Jackson Dean

www.jacksondeanmusic.com/

Odenton, Maryland native Jackson Dean is a singer/songwriter known for his old school, gritty style of Country. Mature beyond his years, Jackson has a daring and carefree spirit, having moved out at 18 years old to live in a cinderblock, concrete floor, one-room shack on the back of his grandfather’s property with no heat and no plumbing. Bringing that same sense of adventure to his songwriting, Jackson writes both independently and alongside outliers like Luke Dick, classic writers like Casey Beathard and everyone in between. Following the release of his debut collection JACKSON DEAN out now via Big Machine Records, Jackson continues to show people how real music can be with atmospheric, musically-forward album GREENBROKE. Featured on the soundtrack for Netflix’s The Ice Road and in an episode of Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, the stomping “Don’t Come Lookin’” is making its mark as his first single at Country radio. Following an early career of local performances in his hometown, Jackson has joined bills with superstar acts like Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Brantley Gilbert, Kane Brown, Jake Owen and Brothers Osborne.

Micky & The Motorcars

mickyandthemotorcars.com/

For a handful of summers about 30 years ago, tourists who wandered into a large dancehall in
Stanley, Idaho, witnessed a family tradition finding new life. Young and old sat shoulder-to-shoulder,
taking a break from the town’s mountain hikes and river campgrounds to take in Muzzie Braun and
the Boys––a local family band who’d made it to the Grand Ole Opry, effortlessly spouted cowboy
poetry and Western swing at gatherings around the country, and featured Muzzie’s four young
sons––precocious boys with rock-and-roll futures.

“There were kids running around, people dancing,” says Micky Braun, the youngest brother who first
climbed on stage to join the family when he was about five years-old. “Gary and I’d get up and play a
couple of songs, then we’d get off and the older brothers would stay up and play a couple more. It’s
pretty funny, looking back on it.” He laughs a little, then adds, still smiling, “That’s how we got started
playing.”

The Braun brothers never stopped. Big brothers Cody and Willy started Reckless Kelly, and Micky
and Gary left Idaho for Austin and started Micky and the Motorcars, a road-dogging favorite whose
nonstop tour for the last 17 years has defined not just the lives of the brothers, but also shaped
Austin’s roots-rock resurgence that has played out over the last two decades. With their anticipated
new album Long Time Comin’, the Motorcars cement their place as elder statesmen of that alt-
country scene who have managed to master that ever-elusive blend of artistic familiarity and surprise.
“I hope people take the time to hear the album as a whole, and I hope they like it,” Gary says from his
home in Austin. “I think this one is a little bit better.” He pauses and laughs as he drawls, “So I hope
they like it a little more.”

For the Motorcars, the question is never really whether to tour but where to play next. Gary––who
handles guitar, mandolin, harmonica, harmonies, and occasionally lead vocals––and Micky, lead
vocalist and acoustic guitarist, are joined in the Motorcars by Joe Fladger on bass, Bobby Paugh on
drums and percussion, and new bandmate Pablo Trujillo on guitar. The combination of familiar and
fresh players has reinvigorated the Motorcars’ live show, which buzzes through a low-key rock-and-
roll rapture built on grooves and the Brauns’ signature harmonies.

A mix of new and old also shaped the Long Time Comin’ recording process. Produced by Keith
Gattis, the 11-song album relied in part on Gattis’ go-to Nashville studio players––a first for the
Motorcars. “It still sounds like Micky and the Motorcars, but it was fun working with different guys who
we’d never worked with before,” Micky says. “They’ve been Keith’s band for 15 years. He can say,
‘Give me a shuffle with a boom-chuck,’ and they know what he’s talking about.”

The band isn’t the only change on Long Time Comin’. Gary, who has always contributed a song or
two to Motorcar records, wrote or co-wrote six of the album’s tracks and sings every tune he penned.
“I don’t think I decided to really write more––I think I just got better at it and worked a little harder at it
the past couple of years,” Gary says. “In the past, I just let Micky do it because he was good at it. It
was easy for me not to do it.”

Micky loves the shift. “It’s almost a split album between the two of us on lead vocal––very different
from our normal,” he says. “I think our fans will enjoy it. They always love the songs Gary sings live.
They always want him to sing more.”

The album kicks off with the ambling “Road to You.” Written by Micky and Courtney Patton, the
rollicking singalong is classic Motorcars and an ideal welcome mat for the collection. Sauntering
“Rodeo Girl” swings and punches up the pace, before “Alone Again Tonight”––a Gary track written
with Gattis––watches loneliness with empathetic ache.

Several tracks take note of the universal search for comfort––even when it’s not the stuff of fairytales
or even particularly dignified. Over crunchy guitars, “Stranger Tonight” captures an evening’s quest
for no-strings companionship. “It was an idea I had just watching people at bars––that lonely girl I saw
time and time again but with a different set of glasses, over and over,” Gary says. “It seems like
everybody can relate to that––out looking for something new that doesn’t have to be love.”

Sweet and sad, “Break My Heart,” another track penned by Gary with Jeff Crosby, looks back after
the end of a relationship. “You’re not mad anymore but you’re thankful of the good times,” Gary says.
“It’s also about finding yourself again. It’s a moving-on song.” Quiet and sparse, the Gary-penned
“Run into You” details a longing to cross paths with an ex-lover who’s moved on with heartbreaking
clarity.

Anchored by crying B-3 organ, “Hold This Town Together” explores the struggle to enjoy what once
was easy after the loss of someone who’ll never come back. After years of trying, Micky wrote the
song for Mark, a friend and the Motorcars’ first bassist, who passed away. “Hold This Town,” written
by Micky and Jeff Crosby, muses over the hometown faces and places that never change. “There are
the same people at the same bars, the same people working at the grocery stores,” Micky says, then
adds with a laugh, “It’s kind of a depressing party song.” Another Jeff Crosby-Micky collaboration,
“Thank My Mother’s God” pays beautiful tribute to moms and their devotion to their black sheep,
running wild.

Two album standouts stand tall: “Lions of Kandahar,” written by Gary alone, and the title track, which
Micky penned with master songwriter Bruce Robison. Over instrumentation that evokes the tense
hum of Middle Eastern military activity, “Lions of Kandahar” follows a deployment from a first-person
perspective. The result is jarring, compelling, and deeply human––a breathtaking piece of songwriting
that took five years to complete. Winsome “Long Time Comin’” is an ode to the satisfaction of
patience and perseverance rewarded in different forms––a stunning tapestry that also reflects the
road to the album itself.

Guitars and songs at the ready, Micky and Gary hope most of all that their sprawling cross-
continental fanbase connect with Long Time Comin’, a collection four years in the making. “If you can
put your heart on your sleeve and say it, it’s the best medicine for people,” Micky says, reflecting on
the album. “They can lock into it and enjoy the ride.”