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 The
calendar showed that it was time for another Billy Dean album.
The gearing up process began, the song publishers got the
word to find something for him. Producers were being considered.
Studio time was booked. And then Billy Dean made a decision.
"Wait," he said.
"I didn't want to do another album in the traditional
form, where you sit in song meetings and listen to songs that
every other artist was listening to," Billy recalls.
"I realized that my favorite records of my career were
the ones I had written not because I'm a better songwriter
than anyone out there, but because I had an emotional attachment
to those songs. They were my words, and I felt I needed to
get that back into my music. To write. That's what was missing.
What was essential. What was my passion."
Dean disappeared from public view for a while to rediscover
the songwriter in himself The result: Real Man, a heartfelt,
album that reveals the evolution, both musically and personally,
of Billy Dean. "My dad told me, 'I don't care what you
grow up to be, as long as you grow up to be a real man. One
day you'll be old enough to know what that is.' That's been
an issue I've dealt with for years," says Dean. He addresses
it directly in the title song of the album, which anchors
the whole album. Co-produced by the singer with former Bread
frontman David Gates, Real Man's songs all came from Dean
himself. He explored the hows and whys of his deepest feelings,
his spirituality, his relationships.
Dean, who grew up in Florida, started playing guitar with
his father's band, The Country Rocks, when he was only eight
years old. He continued playing and singing through his teens
and built up his own following, separate from his father's
band. Dean followed his dad's advice and worked on his singing,
as well as his song writing. Soon he had a following in Florida,
separate from his father's band. At 19 he made his first appearance
in Nashville, as a finalist in the national Wrangler Star
Search competition, held at the Grand Ole Opry. A few years
later Dean moved to Nashville, getting work as a jingle singer
and backup vocalist. More importantly, he made his mark as
a writer. The Oak Ridge Boys, Les Taylor and Shelley West
all cut Billy Dean songs. Randy Travis recorded "Somewhere
In My Broken Heart," a song Dean co-wrote with Richard
Leigh, at the same time that Dean got a record deal. His first
single, "Only Here For a Little While" shot up to
#2 on the country singles chart. Since Travis had never released
his cut of "Somewhere In My Broken Heart," Dean
made it his second single. It reached #1.
"Somewhere In My Broken Heart" won Song of the
Year honors at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 1992.
That same year, Dean won the ACM's Top New Male Vocalist award
and received a Grammy nomination in the Best Male Country
Performance category.
That was also the song that brought Dean and David Gates
together for the first time, in 1992. Impressed with the song,
Gates called Dean to co-write with him. They came up with
three songs for Gates's solo album. A friendship formed instantly
and the two stayed in touch. Dean continued to rack up country
hits, including "Billy the Kid," "We Just Disagree"
and "It's What I Do," though he put songwriting
on the back burner while he concentrated on touring and all
that goes with it.
When Dean turned his attention toward writing again for this
album, he naturally turned to Gates as a co-writer. They wrote
four songs together. In the studio, Gates emphasized the emotional
aspects of Dean's work. Gates further brought out the emotions
of certain songs by writing and arranging the strings, a task
he performed as a member of Bread.
With Real Man Billy Dean has found his way. "I approached
this -album as if it were the last album I would ever make.
I wanted to deliver the best that I can do, and I feel I did
that here. No matter what happens with it commercially, I
know I can live with this album. I'm proud of this album."
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