Dean Johnson Signs With Saddle Creek, Shares New Single

Sometimes, the best possible news lands in your inbox. Dean Johnson, one of the best damn songwriters we’ve got, has just signed with Saddle Creek, a label that’s helped propel the likes of Indigo De Souza, Palm, Spirit of the Beehive, Young Jesus and more. Johnson is in good company, or maybe it’s the other way around.

In 2023, the Seattle-based Johnson released his long-awaited debut album, Nothing For Me, Please, a “widely spun tapestry of colored lands where curious eyes and hearts roam” that took two decades to finish. We went on to name the record’s finest track, “Shouldn’t Say Mine,” the 14th-best song of the year.

Now, it looks like we won’t have to wait another 20 years for Dean Johnson to release more new music. Today, he’s unveiled “Blue Moon” and announced a 7″ for Saddle Creek’s ongoing Document series. “Blue Moon”‘s B-side, a cover of Lucinda Williams’ “Lake Charles,” will arrive on April 11. For now, we have “Blue Moon” to cherish, and it’s already one of his sweetest tunes.

A wrinkle of ornery pedal steel weeps beneath Johnson’s chugging acoustic guitar. “Blue Moon” is a doo-wop track colored by the chords of a gentle cowboy’s aching six-string and memories of an anxious joy and young, wayfaring love. “She climbs on down in her white nightgown, across the field in her bare feet,” Johnson sings. “She puts her hand flat on my chest and laughs at my heartbeat.” He says of the song, “Did you ever lie in bed listening for a sound down the street? A whistle, a coo, the approach of someone’s feet? This song is ultimately an ode to bedroom windows; to climbing out of them late at night.”

Listen to “Blue Moon” below.