SPIRIT RIDGE

Description

sold-out tours, including the Cambridge Folk Festival, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. 2025 is shaping up to be even better with the much-anticipated release of his twelfth album, Spirit Ridge, recorded at Crinale Studio, a 400-year-old farm in the hills of Emilia-Romagna, Italy – the home country of Dean’s lion-tamer great-great-grandfather – with acclaimed Italian producer Don Antonio. Spirit Ridge will be launched at Celtic Connections in Glasgow on 2nd February, with upcoming tour dates including Australia's prestigious Port Fairy Festival, as well as the UK, USA and Netherlands. Spirit Ridge follows Dean's critically acclaimed collaborations with Latin American rock icons Calexico, which yielded two remarkable albums – Sinner’s Shrine (2022) and El Tiradito (The Curse of Sinner’s Shrine) (2023) – that dramatically conjure up the vast panoramic landscapes of the desert states of the American Southwest. The twelve songs of Spirit Ridge are a musical and lyrical development, both monumental and deeply personal, rooted in a liminal back country that connects the lush Italian hills, the American desert states and post-industrial Scotland. The spirit of the lion tamer is never far away! Spirit Ridge is now ready to be unleashed upon the world in all its guitar-driven, brass-infused glory! A magical blend of Dean’s characteristic melancholy and unforgettable melodies, a masterpiece of concise songwriting about family and connections to places, with a nod to spirit animals. Vocally, he has never sounded better.