The Asheville singer-songwriter confronts political uncertainty, collective resilience, and the responsibility of artists to reflect the world around them on his new single “Just Dream,” accompanied by a music video directed by Callum Scott-Dyson.
What does it mean to dream of a better future when the present seems increasingly determined to make that future impossible?
For Asheville, North Carolina singer-songwriter and guitarist Andrew Scotchie, that question lies at the heart of “Just Dream,” his latest single and the third release from his forthcoming 2027 album.
Blending the raw energy of rock and roll with socially conscious songwriting, the track explores the tension between political disillusionment and the stubborn human instinct to imagine something better.
It’s a contradiction that has defined some of the most enduring moments in American music: the idea that a song can simultaneously acknowledge the world as it is and challenge us to envision what it might become.
“Just Dream” incorporates audio samples from protests in Minneapolis, bringing the sounds of contemporary public dissent into a musical landscape shaped by blues, classic rock, and punk urgency.
Rather than offering an escape from the realities of the present, Scotchie uses the song to examine the relationship between imagination and action.
Because dreaming, in this context, isn’t necessarily an act of withdrawal. It can also be a way of refusing to accept that the future has already been decided.
Rock and Roll Was Never Just About Entertainment
For Scotchie, the relationship between music and social consciousness is deeply connected to the history of rock and roll itself.
Born and raised in Asheville, he developed his musical identity through a combination of influences that reflect the genre’s rebellious and working-class roots.
The swagger of the Rolling Stones, the blues traditions of Lightnin’ Hopkins, and the confrontational energy of punk rock all inform his approach to songwriting and performance.
His music is rooted in the belief that rock and roll can be both a deeply personal form of expression and a vehicle for engaging with the broader world.
That philosophy is particularly evident on “Just Dream.”
The song draws from contemporary American unrest without abandoning the visceral qualities that make Scotchie a compelling live performer.
Its inclusion of protest recordings places the music in dialogue with the world outside the recording studio, connecting the emotional urgency of rock and roll to the voices of people participating in public demonstrations.
The result recalls a longstanding tradition of musicians using popular music to document social tensions, from the protest movements of the 1960s to the politically engaged punk scenes that followed.
But Scotchie isn’t simply revisiting that tradition out of nostalgia.
His work reflects a contemporary question about what protest music can accomplish in a media environment where political conflict is constant, public attention is fragmented, and outrage can disappear almost as quickly as it emerges.
“Songs can be an escape from reality as well as a vehicle for change,” he explains. “It’s impossible not to write about what our neighbors are going through and what’s happening in our country.”
That duality is central to his creative philosophy.
Music can offer temporary relief from the pressures of everyday life while also encouraging listeners to remain engaged with the circumstances shaping their communities.
Imagining a Different Future
The title “Just Dream” introduces an ambiguity that makes the song particularly interesting.
On one level, dreaming can suggest wishful thinking: the comforting fantasy that things might improve without requiring us to confront the difficult realities standing in the way.
But dreaming can also be understood as an essential first step toward change.
Before people can imagine new possibilities for their communities, institutions, or relationships, they must first believe that the existing order is not inevitable.
For Scotchie, the song appears to occupy the space between those interpretations.
Its musical urgency acknowledges the frustrations of the present, while its central message holds onto the possibility of progress.
The accompanying music video, directed by filmmaker and animator Callum Scott-Dyson, extends the song’s exploration of imagination and reality into a visual medium.
Through his production company CSD Animation, Scott-Dyson has developed a distinctive approach to storytelling that combines live-action filmmaking with carefully constructed stop-motion animation.
His previous work includes music videos for Dinosaur Jr., Paul Cauthen, and Milky Chance, reflecting an ability to translate different musical identities into imaginative visual narratives.
His collaboration with Scotchie brings another creative perspective to “Just Dream,” emphasizing the importance of visual storytelling in communicating the emotional and conceptual dimensions of a song.
A Community Shaped by Crisis
Scotchie’s forthcoming album is also informed by experiences much closer to home.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina have contributed to his reflections on resilience, community, and the ways people respond to collective uncertainty.
For an artist whose identity is closely connected to Asheville and the surrounding region, these experiences provide a personal dimension to the broader questions explored in his songwriting.
The pandemic disrupted the social spaces and live performances that sustain musical communities, while Hurricane Helene exposed the vulnerability of neighborhoods, local infrastructure, and the everyday relationships people depend on.
Both events raised questions about what happens when familiar systems are interrupted and individuals must rely on one another to navigate extraordinary circumstances.
Those experiences help explain why community occupies such an important place in Scotchie’s music.
His interest in collective responsibility is not limited to the political themes of his songwriting. It also extends to the way he has built his career.
At just sixteen, Scotchie founded Barnaroo, a music festival that would go on to benefit the Asheville Music School.
The project reflected an early understanding of music as something capable of bringing people together beyond the traditional relationship between performer and audience.
Over the years, he has continued to develop that philosophy through consistent touring, community engagement, and a live performance style rooted in the communal energy of rock and roll.
His shows are known for their physical intensity and emotional immediacy, drawing on the idea that live music can create a temporary space where strangers become part of a shared experience.
The Possibility of Progress
“Just Dream” follows Scotchie’s earlier singles “If I Was A Bird” and “In Your Light,” offering another glimpse into the thematic and musical direction of his forthcoming album.
Together, the releases introduce a body of work concerned with both personal and social transformation.
The record’s exploration of resilience and progress suggests an artist attempting to reconcile the difficulties of recent years with a continuing belief in the possibility of meaningful change.
That belief doesn’t require ignoring conflict or pretending that the problems facing American communities are easily resolved.
Instead, it involves recognizing the role that connection, empathy, and shared experience can play in shaping how people respond to those challenges.
And perhaps that’s where the enduring relevance of rock and roll becomes most apparent.
At its best, the genre has never been solely about rebellion for its own sake.
It has also been about the possibility of liberation: the freedom to question inherited assumptions, challenge established structures, and imagine different ways of living.
For Scotchie, those possibilities remain inseparable from the experience of making music.
“I hope this song and the video bring people a sense of hope, empowerment and be a reminder that our voices will always matter!” he says.
Why Dreaming Still Matters
There is something compelling about an artist choosing to make a song about hope at a moment when uncertainty has become such a familiar part of public life.
Hope, after all, can be difficult to sustain when political divisions feel entrenched, communities are recovering from disaster, and the future appears increasingly unpredictable.
Yet “Just Dream” suggests that imagination itself can be a meaningful response to those conditions.
Not because dreaming guarantees change, but because the ability to envision a different future can influence how people understand their relationship to the present.
Scotchie’s music exists at the intersection of those two impulses: the desire to confront reality and the refusal to let reality extinguish possibility.
As he prepares to release his next album in 2027, “Just Dream” offers a glimpse into an artist whose commitment to rock and roll remains inseparable from his commitment to community.
And perhaps the song’s most resonant idea is also its simplest.
In a world that can make hope feel naive, continuing to dream may be one of the ways we keep the possibility of change alive.
Andrew Scotchie’s new single “Just Dream” is out now on streaming platforms. His forthcoming album is scheduled for release in 2027.
Watch: “Just Dream” — Official Music Video
Music video directed by Callum Scott-Dyson of CSD Animation.
