Jackson Dean - Interview in Zurich, Switzerland

We had the incredible opportunity to see Jackson Dean live at Plaza in Zurich on April 15th 2025—just after his return from Zermatt, where he performed at Zermatt Unplugged with the breathtaking Matterhorn as his backdrop. Country Live Switzerland was lucky enough to meet him and sit down for an interview before his Zurich show. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous since it was my very first interview. But Jackson was incredibly kind and made the whole experience feel easy and natural. Enjoy!

Country Live Switzerland (CLS): Mr. Jackson Dean or Jackson?
Jackson Dean: Just call me Jack.
CLS: oh. I like that. Okay, so the quick fire questions for you. Boots or Sneakers?
Jackson: Boots.
CLS: Whiskey neat or beer in a bottle?
Jack: Whiskey neat.
CLS: What's your pre- show ritual?
Jack: We have a drink, sing some harmony and start bouncing around a little bit. Just getting ready, yeah.
CLS: If you weren't a musician, what would you be?
Jack: I would probably be up in some mountains somewhere, Jeremiah Johnson-ing it, just off the grid somewhere, probably. Yeah, I don't have an option other than this. It's this or exile for me.
CLS: What's always in your tour bus? Like your must-have?
Jack: Must-have… used to be ginger beer and vodka and limes. Now it's gin—I had a London Mule the other day in Zermatt, I was floored. So now it’s gonna be gin, but I’ll say limes.
CLS: Before or after the show?
Jack: Before and after.
CLS: One thing that fans don't know about you, but they should?
Jack: I did two years of theater, eight shows across a couple of weeks most people don't know that. It was a very funny time. I only did it the second time because I told them the only way I'm coming back and doing this again is if we do Grease and I was Danny Zuko.
CLS: Is that your favorite movie?
Jack: My mom’s favorite movie. She saw it like ten times when it first came out in theaters with her friends when she was younger. But yeah, that movie’s been big in my memory.
CLS: Awesome. It’s also my favorite movie. So, I get that. The first concert you've ever been to? Do you remember?
Jack: I do. I grew up going to blues jams a lot when I was a kid. I don't really consider those like shows.
The first show show was Whiskey Meyers. They headlined, and a little rock band called Goodbye June opened. And now I’ve sold that club out twice. The same place.
CLS: Oh, congrats. How do you feel about that?
Jack: Wonderful. It's an awesome… awesome club. Double Decker, it's really awesome. It's about a 2’000 cap room. Yeah, it's awesome.
CLS: Probably something you will never forget?!

CLS: What's the one song you have always on repeat?
Jack: On repeat? Well, you're constantly listening to what you're working on. It's constant revision, you know? we listen back to our sets all the time, very meticulously. That's how we get better. You know?
But I'll say, I've been listening to my song Train a lot. We’ve been doing it a couple of different ways now. And it's been a real staple the last few months. And it just, there's something about it that people seem to really like. And I mean, I fell in love with it the first time it came out of my mouth, you know?
CLS: It's a good song.
Jack: Thank you.
CLS: Your dream venue to headline?
Jack: I've played a few of my bucket lists already. Royal Albert Hall, Ryman Auditorium, but to headline...
CLS: Red Rocks, maybe?
Jack: Headline Red Rocks would probably be the best. Yeah, that's pretty gnarly.
CLS: If I were a musician, that’d be my place to headline. But that will never happen. Okay, so I guess—your favorite city you’ve played in so far… I mean, Zermatt was pretty awesome, wasn’t it?
Jack: It's gonna be really hard to beat Zermatt. That was pretty magical. It exceeded my expectations by 1000%. Just to play a set and just be like “oh, there's the Matterhorn, right there?!”
CLS: Yeah, and you had nice weather, so.
Jack: It was beautiful. We really lucked out. It was awesome. We've been over here for about a week and we have had incredible, incredible weather.
CLS: I think this question is quite interesting. If someone hears your music for the first time, what's the one song you would want them to listen to?
Jack: Probably “Wings (Live at the Ryman)”. That song is pretty on par for what we do. That take of it is somewhere around six minutes or so. It's a four minute song on record. But the composition and evolution of that song is pretty much what we're trying to do here when it comes to playing live and stuff. Spontaneity and evolution of that and just making it bigger and bigger. So I'll say Wings' Live at the Ryman.
CLS: And do you prefer being in the studio, writing songs and producing, or being on stage performing?
Jack: Being on stage, 100%! There's nothing on this planet like being surrounded by that much noise underneath of those lights and also being the thing that is producing that noise. Singing as hard as I do, it’s a very physical reaction my body gets, combined with the adrenaline of that many eyeballs looking at me. And also my feet shaking because of the subs. I don't wanna say it's addicting but it is very, very intoxicating feeling.
CLS: Have you noticed a difference from the audience back home and in Europe?
Jack: So, audiences back home—they get it all the time. They get so much music; it’s everywhere. Especially bar bands everywhere.
In America, you turn heads. I start screaming at people, and usually they’re like, “Oh God, he’s singing!”
But here, people are so tentative and respectful—and very passionate about it. And we love it so much. Even from the last time we came over, we fell in love with the crowds over here on this side of the sea. We just… we loved it. It was really good vibes.
CLS: We are quieter and we respect the artists a lot. So if we don't clap or anything, please don't think that we are not enjoying it.
Jack: Okay, okay. Yeah, I'm gonna try to get it rowdy in there tonight for y'all and get y'all going.
CLS: Awesome. I don't doubt about that. So about your new track, “Be Your Man”. Are you gonna play it tonight?
Jack: No, not tonight. Our set tonight is pretty action-packed. We have some tricks up our sleeve. I did get the boys working on it already, so we're gonna start playing it very soon. But this track is very fun. It's designed to make your feet move. It is a really, really grooving tune. It's very vibey, and it's just a really fun tune.
CLS: Okay, well, I'm very curious. Is it a new era?
Jack: Yeah. It is definitely new territory for us in terms of my discography. The first two records and the live record is pretty heavy, you know? And the first two that I did back in Baltimore and whatnot were pretty much singer-songwriter records. But this is an entirely different, entirely different territory. We don't have anything like this and the rest of the songs that are coming behind this one… follow in suit.
CLS: So is this new single gonna be the start of a new album this year?
Jack: Absolutely. I haven't put it together conceptually in my head just yet, but it is coming artistically-wise. We have some good songs that are cut, and I'm very excited about it.
CLS: Yeah, you seem very happy about it. Then the last question about this song is, did you write this song because you want to tell someone exactly how you feel about them? Or have you already?
Jack: I have a woman, her name is Shannon. She and I have been homesteading for a couple of years now in Tennessee. And, you know, when you're in the room, everybody's using their own personal experiences to spit out lines and be like, let's get this song done.
To answer your question, I guess so, yeah. But I don't know any woman that wouldn't want to hear this coming from a man. You know what I mean? It ain't just for me, you know, it's for everybody.
CLS: So I can show the song to someone if I don't feel like saying it to them personally?
Jack: Absolutely. Okay. Yeah, you just send them! Read between the lines, okay?
CLS: Thank you for that!!
And I just wanted to say, I love your last album. “Real Real” and “Heavens to Betsy”. And your older things too, but the last album is really, really good.
Jack: Thank you, thank We tried.
CLS: No, I'm not just saying that because I'm sitting in front of you, but it's a really good album. I'm excited to see you play tonight and thank you so much for taking your time.
Jack: Absolutely, thank you for the time.

“Singing as hard as I do, it’s a very physical reaction my body gets, combined with the adrenaline of that many eyeballs looking at me.”

Jackson Dean

Also make sure to check out my friends interview over at LOADS OF MUSIC !