We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dean Collins. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dean below.

Hi Dean, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My new album “Land Where The Wishes Come True”

Dean, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up on a farm in Kentucky and dreamed of flying and making music. As money was tight, I applied for a Navy scholarship, went to a great college and flew carrier missions for the Navy all over the world after graduation. I now fly as a commercial airline pilot for Delta Air Lines but I never gave up on music. I’ve been recording albums since 1987 and though the musicians have changed through the years, my goal was always constant; to share powerful and authentic stories wrapped in beautiful music. In 2016, my album was featured on all the inflight entertainment systems at Delta as I was flying as a Captain there. It was the first time both my passions had taken flight together. A chance meeting with one of my musical heroes, Kenny Aronoff led to a musical collaboration on my follow-up album and continues to this day. For our upcoming album, “Land Where The Wishes Come True” we decided to crank things up to eleven and make something really special. We assembled world class musicians, engineers and Grammy winners to make the album soar. James LoMenzo (bass), Michael Cleveland (fiddle), Justin Moses (dobro, banjo, mandolin), Smokin’ Brett Resnick (pedal steel), Ty Bailie (B3, piano), Jimmy Zavala (harmonica), Doug Pettibone (guitar) and Kenny Aronoff (drums and percussion) came together and made an album celebrating Country, Americana, Bluegrass and Laurel Canyon as well as the American Dream. Songs of love, loss, dreams, hope and redemption take the listener out of the cities and into the Heartland where they can hop in the truck and enjoy the musical journey.

Putting together such a daunting project during lockdown was no mean feat and I am beyond grateful that these musicians all agreed to help me tell these beautiful stories. As each musician said yes, I knew I had to step up my game and give them the very best songwriting and performances I could. They had taken a chance on me, an unknown pilot, and I didn’t want to let them down. I am both humbled and honored to have worked with such incredible talent and I am proud of what we created and can’t wait for more listeners to hear these songs. This is an album that will reward you from start to finish with songs that resonate, melodies that will haunt, and words that will touch your heart. There are no filler songs and hearing these Bluegrass instruments woven together into a new genre is as cathartic as it is novel. I hope you will seek these artists out in their other recordings and as the last notes ring out and the album ends, maybe a feeling of hopefulness and renewed faith in humanity and music will linger on.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When I was young, I remember reading the famous quote “Try to leave the world a little better than you found it.” I fell in love with music at a young age and the music I heard made my world a little better, so as I grew older and began playing and writing music, I thought maybe that would be a way for me to leave the world a little better. I recorded my first song in a recording studio in 1987 and did my first self-produced album soon after. With time, I came to realize that songs have an amazing way of connecting us to both our shared humanity and our own humanity. I have two passions in life, with one being music and the other, flying. But I realized that both passions were driven by the same desire to connect people. When flying, I connect families and friends, bring people to new jobs, new homes, vacations, schools, births, weddings, and funerals. And when I write songs, I try to bring people together by celebrating these universal experiences as I help them process these feelings of joy, love, loss and redemption. I attempt to write songs in such a way that my mission is never overt, but happens very organically and I make sure the music is strong enough to make you tap your feet while the words tap your heart. Things have become incredibly divisive in today’s world and all the news seems focused on the things that divide us. My mission on this creative musical journey, is to remind people that there is more that unites than divides us and that despite the drumbeat of bad news, there is still hope and there is still beauty in the human condition,

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Centuries ago, musicians such as Bach and Mozart had benefactors that made it possible for them to create and get their music heard while achieving financial security. We are in a strange musical era where artists create music only to have it practically given away on streaming sites and album sales are nearly non-existent. If an artist wishes to make money in this ecosystem, they must perform live and sell merchandise; often into old age.. Half of the digital music ever released has been released since 2020 and most remains unheard. It has never been easier to create music, but it has never been more difficult to get your music heard or make a living creating it. Now that consumers have tasted nearly free music, I don’t see a way to put that genie back in the bottle. As I society, I think we need to reflect on the importance of music and how much of an impact it has on us all. How is it that we spend more money on politicians and lobbying than we do on artists? How is the career of a classically trained musician less lucrative than a social media influencer? I believe that society and government must ensure that the artists and creatives are rewarded for their work fairly and that the middle-men who profit off the artists no longer receive a disproportionate share of compensation. And society must realize that if they continue to take musicians and creatives for granted, one day, the future Bachs, Mozarts and Beatles will give up before they have a chance to change the word.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://deanmcollins.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/deanmcollinsmusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/deanmcollinsmusic
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/dean_m_collins
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@deanmcollinsmusic
• Other: Thanks to my record label “Dr. Music Records” who wanted to add authentic American Country to their German roster but couldn’t find it in Nashville so they took a chance on me. www.dr-music-promotion.de

Image Credits
Elise Robertson, Jodi B. Wise, Jonathan Ray