about

Relocating from Australia to Nashville in early 2021, Wesley Dean, previously known downunder as Wes Carr, felt his arrival in the country/Americana roots rock scene required a new signature to herald the maturation of his musical identity. So, his middle name Dean quickly became the new trademark stamping success over his first, and critically acclaimed, American produced (but sixth in total) studio album ‘Unknown’. Since arriving in the US he has also supported Jimmy Messina on his North East American tour, Travis Tritt at Ralston Arena in Omaha, headlined sold out shows at the Bluebird Cafe, Basement, Electric Jane and The Rockwood Music Hall, and performed at the prestigious Nashville Ballet Ball in collaboration with the Nashville Ballet.

Under his previous moniker, Wes Carr, he was a celebrated platinum selling single and gold selling album artist with an Aria number 1 single. He’s played with Australian icons including Jimmy Barnes and Ian Moss from Cold Chisel, Andrew Farris from INXS, and Ben Gillies from Silverchair. ‘Feels like Woah’, his smash hit single in 2010, became the most played song on Australian radio, the Australian Rugby League theme song, and CBS also used it as their promotional song in America.

During previous trips to the US he wrote with CJ Vanston, Mac Davis, Jeff Baxter, Tommy Henriksen, the Doobie Brothers, and wrote the song ‘Stranded’ for the ‘Teen Wolf’ TV show advertising campaign. He has written music for two feature films, Christopher Guest’s ‘For Your Consideration’, and Matthew Newton’s ‘3 Blind Mice’, won the Best Male Artist award at the International Acoustic Music Awards, and won second place overall in the International Songwriting Competition with his song ‘Lost’, which he co-wrote with Don Walker from Cold Chisel. Cold Chisel released ‘Lost’ as the first lead single off their album ‘No Plans’, and Wesley was a special guest at their sold out Sydney Entertainment Centre concert. He also workshopped a musical about Little River Band with Simon Phillips and Graeham Goble from Little River Band, and established successful side projects such as ‘Tambalane’ with Ben Gillies and his solo project ‘Buffalo Tales’.

Although Wesley has toured Australia countless times in various capacities since embarking on his professional music career at the age of fourteen, including opening for The Script and his sold out one man show ‘Here Comes the Sun’ which was written about the late George Harrison, his sights are firmly set on the American stage. Earlier last year he embarked on his most recent tour, ‘Crazy Hearts Across America’, where he and his family drove over 5000 miles from Nashville to Los Angeles in an RV via towns steeped in musical history playing shows off the beaten track, from Memphis to New Orleans, Luckenbach, Marfa, Amarillo, Las Vegas, and more. With a director and cameraperson in tow, the tour was recorded as part of his upcoming feature 'Crazy Hearts: The Documentary', premiering early 2025, where the ten tracks from his most recent album 'Music From Crazy Hearts', recorded at Nashville’s prestigious RCA Studio A and releasing April 26th, complement the soundscape to Dean’s personal story of breaking the industry mould to carve out his name independently.