Dean Moore

Associate Managing Editor

Northwest Ohio native Dean Moore moved to Los Angeles after securing a journalism degree from Indiana University's Media School. The plan? To write about the music industry until he accomplished enough as a musician to be written about himself. The writing part was realized right away, at the nearly half-century-old industry trade publication Music Connection. Dean covered L.A.'s live scene as MC's "Nightlife" columnist; turned in cover stories on bands like Weezer, Maroon 5, and Eels; wrote approximately 10,000 signing stories on artists you've almost certainly never heard of; and could often be found sitting in the magazine's Studio City courtyard proofreading the upcoming issue—on his own time, for some odd reason. Dean also played bass and sang Randy Meisner-high harmonies in signed indie- and major-label bands; took stages in every contiguous state in the U.S. (plus Canada, Mexico, the UK, and on various international cruise ship waters); performed for capacity crowds at Radio City Music Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Ryman Auditorium; and, truth be told, never made much of a living at the whole "musician accomplished enough to be written about" thing. In 2012, Dean relocated to Nashville to be closer to family, kept writing, kept playing, produced some benefit concerts and an online talk show, and finally convinced American Songwriter to pay him actual U.S. legal tender to proofread (amongst a few other tasks).