Lainey Wilson was left in awe after receiving a handmade gift from Jackson Dean commemorating their time on the road together. For the past few months, Dean has been serving as an opener on the female country star’s Country’s Cool Again Tour and with the run coming to a close, he decided to give her something special as a gesture of appreciation.
In a new video shared across Dean’s socials, Wilson is seen starring at a guitar in a case with a look of shock on her face as she repeats the word “stop” over and over again. She picks up the instrument to give it a closer look and then asks Dean, “Did you do this?” to which he humbly nods “Yes.”
Her jaw drops open as she flips the guitar around to reveal the intricate design her tourmate had burned onto the surface for her.
“This is insane, bro,” Wilson says before turning to Jackson Dean and offering a heartfelt “thank you.”
The pair hugged it out and Wilson proceeded to suggest that they write a song together on it.
“We’ll write a song while he’s driving a four-wheeler and I’m on the back,” she joked.
In his caption, Dean thanked “Miss Lainey Wilson” once again for everything she’s done for him throughout the trek. Miranda Lambert also credited him for his incredibly kind gift, noting it was “So cool” of him to share his talent with Wilson in this way.
Documenting The Entire Process
Over the weekend, Jackson Dean shared a video documenting the creative process behind his custom guitar to give a closer look into his design. He shared that the theme of the artwork was personal to Wilson as it was inspired by her fan-favorite tune, “Wildflowers and Wild Horses.” At the top of the guitar, the country singer explained that he was working on making a “symmetrical, westernized, pick-guard situation, texture thing.”
“Feels good on your hands and really paints a frame for the belly of the guitar and what’s happening,” he shared of the design.
Moving to the lower portion, the vision started to come to life as he added a few cacti, stars, a moon, horses, and of course, a bundle of wildflowers.
“This black horse came out so metal and I’m so happy with it. It’s one of my favorite things about the piece, but equally as much as that appaloosa on the right,” Dean said pointing out the contrasting colors among the horses. “It’s the strong and the gentle. When you walk with both of those, you make beautiful things and that’s why I put the wildflowers in the middle.”
The “Fearless” singer then placed Wilson’s initials, L.W., at the very top of the guitar as the final touch.
“Country’s always gonna be cool. This is for all the crazy miles we’ve put down on the road. Thank you @laineywilson for bringin me and my men and @zach_top out this past year. Here’s a little end of tour present,” he wrote alongside the footage.
How His Passion For Customizing Guitars Began
Oftentimes, when the Maryland native is on the stage, he performs using one of these custom guitars that he’s burned himself. He previously explained to K92.3 Orlando that because the Takamine guitars in his collection have come to him with no finish or gloss on top of them, he’s been able to customize them by burning or carving designs into them.
He shared that he first started doing these designs simply because he felt the guitars looked “too plain.” This led him to wonder how he can make them more interesting and original to match his taste.
“One of them has a whole bunch of different spirals and looks like a black hole. Then there’s two rattle snakes fighting on another one. I like weird art like that. the whole point of it is to make people go ‘what is going on here?’ like, ‘how is this possible?’ And ain’t nobody going to have those guitars either.”
This proves that Jackson Dean’s talent extends beyond just writing and performing music. He is truly an artist in his own right.
His time on the road with Lainey Wilson may have come to an end, but Dean still has a few more shows scheduled through the end of the year. All remaining dates can be found HERE.
The post Jackson Dean Crafts a One-of-a-Kind Guitar for Lainey Wilson, Honoring Their Time on Tour appeared first on Country Now.
