Photo Credit: Ford Fairchild
NASHVILLE, TN (August 4, 2022) – Jackson Dean hit the Country charts running. “Don’t Come Lookin’,” his debut single from the Luke Dick-produced Greenbroke, was the highest chart debut for a new artist since 2015, and it has been lighting up the Country radio dial ever since.
The crunchy anthem of (mis)adventure and no-holds-barred independence, equal parts swagger and getting gone, nears the Top 10. The man People proclaimed is “Cut from the cloth of outlaw country” is realizing the dreams of a young kid selling out the famed Ram’s Head while still in high school.
“I wanted to write the songs that I felt,” Dean explains. “I wanted music that showed how I feel. Even when I was a little kid, when I’d leave the house to go run through the woods, I’d tell my Mom, ‘If I don’t come back, don’t come lookin’…’
“My producer Luke Dick knew just how that feels, too. When we sat down to write it, we dug in and kept going. It was almost as much fun to write as the song is to sing.”
With the live acoustic video just dropping – watch it here – Dean recently made his Grand Ole Opry debut. “Don’t Come Lookin’” earned the songwriter/guitar player one of the night’s strongest responses. As he said of the evening, “If you know country music, if you love it, the Opry is one of those things that says you’ve connected to all the greats who came before. I may want to break ground, but I promise you I believe in the rough and raw country that started it all.” Watch a recap of the special night in this My Opry Debut video here.
Currently splitting his road life between the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association’s Single and Song of the Year winner Lee Brice and Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Brooks & Dunn, Dean is taking his road forged Country to the Country fans who know – and live – the difference between full-tilt firebrand and middle of the road.
“Never lose your wild,” explains Dean. “That’s where your truest self lives.”
In a genre obsessed with trucks, field parties, girls in Daisy Dukes and football games, HITS opined Dean is “exactly what the next wave of country men should be” and The Reviews Are In praised “Don’t Come Lookin’” for being “gritty and grainy and brings an air of authenticity.” He’s certainly struck a chord with music supervisors as the gauntlet-throwing track has appeared in an episode of “Yellowstone” and on the soundtrack of Netflix’s “The Ice Road.”
Greenbroke suggests the arrival of a young artist who’s a little rough and rowdy, ultimately his own man. “Don’t Come Lookin’” has been the perfect introduction, drawing a line between thrown-away good times and someone who’s out on the edge.
That idea of getting off by yourself, that feeling of getting gone and not wanting anyone getting in your way is something we all feel. Everyone’s wanted that kind of escape or freedom at one time or another. So, I figured it’d make a good song for anyone who’s ever been there.”
