23 OctOber 3 - 9, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents A Grand Dream Comes True Fort Worth singer- songwriter Summer Dean will make her Grand Ole Opry debut in December. BY PRESTON JONES Y ou might think the axiom “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportu- nity” resonates with Summer Dean. Dean would disagree. “I don’t think I believe in things hap- pening out of pure luck,” the acclaimed Fort Worth singer-songwriter said re- cently via email. “Sure, lucky opportuni- ties come your way. But if you’re not prepared or you haven’t put in the time, effort and thoughtful intentions ahead of time, then the opportunities pass right by you.” No one would ever accuse Dean of not putting in the time, effort and thought to bolster her career. One look at her calen- dar and it’s clear: The rising country star is relentlessly focused on hitting the road, honing her craft and getting her irresist- ible songs in front of as many folks as pos- sible. She simply will not be outworked. Over the course of October alone, Dean, in support of her superb, Bruce Robison- produced 2023 album The Biggest Life, will crisscross the country, with dates scheduled in New Mexico and Louisiana, before she decamps to the East Coast for a run of dates taking her from the Carolinas all the way up to Toronto and back. She will also appear around North Texas, with a stop at the Longhorn Ballroom on Oct. 4, on a bill with Gary P. Nunn. But that work is fueled by ambition, whether abstractly (in dreams) or con- cretely (in miles logged, or tickets and re- cords sold). One date on her itinerary — Dec. 6 — looms larger than most, and it’s hard to not to think about this particular performance being the definition of preparation meeting opportunity. That’s the day Summer Dean makes her debut at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. It’s a bucket list moment for any country art- ist, and a dream Dean has been striving to- ward since childhood. “Like almost every country music artist, I can say, ‘This has been my dream since I was a little girl,’” Dean said. “I remember listing what I wanted to be when I grew up and it was — number one: Miss Texas, and number two: sing on the Grand Ole Opry. It’s been a goal on my vision board for years. The view of the iconic WSM mic stand from inside the wooden circle has been the home screen on my phone for more than five years.” Now, Dean will step inside her dream and sing into that storied microphone. It’s a confirmation of what many inside (and outside) Texas already know to be true: Dean is one of the state’s most dynamic, consequential country artists, and this plat- form will provide even greater visibility for a phenomenal talent. Dean — who immediately began crying tears of joy when her booking agent relayed the good news to her — said the goal of per- forming at the Opry was, for a long time, a bit of a running joke in her set. “I’m sure the band was so tired of hearing of it that it almost became their personal ca- reer goals too,” Dean said. “I’ve been telling jokes about making it to the Opry on stage for a while. Once, at an acoustic songwriter set at the Sagebrush in Austin, a rep from my booking agency was in the audience. ... After hearing my Opry stage banter, [my agent Da- vis McLarty] told me after the show: ‘I’m gonna get you to the Opry. You just keep working this hard.’” That was all Dean needed to hear. She maintained her focus, and her team set to the task at hand. If not an ex- ample of preparation meeting opportunity, then Dean’s ascension to the hallowed Opry House is certainly a case study in manifesting one’s dreams through thoughtful, focused work. “I’ve gotten asked about career advice re- cently,” Dean said. “Goals are important, so you start there and work backwards. If you know what kind of artist you wanna be, and what kind of career you want to have, make decisions based on that. ... Be inten- tional and confident with your vision and go for it. I’m sincerely grateful to my team and booking agency for rallying with me. It fuels my confidence to keep going. “On December 6, I will sing my heart out and do my best to make Fort Worth and Texas proud!” ▼ NEW MUSIC IT’S RAINING MEMORIES ADIEU ANÁIS WANTS TO BE TIMELESS, NOT VIRAL. BY ALEX GONZALEZ S inger Adieu Anáis is playing the long game. Anáis, whose real name is Anáis Aviles, has been singing since she was 2 years old; now, at 31, she is truly embarking on her musical journey. Instead of chasing viral moments, she would rather create works that make a long- lasting impact. Her latest single, “Rain,” is a prime example of her process, planting mu- sical seeds and letting them flourish. She wrote the song in 2020, but it was produced only a year ago, after Anáis was let go from her corporate job. “I pretty much was just like ‘Eff it, I’m just going to do music full time,’” Anáis says. “Like, that job literally put me in the hospital because of the stress, and I almost died be- cause of this freak health scare I had so I was like, ‘Nah, I’m not doing that anymore. I’m just going to go all in with my music.’” The song was produced by Nicci Go- mez, and Anáis handled the cover art and the distribution in-house, along with her husband. “My husband and I made the cover art to- gether, and we did not market it at all,” Anáis says. “We were like, ‘Yay, my first single!’” Though the song has already been out for a year, Anáis finally premiered the long- awaited music video for “Rain” last month. (“I knew if there was any song I wanted to do a video for, it had to be ‘Rain,’” she says.) On the track, Anáis sings of redemption over a hypnotic, melancholy piano. ”Dark- ness casts its clouds / Stars are far away from here / Feeling all of this / No turning back away from you,” she sings on one verse, as the song seamlessly floats into a transcen- dental, electronic instrumental. “Wash me, feel me, touch me, call me / Hear me, need me, free me, love me,” she sings on the song’s bridge. At various points in the song’s life cycle, Anáis resonated with the message of change and metamorphosis — through dealing with the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, moving on from her draining job and, now, entering a new era as a musical and visual storyteller. And given the song’s timeless element, Anáis knew it was time to release a music video for “Rain” when she received a sign earlier this year. “There was a videographer on Insta- gram, who was like, ‘Hey, the universe has me feeling good,’” Anáis recalls. That vid- eographer was Matthew Osborne, who was offering to shoot videos for only $500 to the first three artists who responded to his post. “I was like, shoot, OK, I can do $500. So I reached out to him, and we scheduled a meeting to get the vision down and get all that together. It was a process, and it took about a month Scott Slusher Summer Dean has put in the time and paid her dues. Now, she’s seeing some of that pay off. | B-SIDES | ▼ Music Matthew Osborne Adieu Anáis leads us inside her memoirs with a timeless sound. >> p24
