{"id":914077,"date":"2026-06-19T18:17:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T23:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/when-the-house-burned-down-i-started-watching-peoples-hands-on-youtube-and-learned-how-to-play-songs-to-kill-time-i-didnt-have-much-else-to-do-jackson-dean-on-playing-i\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T18:17:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T23:17:38","slug":"when-the-house-burned-down-i-started-watching-peoples-hands-on-youtube-and-learned-how-to-play-songs-to-kill-time-i-didnt-have-much-else-to-do-jackson-dean-on-playing-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/when-the-house-burned-down-i-started-watching-peoples-hands-on-youtube-and-learned-how-to-play-songs-to-kill-time-i-didnt-have-much-else-to-do-jackson-dean-on-playing-i\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen the house burned down, I started watching people’s hands on YouTube and learned how to play songs to kill time \u2013 I didn’t have much else to do\u201d: Jackson Dean on playing in Nashville alongside some of the best"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All it takes is a visit to Robert\u2019s Western World or any number of off-Broadway dives to realize Nashville is full of hot-shot guitarists. But perhaps what\u2019s less known is that some of country music<\/a>\u2019s biggest voices can also pick a tune.<\/p>\n

Jackson Dean is one of those whose voice and songwriting overshadow his six-string skills, going back to his teenage years, when his family lost their home to a fire and Dean dove into the instrument.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother played a little bit of guitar, and my uncle played a little bit, and then I started showing interest,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen the house burned down, I started watching people’s hands on YouTube and learned how to play songs to kill time \u2013 I didn’t have much else to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

One night his dad overheard him playing and singing, and took him to an open-mic night at the Maryland train-station-turned-pub his great-grandfather helped build. \u201cThey have blues<\/a> jams up there. It was a great time \u2013 but it was kind of birthed through fire!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean brings the heat to the R&B-influenced country music on his third album, Magnolia Sage<\/em>, spinning riffs that would be at home on an Alabama Shakes record into backroads gold.<\/p>\n

And when he\u2019s not playing his Takamine J3D acoustic guitars<\/a>, he\u2019s burning artwork into the very same flat tops \u2013 a continuation of the love for woodwork he developed as a kid when he turned saplings into bows and arrows.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s glorified cave art,\u201d he says, modestly underselling his penchant for decorating the guitars he plays onstage and gifts to fans and friends like Lainey Wilson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

You first captured attention when a video of you playing <\/strong>The Star-Spangled Banner<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 performed in full pads before a high school football game \u2013 went viral. What led to that interpretation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My athletic director asked me if I wanted to sing it and I was like, \u201cSure, but I\u2019d prefer to have a guitar in my hands.\u201d With that song, if you start wrong, you\u2019re gonna end very wrong. You can get out of your range pretty quick.<\/p>\n

That version of it is just three chords \u2013 it\u2019s E minor, C, and G. Some people had some feelings about it and some people didn\u2019t, you know? But it was a huge step. I remember getting written up in the Capital Gazette<\/em> [in Annapolis, Maryland] and I was like, \u201cThis is it!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jackson Dean National Anthem – YouTube<\/span>
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And then about two weeks later, we were in Washington D.C., New York City, and LA, all within a week of each other, all on TV. It was crazy.<\/p>\n

Had you played much before surviving the house fire?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. My family always had a guitar around, but neither of my parents are musically inclined, although they are fans of music. We have a very big palate \u2013 top 40, classic rock, bluegrass, all that stuff.<\/p>\n

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A rubber bridge sounds like a bass. It\u2019s so smooth, but it\u2019ll rattle the change in your truck door<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

And then when I got started on my own stuff it was a lot of Zeppelin, Chris Cornell<\/a>, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The way they layer their guitars together is just awesome. And I remember really loving Kip Moore, Drake White, Randy Houser, and Lee Brice.<\/p>\n

Some of your songs, like 2022\u2019s <\/strong>Greenbroke<\/strong><\/em>, are played in <\/strong>alternate tunings<\/strong><\/a>. What are your favorites?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make a Liar<\/em> [on Magnolia Sage<\/em>] and Greenbroke<\/em> were written out of open drop C tuning. It\u2019s like playing a D chord without pressing anything, then the E string is tuned to the B string. You can go major or minor with it. Lee plays in a bunch of open tunings; Randy plays in a bunch of open tunings.<\/p>\n

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Did you do it for the sonic qualities or was it more out of convenience of not having to move your fingers as much?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My extremities have been broken quite a few times, so they physically can\u2019t! I look at my guitar player all the time, like, \u201cDude, if I could move my fingers that fast, do you know what I could do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Most guitars, if you throw it in that tuning, it\u2019s going to jangle and rumble. And because I\u2019m a loud singer, I need something loud. I can\u2019t sing the way I do and flatpick, you know?<\/p>\n

The Taks are so well balanced that being dynamic on them isn\u2019t an issue, and with the show, everything we do is so dynamic. But convenience is definitely a driving factor behind using that to write songs all the time.<\/p>\n

Why did you use a <\/strong>rubber bridge<\/strong><\/a> on <\/strong>Hey, Mississippi<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rubber bridge phenomenon is that it kind of sounds like a bass<\/a>. It can be made to rumble and still have the articulation. I think it\u2019s really cool to write on \u2013 it\u2019s like playing on a nylon or a gut string. It takes your tone somewhere else. It\u2019s so smooth, but it\u2019ll rattle the change in your truck door.<\/p>\n

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Jackson Dean – Make A Liar – YouTube<\/span>
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I hear some Muscle Shoals R&B in the guitar playing and groove of that song \u2013 and on <\/strong>Make A Liar<\/strong><\/em> and <\/strong>Be Your Man<\/strong><\/em>, too. How embedded is that in your DNA?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s an element of soul in the DNA of all country music. Just look at what Chris Stapleton\u2019s doing right now \u2013 he’s doing the Bill Withers thing, and it’s awesome. Like, it\u2019s moving, it\u2019s grooving.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve toured with Brothers Osborne, and of course, John Osborne is a great guitar player. Did you pick up anything from him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s really hard to fingerpick when you write parts that you can\u2019t play and sing at the same time!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

They grew up, like, 35 minutes away from us. We\u2019ve done quite a few shows with them, and watching John play is one of the coolest things. I don\u2019t know how he plays mandolin \u2013 his fingers are huge, man!<\/p>\n

When people ask, \u201cWhat do you learn out there?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYou learn how to execute moves, like watching Blake Shelton work a mic, watching Lainey Wilson do all of the icon shit, how to carry yourself as a professional. It\u2019s all done through observation. You also learn you\u2019re not ever gonna be as good as John Osborne!<\/p>\n

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To flip that around to the studio, are session players like Tom Bukovac or Brandon Aksteter \u2013 who plays in your band \u2013 inspiring what you do on guitar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where I sit in the sonic landscape of what we\u2019re doing, every day out there on the road or in the studio, I\u2019m a shaker, pretty much. I\u2019m starting a lot of these songs and setting the pace, setting the tone. It\u2019s a texture you can feel, and it\u2019s noticed when I\u2019m not playing. And it\u2019s so fun because I\u2019m a real rhythm guitar player.<\/p>\n

I can fingerpick and everything \u2013 on [2024\u2019s] Heavens to Betsy,<\/em> the whole front half is all fingerpicking. I love that I didn\u2019t play with a pick for the first four years of playing guitar. But it\u2019s really hard to do that when you write parts that you can\u2019t play and sing at the same time!<\/p>\n

I love the song stripped down and done in that fashion. But for the full band, being engulfed and surrounded by it, it\u2019s just the best.<\/p>\n