Dean M. Collins - Land Where the Wishes Come True (2020) [Hi-Res]

The list of musicians who perform on Collins’ latest album is like a Who’s Who in the music world. In all there are over 60 Grammys between them (either Grammys they have won or their recordings have received, including Kenny Aronoff, James LoMenzo, Jimmy Zavala, Smokin’ Brett Resnick and Michael Cleveland. He met Cleveland around 2001 in Bardstown.

“I was downtown at the courtyard, and I heard this fiddle playing,” Collins said. “And I look up and there’s this kid with a fiddle. He’s probably 19, 20 at the time. And I was blown away. It was Michael Cleveland. And I just stood there mesmerized. So that was another kind of musical Bardstown connection.”

Recording an album during the pandemic also proved challenging, Collins said.

“The latest album and covid did have an impact. Oh, heck, yeah, it had an impact,” he said. “We were supposed to go in the studio in March, I had vacation with the company, everything was all set up, and then we had lock down. So we had to push it a month. And so I had to basically do all the demos in my little studio in my garage.” He even tested positive for the coronavirus but has since recovered.

A lot of the album was done remotely by sending tracks to various musicians and having them add their part to it. Collins was able to work with Aronoff in the drummer’s North Hollywood studio. He was introduced to Aronoff at a party and they bonded over their love of Kentucky bourbon, and have remained friends. Through that friendship Collins has met Billy Gibbons, Stephen Stills and Peter Frampton.

“And that’s how we had to do it,” Collins said. “So we had people in Nashville, we have people in Louisville, people in Chicago, you know, all over the country that were doing their part. So we had to build a really strong foundation with the, you know, the rhythm section with Kenny and (bassist) James (LoMenzo), and then we built it from there.”

To find out more, visit deanmcollins.com.

Tracklist:
1 01. Dean M. Collins - Land Where the Wishes Come True (04:34)
1 02. Dean M. Collins - I Don't Think She Knows (04:01)
1 03. Dean M. Collins - It Could Have Been Me (03:15)
1 04. Dean M. Collins - Here and Now (03:47)
1 05. Dean M. Collins - Nothing Lasts Forever (03:24)
1 06. Dean M. Collins - That's All (03:48)
1 07. Dean M. Collins - Let It Go (03:38)
1 08. Dean M. Collins - Time When We Were Close (03:58)
1 09. Dean M. Collins - Still Gone (03:58)
1 10. Dean M. Collins - Athanasia (04:32)
1 11. Dean M. Collins - Coming Home (05:20)
1 12. Dean M. Collins - Small Words (02:28)
1 13. Dean M. Collins - Sorry (Closeout 602) 2020 (05:12)
1 14. Dean M. Collins - Land Where the Wishes Come True (Radio Mix) (04:33)
1 15. Dean M. Collins - I Don't Think She Knows (Radio Mix) (04:00)