Award winning celtic troubadour Dean Owens is on a roll!
He has released 2 highly acclaimed albums (including a double CD) in the last 18 months, recorded with musicians from desert noir icons Calexico which have seen his profile rise, especially in Europe, with sold out tours in the Netherlands, and festival appearances in UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. He also recently joined Calexico’s Joey Burns on stage in Utrecht. He is currently finishing the follow up to
those albums (Spirit Ridge) in north Italy (in the land of his lion tamer ancestor!) (with Sacri Cuori’s Antonio Gramentieri) following a successful £17k crowdfunding campaign, for release in late 2024.
Never one to sit still he has also recorded a side project – Pictures – with his long term friends and collaborators (and Grammy nominees) Neilson Hubbard and Will Kimbrough. Originally released in Nov 2023 as a (successful) fundraiser to take Dean and his band to Folk Alliance International (Kansas City) in Feb 2024, to perform an Official Showcase, it has been picked up by Netherlands label Continental Record Services and will be released on all formats, including vinyl, in time for Record Store Day 2024.
These 11 new songs were written during the pandemic years. Mostly personal and reflective, some are Dean’s own stories, some from other people’s perspectives – laced with melancholy, haunted by ghosts and anchored by love! There is a loose, rootsy feel, and a hint of a Ronnie Lane (much admired by all 3 collaborators) vibe to the album. Pictures was recorded long distance, with Dean in East Lothian and Will
and Neilson in East Nashville.
Will Kimbrough is an impressive singer songwriter (and awesome guitarist) in his own right, but is probably best known for his live work as the guitarist in Emmylou Harris’s Red Dirt Boys, as producer of Shemekia Copeland’s award winning recent albums, and as co-writer of Bubbles Up with the recently deceased Jimmy Buffett (commended by Paul McCartney and released on Buffett’s posthumous album). He and Dean have been friends and worked together for nearly 20 years, including collaborating on
Dean’s Southern Wind album (the title track of which won Song of the Year at the AMA-UK Awards i2019).
Neilson Hubbard is a creative dynamo! A musician, producer, film maker and photographer who also rarely sits still. His credits include producing Mary Gauthier’s Grammy nominated Rifles and Rosary Beads, Ben Glover’s award-winning Shorebound, as well as Dean’s Into the Sea and Southern Wind albums. He is a core member of the highly respected The Orphan Brigade (with Joshua Britt and Ben Glover) as well as Buffalo Blood (with Dean, Joshua and Audrey Spillman). He has made videos for Jason
Isbell, John Prine and The Killers, among many others. His own most recent releases include the highly acclaimed Digging Up Scars album and a photography book The American South.
Dean: This album was such a joy to make, during some very difficult times. From East Lothian to East Nashville. It very much feels like a band record to me. Although we weren’t able to be together in the same room physically, I feel we were very much connected by our hearts and souls. I love working with Will and Neilson and I think that really comes across on this record.
Fresh from another sellout Netherlands tour, Dean’s upcoming UK dates include Cambridge Folk Festival.