach. And he’ll be bringing his approach to the gridiron to his live shows.

“The intensity of that strap up and go hard together is what we bring on stage,” Dean said. “We’ve got these songs and we’re coming at you hard.”