Wesley Dean Releases Alluring Music Video for “Crazy Hearts” in Collaboration with Nashville Ballet
Taken From Critically Acclaimed New Album Music From Crazy Hearts
“Dean is one of those people that can look at ugly situations and find the beauty within them.” - People Magazine
“Music From Crazy Hearts is an entire cinematic universe held within 11 songs.”
- Glide Magazine
“A captivating journey across the American heartland…this LP solidifies Wesley Dean as a rising star in the world of country music.” - All Country News
“The album…is mostly somewhere between Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska‘ era and John Mellencamp’s heartland rock, albeit sprinkled with Nashville production.”
- Americana UK
Nashville-based, Aussie artist Wesley Dean releases the official music video for “Crazy Hearts” from his critically-acclaimed album Music From Crazy Hearts. The captivating video, made in collaboration with the Nashville Ballet, was choreographed by Nashville Ballet’s Artistic Director and CEO Nick Mullikin and features company dancers James Lankford and Lily Saito. The music video, directed by Jacobie Gray, premiered to an exclusive audience during Nashville Ballet’s opening production of Paul Vasterling’s Dracula at Tennessee Performing Arts Center last night (10/3). Limited tickets remain to see Dracula this weekend.
Wesley Dean shared that he came up with the idea of the unique collaboration, giving his neighbor credit for the suggestion.
“The sun was warm on a Nashville afternoon. I was on the porch, guitar in hand, playing something between a memory and a dream,” said Dean of how he first connected with the ballet. “My neighbor Evelyn, a dancer herself, wandered over, drawn by the music. Out of nowhere, she asked if I’d ever thought about working with the Nashville Ballet. It stopped me cold. Full circle. I used to dance when I was younger—ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary. It was all in me. When she asked, I stood there, trying to take it in. The Nashville Ballet—best of the best. My song, ‘Crazy Hearts,’ spinning into something raw, something real. The kind of thing you spend your life chasing. And here it was, handed to me by the universe.”
Dean soon discovered that Nashville Ballet, the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee, presents a varied repertoire of classical ballet and contemporary works by noted choreographers, including original works by Artistic Director and CEO Nick Mullikin. So he asked Mullikin to choreograph this special piece for his music video and the rest was magic.
“I love creating in every way—music, dance, words. It’s all part of the same pulse,” continues Dean. “Seeing my work brought to life through Nick Mullikin’s genius choreography felt like a dream. It wasn’t your typical ballet. Watching the brilliant James Lankford and Lily Saito move, like they were on the edge of a cloud, each step breathing new life into the lyrics, adding meaning I never imagined. It was raw, honest, like nothing else. To watch a piece of yourself take flight, soar high, and land in the hearts of those watching—that’s something beyond words. I’m proud of the music video we made, directed by Jacobie Gray. We took a risk, and it worked.”
“Nashville is filled with an immense amount of creative talent looking to build and expand the reach of their art,” said Nashville Ballet Artistic Director and CEO, Nick Mullikin. “This piece shows Nashville Ballet’s commitment to trying to reach audiences outside of what would be considered traditional for us, and we are so thrilled that Wesley and his team saw the same opportunity we did to make the community that much more rich through collaboration.”
Watch the “Crazy Hearts” music video via YouTube
Stream Music From Crazy Hearts
Last summer, Dean and his family packed into an RV with a director and cameraperson in tow, traveling over 5,000 miles from Nashville to LA via towns steeped in musical history and playing shows off the beaten track. Music From Crazy Hearts, recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, and its videos chronicle this experience, with a full-length feature film Crazy Hearts: The Documentary slated for release next year. The LP earned acclaim from People Magazine, CMT, Holler, BrooklynVegan, Whiskey Riff, The Bluegrass Situation and many more.
The songs on Music From Crazy Hearts complement the soundscape to Dean’s own story of breaking the industry mold to carve out his name independently. Leading up to the album’s release, Dean shared a number of singles and accompanying videos including “Mercy” and its neon-imbued romp through Sin City, “Blood Brothers,” which Magnet Magazine called "an epic country-tinged rocker,” “Don’t Look Back” featuring Sarah Buxton, which Dean performed on RFD-TV and Glide Magazine called “a gorgeous work of country-laced Americana that resonates with all of us,” and lead single “Burn This House”.
For more than a dozen years Dean’s been one of Australia’s best-known artists, armed with a larger-than-life voice that catapulted songs like “You” to the top of the charts. Even so, the Adelaide native found himself boarding an American-bound plane in early 2021 with his young family. Dean’s effortless ability to embody multiple genres, such as roots rock, soul and folk meant, after a brief hiatus from the spotlight of earlier years, Dean was able to return to music on his own terms, writing songs that mixed heartland hooks with heart-baring honesty for his previous album and American debut, Unknown.