Today, Dean Johnson shares the album’s final single, “So Much Better,” which imagines a mind wiped clean after heartbreak. “Well, I’m feelin’ so much better now / Since I had my mind erased / If I passed you on the street / I would not recognize your face,” he sings in a trembling tenor over brushed drums and swelling piano chords. Imagining a life with all memories swept away, “So Much Better” offers a bittersweet glimpse at a record that offsets imagination and relatability.

Dean Johnson is a formidable force in the songwriting realm. This Friday, August 22, 2025, the songwriter releases his first full-length for Saddle Creek, I Hope We Can Still Be Friends. The record is wistful, yet witty, shaped by the nuances of human interaction. With I Hope We Can Still Be Friends, his debut for Saddle Creek, Dean Johnson makes a pact with the listener: He will sing you his truth in the most heartfelt and charming way possible, if you promise to keep an open mind.

Johnson spent years tending bar at Al’s Tavern in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. There, he encountered folks of all stripes, and regulars enthusiastically murmured about his budding musical greatness — There’s the best songwriter in town! Johnson was a kind of local lore, a long-held family secret, before the singer finally broke out in 2023 with his debut album, Nothing For Me Please, at age 50.

On his uncanny ability to so clearly see and then encapsulate humanity in all its messy glory, Johnson offers this core memory, drawn from his childhood on Camano Island in the Puget Sound. “I was raised on a bluff,” he says. “I’m not trying to make it sound dramatic, but I did have a sweeping view.”

LIVE DATES

^= supporting Gregory Alan Isakov
*= supporting Rilo Kiley
@= w/ Esther Rose

8/22 – Seattle, WA – Easy Street Records (instore performance)
9/4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Red Butte Garden ^
9/5 – Boise, ID – Morrison Center (sold out) ^
9/6 – Carnation, WA – Remlinger Farms ^
9/7 – Troutdale, OR – Edgefield ^
9/8 – New York, NY – Central Park Summerstage *
9/10 – Washington, DC – Anthem *
9/11 – McKees Rock, PA – Roxian Theatre *
9/12 – Nashville, TN – AmericanaFest
9/14 – Grand Rapids, MI – Meijer Gardens Summer Series *
9/16 – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre *
9/17 – La Vista, NE – The Astro Amphitheater *
9/18 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House (solo)
9/20 – Washington, DC – Songbyrd Music House (solo)
9/21 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s (solo)
9/23 – Cambridge, MA – Club Passim (solo)
9/26 – Boonton, NJ – Boonton Coffee Co. (solo)
9/27 – Northampton, MA – The Iron Horse (solo)
9/28 – Providence, RI – Alchemy (solo)
9/29 – Brooklyn, NY – Baby’s All Right (solo)
11/6 – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
11/8 – Fort Collins, CO – The Armory
11/9 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theater
11/11 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
11/12 – Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf
11/14 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
11/15 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
11/16 – Jacumba Hot Springs, CA – The Old Bath House
11/17 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
11/18 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
12/5 – Austin, TX – 29th St. Ballroom @ (solo)
12/6 – Dallas, TX – The Kessler Theater @ (solo)
12/7 – Houston, TX – Heights Theater @ (solo)
12/9 – New Orleans, LA – Chickie Wah Wah @ (solo)
12/10 – Birmingham, AL – Woodlawn Theatre @ (solo)
12/11 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage (Vinyl) @ (solo)
12/12 – Durham, NC – The Pinhook @ (solo)
12/13 – Asheville, NC – AyurPrana Listening Room @ (solo)
12/14 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre @ (solo)