Dan Dean of Phillips, Craig, and Dean Delivers 'More' with New Solo Release
Dan Dean image courtesy Turning Point Media
Five years ago, after stepping down from full time ministry as lead pastor at Heartland Church near Dallas, Dan Dean was excited about the possibilities – more time to spend with family, more travel, and more golf. But he quickly realized that you can only play so much golf.
As lead singer of the iconic multi-Dove Award winning trio, Phillips, Craig, and Dean, Dean was certainly able to fill some of that time with his band commitments but he quickly found himself searching for something new, a challenge if you will.
That new challenge was a solo album. Released earlier this summer, More features 11 songs, eight of which were written or co-written by Dean. Mixing several different musical genres including country, bluegrass, and adult contemporary, the album is hallmarked by collaborations with Emily Ann Roberts, The Isaacs, his son Devin Dean, and even his longtime bandmates Randy Phillips and Shawn Craig.
I recently sat down with Dean to discuss the symbolic nature of the album’s title, why he chose to infuse some new musical styles to his repertoire, and what God has taught him through this process.
You have been part of the highly successful vocal trio Phillips, Craig, and Dean for more than 30 years. As part of this group, you have sold more than 2.5 million records, you have a Gold Record for “Revelation Song”, as well as 4 Dove Awards. Why the decision to make a solo record now?
It's very simple. The answer is that all three of us were lead pastors for the back half of our career as Phillips, Craig, and Dean. The other two guys are still in those positions. Five years ago, I stepped down from that position. So, all of a sudden, I've got time on my hands that I didn't have before. The first few years I'm like, what am I going to do with myself now? So, I went to the other guys and said, here's what I'm thinking. Phillips, Craig, and Dean are always going to be my priority. If there's a date that comes up, whether it’s me doing solo work or with them, I'm always going to be with them. But they both said, ‘Hey, go for it, man. Do it.’ I would've never done anything contrary to that. And they didn't blink an eye. It was immediately an ‘Oh man, do it!’ And actually they're singing with me on a song on this album, the first track.
My sense is that you are not one to just sit on the back porch and sip sweet tea while the world slides past.
No, but I will say I've played more golf. That's kind of my hobby, and I've done a lot more of that for sure. But I like being on the road. I like traveling, I love ministering and singing to people. And hopefully this will open up more doors to do that.
"More" is such a simple title for a song and an album for that matter. Why did you choose to go with More for the album title and what is it symbolic of?
I think it's symbolic of being at this point in my life, that I feel like I've got more to say. I've got more songs to sing. I've got more songs to share and more of my life to share. This song talks about that from a perspective of God having more for a life than what people probably envisioned. He's always got more. Jesus came so that you might have a life and have it more abundantly. To be really honest, when I started thinking about this, one of my co-writers, someone we've written lots with, a guy named Dave Clark … he's written or co-written so many Philips, Craig, and Dean hits. You would be surprised to know how many but he is a major part of “But”, “Crucified with Christ”, “Mercy Came Running”, on and on and on it goes.
He was the one that pushed me and said, ‘You need to think about doing an album and just think about collaborating with other artists, maybe people you've always wanted to sing with and hadn't had the opportunity to do so.’ And so, he pushed me in that direction. I started out the project thinking I was going to have a duet on every song I did, but it didn't turn out that way. But I did start the project thinking, who would I really want to have to be a part of this thing? And it kind of went from there. And so there's a lot of duets on here. I really love the flavor of it. By the way, I went more to my roots, which is a little more country. Some of these songs have steel guitar, mandolin, banjo and a lot of heavy guitar. So, it's more country than what a Phillips, Craig and Dean album sounds like.
Speaking of Randy and Shawn, you open the album with them on a song called “Traveling Light”. What can you tell me about that song and how it came to be?
Well, if you know a lot about making an album, there's always a shortage of uptempo tunes. So I was really digging for something really catchy. And this is one of those. There are 11 songs on the album and there's three that I didn't have a part in writing. This is one of them. Jimmy Yeary and Tony Woods wrote this tune and Tony shared it with me., I fell in love with it and its message.
Speaking of collaboration, your son Devin Dean has contributed to this album with a song he wrote called “Home”. Also, he not only wrote the song but he sings on it with you as well. What was the experience of working with Devin on this song like?
I tell you what, it was a great experience. Devin actually wrote the song for his wife. He is a great musician and a very talented singer. He's the worship leader at the church I attend, which is the church I spent years being the pastor of. I get to go now, and my son's a minister to me. Devin is so talented. He loves being home. Like I told you earlier, I love to travel and I love being on the road. I love ministry, but Devon is a homebody. And he started thinking about that. He had a band when he was 18 or 19, and I think he finally figured out the road is not for me. That's what this song's kind of about. I love the tune. It has kind of a Ben Rector feel to it. It's very acoustic. And he sings lead on the second verse and sings harmony with me for the rest of it. It was a great experience to be in the studio with him sharing that moment together.
Through the process of writing and recording More as your first solo record, has God been teaching or showing you anything new that you can share about?
The singing of the songs is relatively new. It has been fun to sing these songs. And I think what I have realized is that there's a lot of people out there in very desperate situations and they need hope. The world is crazy right now, as you well know. There's a lot of fear and confusion going on, and people need hope in their lives. There's another song on here called, "This Is Where Amazing Happens”. I'd written it some years back and TaRanda Greene actually recorded it. But as I have sung this song around the country, I've had so many people come up and go, ‘Man, that's where I'm living right now.’ There is a lot of hopelessness, and a lot of people feel trapped. A lot of people, even with the climate in our country and in the world, I feel like the Lord wants to tell us, ‘I got it all. Nothing catches me by surprise. Nothing caught me off guard this morning. I'm up to date with everything.’ And He's got it.
To that point, you have been in the music industry long enough to know that certain songs that you write, sing, and perform, find people who absolutely needed to hear its message at a low point in their lives. I have to believe that songs like “Revelation Song” is one of those as well as many others. Do you have any stories of how one of your songs impacted someone deeply in their faith?
The thing that comes to mind is a song that was on our second album. It was a song that I wrote for my boys, called "Want to Be Just Like You”. He wants to be just like you because he wants to be like me. That song has recently been rerecorded by a couple different groups, including a young lady who did it in Spanish. It’s really a beautiful version. And I've watched that thing on her social media feed as it's climbed to over 200,000 views. And I'm like, “Wow!” But the story that has probably most impacted me regarding that particular song was a young couple that reached out to tell me that they played that song at the dedication of their little boy.
And they sent me an email to say, ‘Hey, just wanted to share a little piece of this.’ And then six months later, the baby died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). They sent me another email saying, ‘We don't totally understand, but we had this song played again at our baby's funeral.’ So both the dedication and the funeral, this song was sung and was very moving. As a songwriter, at least one of my goals, and I've written quite a few songs, but you want to write one that lives longer than you do. And hopefully I'll see that happen. This song might be that one.
After people have had a chance to listen to More, would you like your listeners to take away from that experience? What is your greatest hope for the album?
My hope is they will be encouraged, filled with renewed hope that God has got things together and they will find something they want to share with somebody else. The last song on the album is a song that I didn't write. I fell in love with it. In fact, Phillips, Craig and Dean almost recorded it. We actually went into the studio and laid down a track for the song. And for some reason it never did make the album. It's a song called “In the Room”. It is a great lyric regarding how overwhelmed you feel and sometimes that God uses you in a concert or at church to see lives changed. And I would say that's kind of what I hope for this project. That God will somehow let people be blessed and that I can just simply play my part in that. That would be great.
WATCH DAN DEAN PERFORM "MORE":
