UK Artist Of The Year 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, UK Album Of The Year 2023 – Americana UK Readers’ Poll
UK Song Of The Year 2019 – Americana Music Association
Album Of the Year – Heaven Magazine (Netherlands) Readers Poll – 2022
Award winning troubadour Dean Owens is one of Scotland’s finest musical exports – with fans including authors Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin (whose fictional detective Rebus has Dean’s songs on his playlists), and BBC legend “Whispering” Bob Harris.
Armed with a searingly soulful voice, earworm inducing melodies and great original songs, his music is a thrilling, unique blend of Scottish roots and rocky Americana, with a touch of Calexico style desert noir.
His new album Spirit Ridge was recorded in Italy (the land of his lion tamer ancestor) with renowned producer/musician Don Antonio (Alejandro Escovedo, Sacri Cuori). Following directly on from his highly acclaimed collaborations with Latin rock legends Calexico, the songs are both monumental and deeply personal, rooted in an imaginary hinterland connecting the lush Italian hills, the US desert states and post-industrial Scotland. Stories of people and places he has encountered along the way, songs about family, sinners and saints, the displaced, the wanderers and the border ghosts.
In addition to Calexico and Don Antonio, Dean has worked with some of the most respected US musicians and producers around including a long association with Grammy nominees Will Kimbrough and Neilson Hubbard, as well as Grant-Lee Philips, The Mavericks, Al Perkins and Gaby Moreno.
Recent live highlights include standing ovations at Cambridge Folk Festival, sold out tours in the Netherlands, USA and UK, and a performance at Edinburgh Castle. 2025 kicked off at Glasgow’s legendary Celtic Connections before hitting the road in Australia for a 3-week tour including the renowned Port Fairy Folk Festival.
Dean is a consummate live performer, equally compelling as a solo performer, as a duo (with trumpet) or with his 4-piece band ‘Dean Owens & The Sinners’, who make a glorious, brass infused, driving sound with electric guitar, trumpet and double bass. Crossing genres, hard to categorise, but never less than 100% entertaining.
Expect a joyous mix of songs and stories from Dean’s 12 album career, and a life on the road; the heart of a rock’n’roller combined with the spellbinding delivery of folk’s best storytellers, with humour and melancholy intertwined.
- Owens sings with a dark majesty that matches the gigantic emotional pull of his songs… **** Mojo
- More intoxicating than the most treacherous of mezcals… **** Rolling Stone
- A wild and swampy romp… Had the audience transfixed… Americana UK
- Dean’s songs are the pulse of all our lives… Irvine Welsh
- UK’s finest… Bob Harris (BBC)
- Profound… rich and delicious… with Dean’s trademark lyrical and vocal lucidity… No Depression