Dean Owens is set to tour the UK throughout March, after which he’ll follow up with festival appearances, including the Orkney Folk Festival in May and the Maverick Festival in July. He’ll be performing songs from his latest compilation album, ‘The Man From Leith (The Best of Dean Owens)’ a collection of songs from his 7 official solo albums. A natural storyteller, Dean draws inspiration from his life, his family and travels. Some are from his personal history including the title track, about his father’s life from the shipyards in Leith to working the roads across Scotland and ‘Dora’ – about his circus born grandmother and his lion tamer ancestor (Ambrose Salvona) – who originally came from northern Italy and ended up in a graveyard in Inverness, with a Salvation Army band salute at his funeral.
Other songs on the album are drawn from stories he’s been told or imagined, like ‘Elvis Was My Brother’ and ‘The Night Johnny Cash Played San Quentin’. Owens’ songs aim to capture universal themes within personal stories. More intimate numbers like ‘Evergreen’ are counterpointed with big production numbers like ‘Southern Wind’ which won the UK Song of the Year award at the AMA-UK festival in 2019, and the Faces inspired pub rock of ‘The Last Song’.
Dean Owens has teamed up with top producers in recent years such as Neilson Hubbard, alongside musicians including long time collaborator, award-winning guitarist/songwriter Will Kimbrough (of Emmylou Harris’s Red Dirt Boys) and Al Perkins. Closer to home, the song ‘Strangers Again’ features a duet with Scottish singer Karine Polwart.
Looking ahead, Dean Owens will be recording his next album in Tucson, Arizona with Calexico, as he aims to explore new directions. In the meantime, you can catch him at the following dates:
The Man From Leith Tour:
FRI 13 MAR – Leith Dockers Club, Edinburgh SOLD OUT
SAT 14 MAR – The String Jam Club, Selkirk
THU 19 MAR – Top Secret Blues Festival, Scarborough
TUE 24 MAR – Green Note, London
THU 26 MAR – The Stables, Milton Keynes
SAT 28 MAR – Roman Lakes, Stockport
THU 21 – SUN 24 May – Orkney Folk Festival, Orkney
TUE 2 JUN – The Glad Cafe, Glasgow
FRI 5 JUN – Diseworth Village Hall, Leics
SAT 4 Jul – Maverick Festival, Suffolk
FRI 10 JUL – Norden Farm, Maidenhead
