“This country beat a great depression, and so can you.”
I’ve had the idea of printing this line on a t-shirt for years since back in the There’s More To Life days, and I don’t know what the reason for the delay has been. This line felt like an important one to me since way before I put it in the third verse of The Best Fears of Our Lives…it weaved its way through a couple demos before it landed there. But finally, here we are.
And I’m beyond proud to say my new Great Depression shirts are officially out now! Head here and pick one up while inventory lasts: https://dylan-owen-music.myshopify.com/
Quite a few things are special about this tee release.
First of all, it kicks off a new era for my music. That’s what my field note entries on this blog have been documenting, and while the new music is coming soon, these tees symbolize a new beginning. On top of that:
Every Great Depression order includes an automatic 10% donation to benefit mental health organizations. Drawing attention and donations to mental health is important every year but this year especially when depression in its many vicious forms is hitting everyone hard. Hope we can make even a small difference.
For the first time ever, every t-shirt has custom Dylan Owen tags in place of normal tags. Where you’d usually see a tag, you’ll now see a hidden message about the meaning of these t-shirts and the power of wearing one.
These are heavyweight, 6.0oz tees, meaning they’ll have a durable, tougher feeling to them than I’ve ever gone with in the past and they’ll fit in a boxy and modern way.
Every order includes a full color, 8.5 x 2.75” large sticker with the quote in reverse colors. Here’s a photo of them, perfect for throwing up in your town or city:
“This country beat a great depression, and so can you.”
Just like my music, I want my merchandise to carry a lot of meaning and I want the message on these t-shirts and stickers to spread. This has never been and will never be about turning a profit. This is about displaying a phrase that somebody might need to hear on any given day.
A lot of special thank you’s are in order with this launch. Thank you to my buddy Tom Flynn for designing the shirts and photographing all of the portraits you see here and on my store. Thank you to my friends for modeling the tees: Giana Aurora, Jayna Marchese, Fani, Abu Bakr, and Nick Harrison who’s also a talented artist under the name Shye. Thank you to Chris Kelly who helped me film the drone footage for the official merchandise trailer (which you can watch below), and thank you to Skinny Atlas who produced and mixed the audio for the trailer. A little spoken word to talk about what these mean to me:
And of course, a huge thank you to all of my fans and supporters who have picked up a t-shirt this week. The first batch sold out entirely in every size within 24 hours (by far the fastest I’ve ever sold out of merch), and I reordered a new batch which is already halfway gone. I’ve been packaging tons of orders and spending a lot of time at the post office this week and I couldn’t be happier. I take pride in the DIY grind and genuinely put a lot of care into every single package I’m sending out. This week, I mailed these shirts as far as Belgium and London and as close as Middletown NY.
Also, another new item I’m debuting with this merchandise launch is a series of handwritten lyric stickers. You guys have always asked me to scan my handwriting and print it on stickers, and I’ve finally made that idea into a reality.
Check those out here. They come in an 8-pack and are priced as cheaply as I can possibly send them out, so they’re meant to make it easy for you to spread the word.
The lines include: we’ve all got higher hills to climb regardless of our depths, nowhere’s as perfect as places that wait to be found, there’s more to life than the glory years that you thought you’d have, & if you ever lose your breath then you can inhale mine.
Here’s a huge photo reel of our merchandise shoot for the new Great Depression tees. Another big thank you and shoutout to Tom Flynn for killing it behind the lens with all of these:
Can’t wait for the next merch drop and REALLY can’t wait to share the new music. Thank you all for being so supportive of this one.
Let’s spread this message.
Much love—keep on moving,
D.