Wesley Dean

Relocating from Australia to Nashville in early 2021, Wesley Dean, previously known downunder as Wes Carr, felt his arrival in the country/Americana roots rock scene required a new signature to herald the maturation of his musical identity. So, his middle name Dean quickly became the new trademark stamping success over his first, and critically acclaimed, American produced (but sixth in total) studio album ‘Unknown’, which was considered for a Best Americana Album Grammy nomination. Since arriving in the US he has also supported Jimmy Messina on his North East American tour, Travis Tritt at Ralston Arena in Omaha, and headlined sold out shows at the Bluebird Cafe, Electric Jane and The Rockwood Music Hall.

Under his previous moniker, Wes Carr, he was a celebrated Australian Idol winner in 2008 with a platinum selling Aria number 1 single, ‘You’, and a gold selling album, ‘The Way The World Looks’. He’s played with Australian icons including Jimmy Barnes and Ian Moss from Cold Chisel, Andrew Farris from INXS, and Ben Gillies from Silverchair. ‘Feels like Woah’, his smash hit single in 2010, became the most played song on Australian radio, the Australian Rugby League theme song, and CBS also used it as their promotional song in America.

During previous trips to the US he wrote with CJ Vanston (musical director for Joe Cocker), Mac Davis (who wrote “In the ghetto” for Elvis), Jeff Baxter (Skunk from Steely Dan), Tommy Henriksen (from Hollywood Vampires and bassist/songwriter for Alice Cooper), the Doobie Brothers, and wrote the song ‘Stranded’ for the ‘Teen Wolf’ TV show advertising campaign. He has written music for two feature films, Christopher Guest’s ‘For Your Consideration’, and Matthew Newton’s ‘3 Blind Mice’, won the Best Male Artist award at the International Acoustic Music Awards, and won second place overall in the International Songwriting Competition with his song ‘Lost’, which he co-wrote with Don Walker from Cold Chisel. Cold Chisel released ‘Lost’ as the first lead single off their album ‘No Plans’, and Wesley was a special guest at their sold out Sydney Entertainment Centre concert. He also workshopped a musical about Little River Band with Simon Phillips and Graeham Goble from Little River Band, and established successful side projects such as ‘Tambalane’ with Ben Gillies and his solo project ‘Buffalo Tales’.

Although Wesley has toured Australia countless times in various capacities since embarking on his professional music career at the age of fourteen, including opening for The Script and his sold out one man show ‘Here Comes the Sun’ which was written about the late George Harrison, his sights are firmly set on the American stage. Earlier this year he embarked on his most recent tour, ‘Crazy Hearts Across America’, where he travelled with his family in an RV visiting towns steeped in musical history, from Memphis to New Orleans, Lubbock to Amarillo, and Las Vegas to LA, building his audience town by town, fan by fan, playing shows along the well worn paths of the country music outlaws before him. Along for the ride on the 55 day road trip was a director and cinematographer who captured music video footage for his upcoming complimentary album, ‘Music From Crazy Hearts’, which was recorded at Nashville’s iconic RCA Studio A and is slated for release in the Spring of next year, and his music documentary, ‘Crazy Hearts Across America’, due to be released in early 2025, which will mark the crescendo of his Crazy Hearts campaign.