MUSIC ROW MAGAZINE | by Lorie Hollabaugh
Hit songwriter/producer Ira Dean is releasing a new album I Got Roads in 2024 via 8 Track Entertainment. The project will be his first solo album since 2015.
Dean’s musical talent became widely recognized when he joined the dynamic country music trio Trick Pony in the late 1990s. Serving as the bassist and contributing vocalist for the group, Dean played a pivotal role in shaping Trick Pony’s signature sound, including co-writing some of their most successful songs such as “Pour Me,” “On a Mission” and “Just What I Do.” Following his Trick Pony era, Dean embarked on a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in 2015.
Dean has also established himself as a prolific songwriter, with songs recorded by artists such as Ronnie Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Joe Nichols, Chris Young, Trace Adkins, Colt Ford, Heidi Newfield, Jake Owen, Gary Allan and more. He has had seven songs cut by Montgomery Gentry, including their hit single “One In Every Crowd” and “I’ll Keep The Kids, and co-wrote Aaron Lewis’ hit “Am I The Only One.”
Featuring Vince Gill, Ronnie Dunn, Gretchen Wilson and more, Dean’s new album I Got Roads is tale of redemption, growth and finding happiness.
“This whole thing started when my friend Noah Gordon (Head of 8 Track) and I were talking and, he planted the seed and said, ‘Ya know what I’m thinkin? I think it’s time you made a record,'” recalls Dean to MusicRow. “I had just got done co-producing Aaron Lewis’ album Frayed At Both Ends and the single that I co-wrote ‘Am I The Only One’ had just debuted in Billboard at No. 1. I was writing with Ronnie Dunn later that afternoon and mentioned it to him and he said, ‘Well it’s time, you need to do it,’ so I went from writing for everyone else to buckling down and writing songs for me. We went down to Muscle Shoals to the world famous Fame Studio and cut the first six songs.”
The project includes Dunn, Allan, Jeffrey Steele, Uncle Kracker, David Lee Murphy and more, and was a labor of love for Dean.
“Making a record with all my friends and cats that I have always wanted to sing and play with, is a bonus. I’ve never had more fun or felt so blessed. The turnout and support of everyone making this record has been a real eye-opening and heart-warming experience. I really hope this record hits [listeners] as hard as it has hit me making it. I am an open book when it comes to my life so why stop that when writing songs? I hope they feel like they were on a train ride, like they boarded the train and don’t want to get off ‘til the last song ends.
“They will hear the crazy times, the wild times of the tempo songs I wrote about my party days,” he continues. “They will hear songs about me losing my mom, my dad and my musical friends along the way, and how I miss how it used to be. There’s even a love song I wrote for my fiancé that I recorded with Gretchen Wilson. This album is my life, the good the bad and the ugly, but hopefully they feel the hope and redemption that I’ve found by the last song.”
