\u201cHank on the Radio.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\nDean, who owns Edgmon Trucking along Central Avenue in Kent, has juggled running a trucking business with singing in local bars for nearly 30 years. He never really pursued his longtime dream to become a country singing star as he focused on work and raising two children. But he kept on singing.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people ask me why I didn\u2019t quit or give up and I always say that dreams come true,\u201d Dean said during an interview at his home. \u201cBut when I signed that contract I thought I was still dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the Radio,\u201d which features 10 songs of traditional and modern country music, has been released to thousands of radio stations around the world and is available at itunes, Napster and other music Web sites.<\/p>\n
Dave Moody, president of Lamon Records and member of The Moody Brothers band that received a 1985 Grammy Award nomination for the fiddle tune \u201cCotton Eyed Joe,\u201d described Dean\u2019s style in a record company media release.<\/p>\n
\u201cBobby has a unique style voice, very traditional sounding, yet he makes it his own,\u201d Moody said. \u201cNone of that vocal-tuning trickery was used to make his album. What you hear is what he sounds like, which is refreshing today in a musical world where you can\u2019t tell what\u2019s real from fantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean had the walls of an extra room at his house painted a few months ago with the scenes of a saloon and Western town because he figured he would spend plenty of time singing at home.<\/p>\n
But now he finds himself jetting off to Nashville to record songs or perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife (Kim) asked if we would have to move to Nashville,\u201d said Dean, who met his wife of 35 years when they were students at Evergreen High School in Seattle. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to move to Nashville, but we have to be ready to go if (Lamon Records) calls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moody hasn\u2019t set up a tour yet for Dean. He will perform at the CMA Music Fest June 9-12 in Nashville as well as the Country on the Beach concert Nov. 17-20 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a fundraiser for the T.J. Martell Foundation to fight cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe record label is working on that,\u201d Dean said about a national tour. \u201cThey said they want to let the \u201cHank on the Radio\u201d single take off and then look at a tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean has competed the last couple of years at the Talent Quest national karaoke contest in Laughlin, Nev., as well as the Talent Search at Loretta Lynn\u2019s ranch outside of Nashville. Dean also has been an unscheduled regular for about 15 years at the Golden Steer lounge on the East Hill in Kent.<\/p>\n
But it was during a performance last spring at the Skagit Valley Casino in Bow that Dean received his break. He met Brenda Nitzke, a Silverdale resident, after a performance. Nitzke has connections in Nashville through charitable organizations. Nitzke told Dean he needed to get to Nashville so everyone could know about him and his singing ability.<\/p>\n
Nitzke connected Dean with songwriter David James, who wrote \u201cHank on the Radio.\u201d Before Dean knew it, Lamon Records had signed him and he was off to Nashville to record the album as well as a video for \u201cHank on the Radio,\u201d which can be found at youtube.com.<\/p>\n
Dean is expected to get plenty more exposure when Country Weekly magazine releases a story about him later this month.<\/p>\n
Not bad for a man who moved around a lot as a military brat before settling in the Seattle area during his high school years. He grew up listening to Elivs Presley, and considers George Jones, Conway Twitty and Alan Jackson his primary country-music influences.<\/p>\n
When people hear Dean in other parts of the country and find out he\u2019s from Seattle, they don\u2019t understand how a city known for rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, and the birthplace of grunge, could produce a country singer. But even being from Seattle, Dean has always liked to sing country. Besides, he sets them straight on which city he is really from.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell them I\u2019m not from Seattle; I\u2019m from Kent,\u201d Dean said.<\/p>\n
Now Dean hopes he can put Kent on the country music map with his new CD.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping one of the songs on the CD takes off and becomes a No. 1 hit,\u201d Dean said. \u201cThe record label has said there could be six hits. But it\u2019s up to the public what they like.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Give it a listen:<\/p>\n
Hear Bobby Dean\u2019s hit \u201cHank on the Radio,\u201d by going to: http:\/\/pnw.cc\/4ue<\/p>\n
To learn more about the local recording artist, visit: www.myspace.com\/bobbydean09.<\/p>\n
To learn more about the CMA Music Fest (including tickets) go to: www.cmafest.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Bobby Dean stands in front of a cowboy mural in the entertainment room at his Kent home, he can\u2019t help but marvel about the sudden rise of his country music singing career.
\nDean, 53, signed a two-year contract in June with Lamon Records of Nashville. Lamon released Dean\u2019s first CD \u201cOn the Radio\u201d Jan. 4, including the single \u201cHank on the Radio.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":10830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10829"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}