Amongst the numerous plaudits Dean Owens has gathered, he has been voted British Americana Artist of the Year for the last three years on this very website so this review will if nothing else be reassuring voters that he is still at the top of his game. With over 20 years on the touring and recording clock, with his roots in Leith, an Edinburgh suburb, underpinning much of his early work, the evolution in recent years has been the shift towards the sounds and moods of the American southwestern desert and Mexican borderline. Initially with his highly rated work with Calexico duo, Joey burns and John Convertino, and very recently an ’adapted’ vibe with The Sinners who share his Scottish roots. He’s certainly been prolific in the last half-decade, perhaps the long-enforced hiatus in touring was instrumental in freeing up the head space for this.
Tonight, prior to their appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival, they play two sets with an interval. Owens is as affable as ever on stage and is a confident and droll talker. Wearing his customary pork pie hat and a smart velvet jacket that is cast aside after a few songs on this warm evening, the quartet filled the little stage, the double bass commandeering a large proportion. The band comprises Craig Ross on electric, guitar, Adam Macmillan on bass and Philip Cardwell on trumpet and the collective performance is right on point.
Early tune ‘Arizona’ is taken from Owens’ “Sinners Shrine’”and rolls along winningly harmonised vocals enriching the melancholic tone of the trumpet. Indeed, Owens says that the set will “start from melancholy and work our way through to total despair.”
Next up is ‘Hopeless Ghosts’ which is acknowledged as nodding to Townes van Zandt with its refrain “There’s no town that feels like home” and then we have the first song he recorded with Calexico, ‘New Mexico’, which chunters along powerfully. It is, as the lyrics set out, the dedicatee of the song as much as the land itself which is the main attraction. Then follows ‘Light Of This World ‘, a glimpse of the forthcoming album. Musically it is in similar vein to Calexico liaisons, albeit lighter on the desert rock noir tints.
Owens has a reputation as a standout whistler and this is up front and centre on the instrumental ‘The Rain That Never Lands’ as the guitars cry out, and the tune could serve as a soundtrack for a notional spaghetti western. Drawing from across his career, ‘Being Strangers Again’ was initially recorded as a duet with Karine Polwart some 20 years ago though Owens explains that his target partner was Willie Nelson and indeed it has a more twangy country style than most of the set
Eclectic in his inspirations, ‘Boxing Shorts’ is off the “Pictures” album, recorded virtually with Nashville musicians, and it recalls his youthful boxing days in Leith, his first boxing coach sadly succumbing to heroin addiction; the unearthing of his teenage shorts during a house clear out had set his memory rolling back.
Explaining the context for the forthcoming album which was recorded in Italy we learn that, oddly, his own great great grandfather was an Italian lion tamer. Maybe one day Owens might draw on this lineage and consider a leonine version of the Eagles classic Lion Eyes.
The first song after the after the break is ‘The Spirit Of Us’, played solo as a sad tribute to two recently deceased Scottish friends of his, one a regular on the gigging circuit. Next up was the lead song from Owens’ new EP ‘My Beloved Hills’ and its rich sound is a highlight with Ross’s guitar standing out and melding smoothly with the trumpet.‘Raining in Glasgow’ is encouraged for audience participation for the three word chorus and is clearly not drawn from the Arizona portfolio. ‘Land Of The Hummingbird’ is the award winning song he duetted with Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno on his album and he sings this tonight without her Spanish part but it’s still a punchy melody with baked in Hispanic rhythm.
‘Southern Wind’, the eponymous album song is a glorious humdinger and befits its award of song of the year from the AMAUK a few years back. It matches the classics of an Isbell or Seger. Final offering is ‘The Night Johnny Cash Played San Quentin’, sung from the perspective of the imprisoned character and the quartet wrap up in boogie style. As ever, Owens is appreciative and very much appreciated.
Thanks to Cath Dupuy for the photography.
Great review,captures what Dean is all about but…..have to say the good people of Leith will not take kindly to its description as a “suburb”.Leith has a proud history all of its own.