Singer-songwriter Dreamer Boy has announced his new album, Lonestar, out May 10th via slowplay / Capitol Records. Lonestar is a gossamer balance of duality: pure associations with Southern culture and the textures of Americana are woven with the creation of a larger-than-life persona—the beaten-down Rodeo Clown depicted on the album’s cover.
At its heart, the album is about finding yourself. “You start off running away,” says Dreamer Boy, who was born Zach Taylor. “You’re literally like, ‘Get me out of my parents’ house, get me out into the world.’ But then you start to run back to some of those things.” Lonestar is about building yourself as a person in the turbulence of a breakup, which involves looking back, feeling a little lost, a little heartbroken, a little nostalgic. But, ultimately, there’s clarity—you figure out what makes you really yourself, even if that might change.
These themes coalesce in Dreamer Boy’s new single, “If You’re Not In Love,” which he wrote with Nick Velez and bandmates Aidan Spiro, Christian Taylor, Henry Solomon and Aaron Wing. The song was produced by Spiro, Taylor and Solomon. Dreamer Boy takes to the streets of Hollywood in the accompanying black and white, one-shot visualizer.
Fans who pre-order Lonestar will instantly receive “If You’re Not In Love” plus “Heartbreaker,” which was heralded by Rolling Stone as one of the “Songs You Need to Know,” and “Suckerpunch,” which was one of Entertainment Tonight’s New Music Friday favorites upon its release earlier this month. See below for full track listing.
After his sweetly psychedelic debut album, Love, Nostalgia, 2021’s heartfelt follow-up, All the Ways We Are Together, and tours with Clairo, Omar Apollo, The Marías, Still Woozy and others, Dreamer Boy firmly steps out of the bedroom and on to the highways on Lonestar. Moving from Nashville to Los Angeles, he found his new direction as he watched the miles pass. Driving through his childhood home of Texas and visiting his grandfather’s farm three times in a year instilled a sense of connectivity to the South he’d lost touch with.
“I felt myself needing to hold that as a fixture in my heart as I was going out West again,” he says. “I felt the need to attach to my spirit the tone and feeling of those places.”
Dreamer Boy and his band The Lone Stars recorded the album in full takes in order to make the music as organically and collaboratively as possible. Featured artists include Miya Folick and Goldie Boutilier with some guest vocals from fellow Texans Hovvdy.
“It was the most fun I’ve had making music, ever,” he attests. “There were nights at the studio where it’d be like 12 people in this tiny room and we’re recording background vocals and friends are just hanging out and you can hear people talking in the background of the recording. I think music sometimes is only as powerful as the energy you inject into it.”