Being closely related musically to Van, Morrison, Dave Matthews, Jonathan Butler, Amos Lee, Albert Collins & Dallas Green is a broad-minded person who is not afraid to cross musical genres. Dean draws heavily from his parents talents. His father being a piano, piano accordion, harmonica player & an articulate poet, & his mothers voice, “Having a voice of an angel” as Dean describes her. As a child, Dean was exposed to the music of the 1920’s onwards through his father’s record & reel to reel collections. He listened many artists of country, classical, jazz & folk music- he could also not help being exposed to Japanese music that his mother would sing around the house as well. Even before Dean was a musician he had a solid grounding for all types of music. Dean started singing at the age of four (to his parents surprise) & at 5 began to learn to play guitar & piano. At the age of 8 got his first guitar (a battered nylon string that was almost impossible to tune). At the age of 13 a guitar teacher (Steve Brown) became available-Dean’s career as a musician was born. The first point of guitar influence & introduction to blues music (one of the most prominent styles of Dean’s versatile guitar style) was B.B.Kings “Live In Cook County” Album (1971-Geffen). Practicing 10 hours a day, Dean Submerged himself in any music he could get his hands on.

Major music influences include: Mark Knofler, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tommy Emmanuel, Jonathan Butler (No not John Butler), Albert Collins, Johnny Winter, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Billy Joel, Les Paul, Charlie Christian, Miles Davis, George Benson, James Peterson, Goanna, Colin Haye, Skunkhour, Lightning Hopkins, Van Morrison, Metallica, Paca Delucia, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Michael Jackson, Paul Carrack, Stevie Wonder, Ani Defranco, Angelique Kidjo, Paul Brady, The Gypsy Kings, The Bondi Cigars etc etc. Modern day influences include Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Amos Lee, Michael Franti, Dougie Maclean, Scott Henderson, Katchafire, Andrea Bocelli, Dallas Green, Jazon Mraz etc etc.

In this present day, Dean hones the craft of both acoustic & electric guitars. Dean’s solo acoustic shows comprise of foot percussion, a variety of guitars (octave, delay, distortion, phaser & wah effects) vocals & harmonica. Dean’s band shows range from raw 3 piece to full band – Keys, backup vocals, horn sections, Cello & the list goes on.

Stylistically, Dean’s music is Roots Music (a melting pot of funky rhythms, jazzy influenced progressions, folk subtleties, country flavours & blues grit.) His music is contemporary, forever pushing the musical envelope, his stories are from his heart & mind with compassion for humanity.

Achievements:

• Acer Arena Sydney Performance for Commonwealth Bank | December 2009
• Recent Tour of USA (Seattle,San Francisco & Austin Tx) | May 2009
• Original song “In My House” shown on CHANNEL 9’s Battlefront Programme | 2008
• Finalist for Sony Bmg songwriting competition | 2008
• Bruthen Blues Festival | 2008
• Australia tour guitarist for UK blues artist: Kyla Brox | 2007
• Bridgetown Blues Festival | 2007
• Great Southern Blues & Rockabilly Festival | 2007
• Bay Of Islands Blues Festival | 2004
• Vic/Tas Blues Awards | 2002
• Frankston Guitar Festival | 2002
• Guitarist for Tania & Fiona Kernaghan Kernaghan | 1997
• Support for Ian Moss, Dutch Tilders, The Choir Boys, Steedy Eddy
• Met.Taj Mahal, Joe Lewis Walker, Tommy Emmanuel, Ian Moss, Troy Casser Daley, Cole Joye, Phil Manning
• AIRPLAY. ABC Radio National, PBS, RRR, 3CR, Texas Blues Café, Argentina, Chicago,Japan