Grammy-winner Billy Dean rocketed onto the country scene in 1991 after a big win on what was then television’s biggest pre-American Idol talent show, “Star Search.” The Floridian turned Nashville superstar climbed the charts throughout most of the 90s with his biggest hits (“Only Here for a Little While,” “Somewhere in My Broken Heart,” and “If There Hadn’t Been You,”) still pleasing crowds at his concerts today.

Before taking the stage at the Alaska State Fair’s Raven Hall this weekend, Billy Dean sat down to talk to Bullseye about the seemingly younger talents in country music today, who’s on his iPod, and those crazy fans on YouTube.

Bullseye: This is the second time you’ll be performing at the Alaska State Fairgrounds. What’s your thoughts on Alaska country fans?

Photo courtesy of Curb Records Billy Dean plays the Raven Hall at the Alaska State Fairgrounds Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Miller Genuine Draft Cabin Fever Reliever series. Dean makes his fourth trip back to Alaska in an area he calls '��remarkably beautiful and full of life.'��

Billy Dean: This will be, let me see, my fourth time total playing up there. In the mid-90s I played a couple of concerts out there and made some friends with the local radio stations. I loved it, it was an experience. I really don’t do a lot of concerts anymore. I run an entertainment company out here in Nashville, where I record and write songs these days. For the most part, I don’t do the live thing anymore, but when the State Fair people called me for a chance to play Alaska, I jumped at it. I’ve played in Anchorage. Then there was my favorite beer joint in Alaska, the Bird House, before it burned down. I think I played Kenai, and of course the fairgrounds. Last year this woman made me a salad made with all of these edible flowers, ones you could actually eat. They fed me really well, actually.

BE: There are quite a few fans of yours that have posted YouTube videos of themselves performing songs like “Somewhere in My Broken Heart” and “It’s What I Do.” Does that creep you out at all?

BD: Not at all, I love it. I love to share my music with people, and the fact that they are fans and can share their videos with me is really cool. Are you kidding me? As long as they’re playing the songs, I get a rise out of it. That’s the beauty of the Internet.

BE: What are your biggest priorities today?

BD: To turn people on to the new young artists, like pop-rock’s up-and-coming Clara Oman. I’ve been focusing on developing new talents, like my daughter Hannah and Clara. I’ve also been recording a new album of my own material to release later on this year. A regular good old country album, hopefully by the end of the summer. Clara’s album, “From Now On,” is out on iTunes. There’s also a Sunkist album we did that will include songs with a good message. Then maybe we’ll get out to play some shows. You know, I prefer writing to performing these days. Getting to actually perform at all was the hardest part in the beginning, but I’ve done it for a long time now, so it kind of takes a back seat in my career.

BE: Who’s on your iPod these days?

BD: I’ve been studying new music a lot lately. Joe Nichols “Real Things” which has a song I wrote on it. I’ve been really pleased about that. I have music from Jason Michael Carroll and some of the new guys that are coming along. There’s the Disney girl, Jordan Pruett, who my daughter turned me on to. You’ve got to be an embryo to be in country music these days [laughs]. They’re all young now. I listen to a lot of non-country stuff too, getting production ideas. Kids are the ones coming out with the good talent, who are on the cutting edge of where music is headed.

BE: You and your daughter Hannah got to go to the White House and perform with Hannah Montana last year. Has your daughter showed interest in jumping into the entertainment business?

BD: Oh yeah, she has. That was at the Easter event that the First Lady hosted to support Sunkist’s Take A Stand for charity. That would be cool to have the kids in Alaska get involved. It promotes good healthy kids coming along by keeping them physical, like eating healthy, while developing them emotionally and spiritually. Kids seven to 12 years old write an essay about who they want to raise money for and why. Then they’ll get the coolest things in the mail. My daughter is the face on that campaign. So, yeah, at the White House we got to have breakfast in the at in the Blue Room. My daughter’s amazing. She just took her first vocal lesson at 13. She’s been singing all her life with me and now has American Idol coach to help her progress. She and I are doing a duet on a new CD, for sure.

BE: Has the country music scene changed much since your start in the early 1990s?

BD: Yeah, I’ve watched it progress and skew towards the younger generations today. When I first came to Nashville, I was 19, they all told me to go home and come back when I was 30, that I wasn’t rough enough, tough enough, and I wasn’t a drunk [laughs]. That was the final word in 1983. Since then, if you’re not ready to go by 19, you may have missed your window. Since the 1990s, I’ve watched it progressively go younger, which is great. Country music was always for the moms and dads and when the younger kids came along, like Taylor Swift, who was still in high school, things changed. The thing that country music can’t lose is that it has to stay honest, real and organic.

BE: You’ve done some television and movie acting in the past. Are you still interested in acting roles if they were to come your way?

BD: I would I guess. I’ve always wanted to play a bad guy. I always have had this good guy image in country music. I’ve been kicking around TV ideas for a while. It’s a requirement in music these days. I’ve been pitched a couple scripts, but nothing I have jumped up and down about. I like that show “Entourage,” so maybe they’ll give me a call.

BE: The recording industry is taking a hit with illegal online downloading and artists are feeling the pinch. Do you think the music industry should be taking more action to prevent artists music leaking to the public, in many cases, for free?

BD: I really think music should be free to everybody. It ought to be underwritten, and artists of course need to get paid, but like half-hour sitcoms on television, the money should come through ad dollars. I’d like to see it go that way. The writers, publishers and artists should always get paid, but as far as the public goes, they could be a part of a subscription, where they could network all the music they wanted for as long as they wanted. It would be a cool model where everybody wins. I got a e-mail this morning asking me to show up at the Tennessee legislature to protect the writers rights in music. Things are changing in the industry and right now it’s all about the education, which people are just now starting to figure out how the financial thing works. To sit there and prosecute a 14-year old for downloading music off the Internet is just wrong.

BE: In 2004, you covered “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” a John Denver classic. Was this a comeback of sorts for you?

BD: Yeah, that song really did really set up another round of success for me, because it led to the release of “Let Them Be Little.” Line dancing was a big deal when I came out, so there was another resurgence ten years later where people wanted a cool song that they could dance to. The clubs liked the song and radio started playing it. When “Thank God” started climbing the charts, Curb Records came in and signed me. We put “Let Them Be Little” out and it stayed in the top ten for ten weeks. It gave me a great resurgence, so I had a decision to make: How far do I want to go for the next ten years? That’s when I started working with corporate America and seeing what was out there.

BE: How important is chart success?

BD: It’s everything. All business is driven from chart activity. The higher the chart action, the higher the booking price, the money, everything. I’m curious to see where its going. It’s the reason we’ve become a name in radio. Funny enough, my kids hardly ever listen to the radio. They plug in their iPods in the car and that’s that. Does that mean the phenomena of the hit song is going to go away, go to the waste side? I worry about that a bit.

BE: Does it ever get old: The touring, performing the same songs, etc.?

BD: No, the decision to take it easy with touring wasn’t tough. I have two kids, a son who is 14 and a daughter who is 13. After I went through a divorce, I spent years getting them through that and just being a dad. It doesn’t mix very well, being both. It boiled down to me. I like to perform and don’t mind the travel, but I love being a father. I’m determined to get that right before I die. I want to get that down.

BE: What can the crowd expect from the former Star Search winner this Saturday night?

BD: Well, you’re going to hear some funny, kick-ass stories, like funny things that have happened to me being a celebrity from the first person perspective. Obviously I’ll play any song from the catalog anyone wants to hear, and the new stuff too. I’ll play as long as they want me too. I’m looking forward to playing. As an anti-celebrity person, I like to get out and meet the folks, give out autographs and say ‘hi.’ There’ll be laughs, maybe some tears, and I’m going to kick back and have a beer with a folks.

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com.