The southern Maryland native is on a multi-city spring tour
Southern rock is having a renaissance, and Jackson Dean is at the forefront. He showcased exactly why at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Thursday (March 27th) as part of his On The Back Of My Dreams Tour.
His deep, soulful twang blended unmistakably with his signature country-rock sound. Wearing his signature feathered fedora-style cowboy hat and a half-open western shirt, Dean opened with the fuel-injected “Still Raging.” That’s was followed up immediately with the funky “Duct Tape Heart.”
This show served as a hometown gig for Jackson Dean, who was born just a few miles down the road in Crofton, Maryland, and raised in nearby Odenton, itself a suburb of Baltimore. “It’s good to be home. I know most of the people in this room.”
He soon donned an acoustic guitar with a beautifully-carved engraving for the bouncing “Trailer Park.” “Fearless,” the first ballad of the night, had a steady drum line that acted as the heartbeat of the song.
Dean packed a lot of lights behind him on the Fillmore’s end-stage, a flat moon with his name across it hung above the stage. An opening number washed the stage in a pulsing and surprisingly bright light show that obscured his own entrance. In a way, the lights almost represented the pacing of the show itself: no dark or dead spots.
During one of the more intimate moments, the stage awash in purple, Dean told the crowd, “Some of you knew the dog this one’s about, he was a good boy.” “Big Blue Sky” followed.
Opener Meg McRee joined for “Superstitions,” and their harmonies blended very well. Things picked back up again with “Free” and the string-forward “1971.” Speaking of strings, his bass player switched to banjo for “Real Real,” a song that Dean says they don’t play live very often.
A few other surprise instruments popped up throughout the show, proving what they play is very much “Real Real,” and indeed, “live live.”
Dean now has two albums with of material from which he draws for this 18-song set. The night’s most poignant moment came when Dean sang his latest radio hit, “Heavens to Betsy,” told from the perspective of an alcoholic surprised that he got into heaven. Its emotion and directness sent a shiver down each and every spine in the room, just as it did at CRS earlier this year.
Dean closed his main set with his breakout twangy rocker “Don’t Come Lookin’.” But for many southern rock fans clamoring for something fresh yet familiar, they’ll come looking for Jackson Dean for a long, long time.
