Crete, Russell Brand, Dean Friedman & Irvine Welsh!!!

Hi there.

It's been a busy old month so far.

I just got back from having a fantastic time out in Chania, Crete where I played a couple of solo shows at the Artemis Apartments in Stavros near Chania. They were lovely warm nights under the moonlight by the swimming pool.

As soon as I got back to Edinburgh via London I had to travel through to Glasgow to do Dean Friedman's Real American Folk show on BBC Radio Scotland. This was a live show from the rooftop cafe of the brand new BBC headquarters at Pacific Quay down by the River Clyde. It was great fun and a wonderful setting for a show. I was asked to perform one song by a songwriter who came from the Hudson River area so I played the Bruce Springsteen song One Step Up. I also played my own song from the River Clyde area - Raining In Glasgow and guess what??? It wasn't raining!! You can re-listen to this show for the next week by going to -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/ and following the listen again instructions.

The next morning I was off back down to London to do The Russell Brand Show on BBC Radio 2. I was asked to play one of my own songs, but also to summarise the show in song at the end of the programme. This would have been a lot easier to do had I not been left in an office for the first 45 minutes of the show without a radio!! I had no idea what they were talking about and wondered how the hell I was supposed to summarise a show I couldn't hear. However it all worked out in the end as I caught the main part of the show and was filled in on what I'd missed. Russell has a good team of people working with him who were very kind.
To hear my daft wee song and the rest of the show go to -http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/brand/ and follow the instructions to listen again. You can also download the podcast.
Russell was a lovely guy. The show is pretty mental, but great fun.

Irvine Welsh (author of Trainspotting) has been saying nice things about me and Whisky Hearts in The New York Times. Check it out - http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/living-with-music-a-playlist-by-irvine-welsh/

I have some shows coming up in September.
They are:

September 7th - The Queens Hall, Edinburgh. This is a show to celibrate 30 years of the Canongate Youth Project and other performers on the night include the wonderful Karine Polwart and the legendary Dick Gaughan.

September 15th - The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen. This is a full band show at one of my favourite Scottish venues.

September 19th - The Village, Leith, Edinburgh. This is a solo show in a small intimate venue just a stones throw from where I grew up in Leith.

September 23rd - The Maze, Nottingham. This is a duo show in one of my favourite venues in England.

September 26th -The Darvel Festival (near Kilmarnock) this should be a great night and is part of this fantastic festival in Ayrshire. Also on the bill this night is my good friend Michael Weston King and also Keiran Docherty. Get your tickets and information now from - www.darvelmusicfestival.org

That's it for now.
Enjoy what's left of the summer.
Dean

update

Hi there.

Nice to see Whisky Hearts finally in the shops this week.

All going well so far.

I've just had it confirmed that I will be headlining The Darvel Music Festival (near Kilmarnock, Scotland) with The Whisky Hearts on September 26th. My buddy Michael Weston King will be on before us along with the Kieran Docherty Band. Should be a good night. Doors 7.30pm - Tickets £10. Ticket outlets and concert information at www.darvelmusicfestival.org

I'll be doing other dates in September with the Whisky Hearts. They should be confirmed in the next week or so.

Remember if you're looking for the album and your local store doesn't have it then make sure you ask them to order some in. Thanks.

That's all for now from a very gloomy Edinburgh. Still not too long now till my gigs in Crete.

Cheers.
Dean

week1

Hi there.

Whisky Hearts is in the shops now. At last!

Nice to finally see it on the shelves.

I've just had it confirmed that I will be headlining with The Whisky Hearts at the Darvel Music Festival (near Kilmarnock, Scotland) on the 26th of September. My buddy Michael Weston King is on before us along with the Kieran Docherty Band. Ticket outlets and concert information at www.darvelmusicfestival.org

Should be good.

We will be doing other dates in September. I'll confirm these in the next week or so.

I've been working on a lot of new songs recently. Don't know what I'll be doing with them yet, but it's always good to have some up my sleeve.

I'll maybe try a couple out at the September gigs.

Remember if your local store doesn't have a copy of Whisky Hearts please ask them to get some in.

That's all for now from a rather gloomy Edinburgh. Where is the summer??

Still not long till my gigs in Crete!

Cheers.

Dean

album launch

Hi there.
My new album Whisky Hearts finally hits the shops today. At last!!

I had a great album launch party last week here in Edinburgh at my good friend Douglas Robertsons photography studio.
It was great to see so many old friends there.
I did an acoustic set with my old buddys Kev McGuire who plays bass on Whisky Hearts and keyboard player Kenny Hutchison. We played around 7 songs from the album. It was a really wonderful evening.
Colin Burnette-Dick from Vermillion Road Records and his wife Pauline came up from London and my manager Davie Gardner managed to make it down from Shetland, plus my whole family were there. It was nice to be able to play Man From Leith for my dad. A special moment for me. My daughter Billie checked everyone off the guest list and made sure everyone knew where the food and drink was!! Although some who were there didn't need to be told where the free alcohol was! Not naming any names!!

It was really nice that promoter James Windsor from Cosmic American Promotions in Nottingham made it up for the launch. The song Beth On The Trampoline was inspired by his daughter Beth.
Good also to have my old friend Karen Miller along from The Miller Tells Her Tale (online radio show) and BBC Radio Scotlands Brand New Country.
Just a shame none of the great American musicians who played on the album were in the UK. Would have been nice to have had those guys there to help me celebrate.
Whisky Hearts was originally meant to be released last Monday the 4th, but was put back a week and is now officially on sale at all good record shops (and a few crap ones) and available online at all the usual outlets.

A band tour for September is being planned at the moment.
We will be headlining the Darvel Music Festival - 26 September 2007 - Doors 7.30pm - Tickets £10
support Michael Weston King and Kieran Docherty Band. Ticket outlets and concert information at www.darvelmusicfestival.org

Currently listening to the new Nick Lowe and Wilco albums (both brilliant), plus John Phillips from The Mamas and Papas solo album - John The Wolfking Of LA. Some lovely stuff on there.

Here's an early review of Whisky Hearts from the Scotland On Sunday newspaper:

DEAN OWENS
Whisky Hearts ****Vermillion Road vrr001
After more years making music than his youthful enthusiasm suggests, the former Felson has turned out a career-best record. His early pop rock expression has now been fully integrated with more recent explorations of country and roots, creating a musical skin Owens finally seems comfortable in.
Recorded in Nashville with contributions from serious players such as Will Kimbrough and Al Perkins, he wears his Scottish heart on his musical sleeve in 'Man From Leith'. Whisky Hearts may be the record on which Dean Owens finally arrived.



Not a bad start.

That's all for now.
Hope you like the album when you hear it.

Cheers.
Dean

Dean Owens on Russel Brand Show

Hi there.

Yes the wonderful Russel Brand played Raining In Glasgow from my new record Whisky Hearts on his BBC Radio 2 show on Saturday night. For lot's of fun and nonsense you can re-listen to his programme by going to Radio 2's website.

The album artwork is all done and ready to go now so Whisky Hearts should be in shops at the end of May. Keep and eye on the website for details and live dates.

Cheers for now.
Dean

Celtic Connections

Well it's been a long time since I updated this blog.

Last Tuesday night I played the fantastic Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. My show was at the ABC, a great new venue in the centre of town. I was opening for my old Nashville friend Suzy Bogguss, plus Gretchen Peters and Matraca Berg who were doing a "in the round" style show. It was a wonderful evening. Suzy and I have been friends for a few years ever since she and The Felsons played the Big Big Country festival in Glasgow together. We've always stayed in touch and met up when I've been out in Nashville. I've also played a couple of shows with Gretchen in the past few years so it was nice to see her again.
It was my first show in quite a while and to be honest I was a little bit nervous as I was planning to play mostly songs from my forthcoming Whisky Hearts record which I hadn't played since I'd recorded them. I was put at ease as soon as I walked onstage by a fantastic Glasgow welcome. The crowd were really warm and good fun. I got a great reaction to the new material and especially one of the new album songs - Raining In Glasgow.
Before I went on Suzy had asked me if I was going to be playing any songs from my Droma Tapes record as it was one of her favourite records. I was very surprised and pleased to hear this so played Strangers Again for her. Thankfully she loved it!
I finished my set off with the song Years Ago which will be the first single from Whisky Hearts and this also got a great reaction.

It was nice to hear Suzy, Gretchen and Matraca singing together. I'd never heard Matraca live before and I was really impressed. She was good fun. It was also the first time I'd heard Suzy solo. She has such a beautiful voice it was so good to hear her play just with her acoustic guitar and no frills. Matraca had her husban Jeff Hanna from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with her and he also got up for a couple of songs
I think a great night was had by all.

I had to play the festival club at the Holiday Inn later on that night. Most of the artist do a short set there.
I thought I was doing a solo set of 20 minutes or so, but just before I started my best buddy Kev (McGuire) turned up at the side of the stage with his double bass (he'd been playing in town that night with Eddi Reader). Kev got up to join me for my set. When I started to play Strangers Again suddenly from the front of the stage Karine Polwart jumped up to sing with me which was a very pleasant surprise. Finally on the last track Eddi Readers drummer got up behind the stage drumkit. All very good fun.

Later on Eddi Reader asked me up onstage to sing on a Tom Waits song with her and her band.

A really special night for me all round.

That's all for now.

Whisky Hearts is still due out in May followed by the band tour. I'll keep you posted.
Cheers.
Dean