Americana’s Rising Son: Dean Johnson on New LP, ‘I Hope We Can Still Be Friends’

Dean Johnson wonders if he’ll ever be a bartender again. For 11 years, he worked in the neighborhood Seattle watering hole, Al’s Tavern, serving drinks at the cash-only spot, slinging drinks over long shifts. It’s the kind of job that makes you a local staple, a servant of the people. You get to know husbands and wives, friends and colleagues. But while patrons would come and go through Al’s door, and as Dean stood dutifully behind the bar, something else was going on. Some customers knew, but it was also something of a secret amongst them. Johnson was a world-class songwriter.