Artist · Writer · Father · Business builder

Tierre Maclin.

I create music, books, and other creative work from real life, family, persistence, and the belief that our stories can help us move.

Explore the work Stay connected

About Tierre

I am an artist, writer, father, and business builder.

My work is rooted in lived experience, reflection, discipline, and a desire to help people keep moving toward the lives they are trying to build.

I have been writing, recording, performing, creating, and building for a long time. The work has changed shape over the years, but the thread has stayed the same: use what is real, make it honest, and build something useful from it.

I wrote my first song at six and was recording and performing around Omaha by nine. At twelve, I moved to Orlando with my mother and younger sisters. Those years were formative. They were not always easy, but they brought my family closer and gave me community through church choir and local performances.

I returned to Omaha for Creighton University, then moved to Los Angeles in 2015. Today, I am a father of two. Fatherhood has changed what I want success to look like. I still care about ambition. I also care about being present.

I want my children to see me work hard, create, rest, keep going, and be there for them. Finding my way back to creativity is part of that life too.

Tierre Maclin photographed against the city skyline

From the Dreams Cost photo archive · 12pastseven

Music and books

The work.

Originally released in 2016

Dreams Cost

Dreams Cost was released in 2016. Ten years later, the lyrics still carry the heart of the project.

The album is not returning only as nostalgia. It is returning as a record of growth, work, decisions, family, cost, and the choice to keep going.

Original release: September 2, 2016
Album: Ten songs
Producer: Chris Hayman

Ten years after the original release, I am returning to the album through the lyrics, the stories behind the songs, the photographs, the emails, and the pieces I kept from making it.

Listen to the album Read the lyrics Look inside the book

Front cover of the original Dreams Cost digipak

Dreams Cost · 2016

Coming in 2027 · A children’s book

The Big Visit

Some goodbyes are harder than others, but love does not disappear.

The Big Visit follows three siblings as they visit their father in prison and move through the excitement, nerves, joy, and sadness that come with seeing someone they love and having to leave again.

I am creating it for children and caregivers who need an honest, gentle way to talk about incarceration, family separation, and staying connected. It is a future project planned for 2027.

Original handwritten Dreams Cost lyrics in blue ink

Lyrics and creative artifacts

The lyrics are the path through Dreams Cost.

“I’ve got this gift, and I’m gonna give it a chance to live.”

I Remember

Each song holds a part of the story. The handwritten pages, photographs, packaging, production notes, and emails show how the work came together and why it still matters.

Read all ten songs

Creative archive

Music, lyrics, photographs, and performances.

The music, lyrics, videos, and photographs are gathered here.

Music

Listen

Hear Dreams Cost, the album at the center of this return, and Self Made, an earlier release.

Dreams Cost on Spotify Dreams Cost on Apple Music Self Made · 2014

Lyrics

Read

All ten Dreams Cost lyrics are here with the actual handwritten pages I still have.

Open the lyric book

Videos and photographs

Watch and look back

Watch the official video for What’s Next, the one-take performance of Back to You, and visit the Dreams Cost photo journal.

What’s Next Back to You · one take Dreams Cost photographs

Stay connected

I’d like to stay connected.

I’ll share stories, music, book updates, and other work as it takes shape.

The chapter I am in now

I am thankful for the life I have today.

My life today holds fatherhood, partnership, family, friendship, work, health, peace, and creativity. I get to lead, build, care for people, protect my home, keep growing, and still make room for music and new ideas.

None of it came easily. That is part of why I am so thankful for it. Returning to Dreams Cost is not about leaving this life behind. It is about bringing the music back into the life I worked to build.