Dean Brody Dirt Road Stories

Dean Brody is currently out on his acoustic Dirt Road Stories Tour, finding it’s way into beautiful intimate theatres across the country. For his Ontario leg of the tour Dean invited out Andrew Hyatt to join him as opener on this very special tour. This was definitely an excellent choice!

The very first time I saw Andrew Hyatt was playing an acoustic set. I have since seen him numerous times rocking it hard with his band in his high energy sets we have come to know and love. However it was so great to see him again for an acoustic set. Everyone was glued to the stage soaking every single note in and also laughing at his witty side between songs. Andrew sharing “I am used to hiding behind my band and I wasn’t sure about this when Dean called.” Well Andrew I love seeing you rock with your band, but there is no need to hide, it was great to hear your incredible voice shine!
Sharing a story of this past winter of feeling lonely in his hometown Sudbury, he wrote the song Small Town Beautiful and truly what a beautiful song it is. It was great to hear the stories behind his songs. Including ones about his church and former girlfriend, almost fiancée. He played for us Heaven Guessing and Ain’t You and seriously the lyrics to both these songs are like poetry. Andrew has proved on his latest album Cain that he is not only a very talented artist but also an incredibly talented song writer. This can also be said for the last song he closed out with, My Kind Of Crazy. Preceding the song Andrew talked about the lyrics and this one line where he found the sexiest way to tell someone’s sexy. “She’s liquid fire, devil red smoke, a struck match dancing on gasoline”. All I can say is hot Damn, someone really has a way with words!

Dean Brody had decided to do things a little differently this time around on tour. He wanted to bring it back to playing shows like when he first began. This truly is a very special tour, it is all striped down and a great chance for fans to really get to know Dean and his songs. It really was more like a show than just a set and I truly enjoyed every minute of it! Dean took the stage solo just him and his guitar. It was great to hear his stories and thoughts behind his songs. He got things going with both his ode’s to the ladies, Country girls and 8th day. He then shared the story of his very first song he ever recorded called Step In It. Just playing the course, admitting he wasn’t too proud of this one. Well Dean I’m glad you never gave up because you’ve definitely delivered some incredible hits since!

He said he thought about going out on the road just himself and thought that’d be pretty lonely. He talked about his band nicknamed the brodeo saying, they have too much fun together and wouldn’t be the same without them.

The Brodeo Jason Barry, Shane Guse, and Scott Galloway joined him on stage to which they transformed into a lodge. They then welcomed the crowd to The Lodge, also introducing us to Billy The Bear. This really adding a fun component to the show and the crowd bought in as laughter rang through the theatre. Dean and the guys are really a great group of guys and good friends who have a lot of fun together. You really saw this side during their show. They played many of their hits and had a ton of fun doing it!

Credit is also due to the guys who are very talented musicians. Playing multiple instruments, in a setting like this it was such a great way to see them shine and pick up on each note played.

Dean shared many stories, including where he was from and even about collecting bottles with his sister and brother. He also talked about school pictures, which led into the song Time. Giving me goose bumps and as you looked around there weren’t too many dry eyes in the room.

Changing tune, he played one of my favourites Shannon. I have to say Shane’s intro into the song on fiddle stole my heart and was just incredible!

His next song was extra special as it was Remembrance Day. Dean taking a moment to honour our men and women who have fought for our country and for our freedom. Playing Brother it was a beautiful tribute on this special day.

Dean capped off the night just as upbeat as it began with Friday and Bring Down The House. He was correct with saying that the crowd was a rowdy bunch for a Sunday night as everybody finished the night with Dean and the guys on their feet dancing and singing along!

Thank you to both Andrew and Dean for treating us to such a remarkable night and for sharing your music and stories. I would definitely be up for a Dirt Road Stories round two!