"beguiling desert noir… as wide and deep as the Grand Canyon…" 8/10 (Uncut) // "mystical musical adventure… a dreamy dramatic affair…" **** (Record Collector) // "a glorious transatlantic collaboration…" **** (The Scotsman) // "One of my favourite artists…" (Bob Harris, BBC)
|
Dean Owens ~ Sinner's Shrine
The vinyl instalment of the award winning Scottish singer songwriter's lauded collaboration with US desert noir icons Calexico Sinner’s Shrine finally emerges from the desert sands of a global vinyl shortage for release on 29 July 2022! Recorded in Tucson AZ, the album has already received glowing international reviews from leading publications including in France, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, USA and UK. "Owens sings with a dark majesty that matches the gigantic emotional pull of his songs… deeply thoughtful and moving album of dirt caked desert noir" **** MOJO (UK) "Hauntingly beautiful album…" Badische Zeitung (Germany) "More intoxicating than the most treacherous of mezcals" **** Rolling Stone (France) – Record of the Week "The union between Owens and Calexico is just perfect" **** Buscadero (Italy) The 11 track album (specially mastered for vinyl) is manufactured on “Tucson blue” turquoise vinyl, with a gatefold sleeve, showcasing the stunning bespoke artwork by Luisa Carmela Casasanta and design by James Morrison. The music is a rich fusion of Dean’s Scottish roots and the lush, swirling desert sounds of Calexico, with each song creating its own world - stories of sinners and saints, love and lust, the displaced, the wanderers and the border ghosts. It has been described by many listeners and reviewers as a “perfect collaboration” and “a marriage made in heaven” which has produced something unique - a wonderful melange of sweeping mariachi Latin rock and sounds from Scotland’s post industrial heartlands. “Dean’s a badass! He’s got great songs, and I just really felt in line and in sync with him, and I still feel that. It’s a real gift and it’s something that doesn’t happen each time you do a session. But on this record it happened and it felt really effortless and fun and I love the way the songs flow and I think the record will stand the test of time.” Joey Burns (Calexico) In addition to members of Calexico, special guests on the album include Grant-Lee Phillips (Grant Lee Buffalo/Gilmore Girls) and Grammy nominated Guatemalan singer songwriter Gaby Moreno. Mostly self penned (and produced) there are a couple of co-writes, with Gabriel Sullivan (XIXA/Giant Sand)) and Nels Andrews. While still rooted in Dean’s signature sound, distinctive voice, and gift for economic storytelling, each song sees him pushing the boundaries, adding desert noir and Latin notes to his musical palette. Sinner’s Shrine is a joint release on Eel Pie Records (UK) and Continental Record Services (Netherlands). |
|
|
Dean Owens ~ The Man From Leith (The Best Of Dean Owens)
Award winning Scottish singer songwriter Dean Owens, from Leith, Edinburgh, is widely hailed as one of the UK’s finest troubadours, with fans including Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh – who wrote the sleeve notes for this release – and BBC legend "Whispering" Bob Harris. Originally the front man for Scottish alt country/cowpunk band The Felsons, Dean has had an almost 20 year, 7 album solo career (receiving 4 and 5 star reviews, and comparisons with the likes of Springsteen, Ryan Adams, Roddy Frame and Richard Ashcroft). The title song from his recent highly acclaimed Southern Wind album won the UK Song of the Year Award 2019 (AMA-UK). The Man From Leith (The Best of Dean Owens) is a collection of songs from Dean’s 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, the acclaimed Man From Leith (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 north Italy and ended up in a graveyard in Inverness (with a Salvation Army band salute at his funeral). And the classic Raining In Glasgow, written in Australia, thinking about home. Others are drawn from stories he has been told or imagined, like Elvis Was My Brother and The Night Johnny Cash Played San Quentin. His songs capture the universal within the personal stories. There are intimate songs like Evergreen, big production numbers like the award winning Southern Wind and the whooping, hollering pub rock of The Last Song. The Man From Leith was released 20 March 2020 on Eel Pie Records. |
|
BUFFALO BLOOD - EPRLP001
Buffalo Blood, the album, was born in the heart of the New Mexico desert, recorded on location at the stunning La Plaza Blanca, Echo Canyon, and around Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu (known to many as the setting for much of the hit TV series Breaking Bad). The songs and music of Buffalo Blood are the musicians' response to the area where it was recorded: of living and working in the place, with the heat, the dust, the stark, spectacular beauty of the canyons and red rocks, thinking about the people, especially the Native Americans, who lived there before, listening to the sounds of the wind, the birds and the animals (much of which finds its way on to the recordings, which were all made live, outdoors).
Buffalo Blood is an international collaboration of three US musicians - 'Grammy Nominee' Neilson Hubbard, Joshua Britt and Audrey Spillman - and one UK musician – Dean Owens - with sound engineer/photographer Jim DeMain, all of whom had worked together previously on various projects. Collectively they were inspired to decamp from their cosy studio spaces in Nashville TN and Leith (Scotland), following the Trail of Tears over 1300 miles to spend 2 weeks living and recording way out in the desert, to create the music - songs of displacement, immigration, refugees and the power of the human spirit - for Buffalo Blood. http://www.buffaloblood.com/ @buffalo_blood The music draws on a wide range of influences, including Scottish roots and Nashville Americana, resulting in a recording which includes chants and a whistling instrumental as well as stories – some based on real people and events, some fictional. Fighting over the value of one life over another, or one way of living over another, defines our past and probably our future, with consequences on every side when the human spirit is crushed. Nevertheless it’s possible to retain a belief in that spirit, and celebrate the power of optimism and determination (I’m Alive and Vanishing World counterbalancing the poignancy of Daughter of the Sun and White River and the anger of Comanche Moon). There's a vital universality to the music, underpinned with the belief that art is the most powerful thing that we have to connect us.
|
Redhawk Native American Arts CouncilWe are donating £1 from the sale of each album to the Redhawk Native American Arts Council.
https://redhawkcouncil.org/ @RedhawkArts |
