About the Artist

** Harmony Fest in Harmony Park, located directly across from Hey Nonny, will be occurring during this performance. Please note, parking may be limited and food service may not be available. Drink service WILL be available.

Award winning Scottish singer songwriter Dean Owens is one of UK’s finest troubadours, with fans including authors Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting), Ian Rankin (whose iconic character Rebus has Dean’s CDs on playlist!) and BBC legend “Whispering” Bob Harris.

Dean Owens is an adventurous, award winning, troubadour, and a natural wanderer. His 9 (official) acclaimed solo albums, mostly recorded in the US, have seen him collaborate with some of the most respected musicians and producers around (including Al Perkins, Will Kimbrough, Neilson Hubbard, Grant-Lee Phillips and most recently, Gaby Moreno and Latin rock legends, Calexico).

His most recent album, 2022’s Sinner’s Shrine (recorded in Tucson with members of Calexico) has been pulling superlative-laden reviews from publications throughout Europe, described as an intoxicating, innovative, perfect, “marriage made in heaven” collaboration. 2023’S follow up (with some tracks recorded at the Sinner’s Shrine sessions, some long distance with the Calexico musicians), El Tiradito (The Curse Of Sinner’s Shrine) is a double CD release, including an all instrumental “soundtrack for an imaginary Western”.

There are stories of love and lust, sinners and saints, the displaced, the wanderers and the border ghosts, infused with the dramatic Panavision desert sweep of Calexico, with Joey Burns’ guttural guitar, John Convertino’s masterful drumming and percussion, and sweeping mariachi horns.

Dean’s music has been described as a unique blend of Scottish roots and Americana, but in truth it’s hard to pin down to a single genre.  With each album he has pushed his own boundaries, constantly exploring, as his travels have taken him from Scotland’s post industrial heartlands to Nashville, New York and the panoramic vistas of the US deserts.

Dean is a consummate live performer, with a searingly soulful voice and a wealth of stories, earworm inducing melodies and songs; the heart of a rock n roller and the spellbinding delivery of folk’s best storytellers. With Sinner’s Shrine he has added desert noir and Latin nuances to his already extensive musical palette (with his influences ranging across country, classical, punk and indie, through jazz, folk and rock).

2022’s highlights included performances at the iconic Edinburgh Castle, as well as festivals in Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands.

His current band The Sinners – a hugely talented, tight ensemble including electric guitar, bass and trumpet – can tour as a compact quartet, or, as at 2023’s sold out Celtic Connections showcase, a very special 7 piece.

Dean is currently working on a new album, Spirit Ridge, recording in Italy in the land of his lion tamer ancestor, for release in Summer/Fall 2024.

In 2019 Dean won UK Song of the Year Award at the Americana Music Association UK Awards for the title track of his 2018 release Southern Wind (co-written with long term collaborator Will Kimbrough); in 2017 he became the first Scottish musician to officially showcase at the prestigious AmericanaFest Nashville.

He has toured with The Mavericks, Grant-Lee Phillips, Will Hoge and opened for artists including Roseanne Cash, Jason Isbell and Patty Griffin. Dean’s music has taken him around the world, especially Europe, USA and Australia: from Arizona to Adelaide, from Leith to Louisville to Lerwick.

In March 2020 he created and curated a new festival Cash Back in Fife celebrating the legacy and inspiration of The Man in Black. In October 2021 he was invited to participate in The Official Johnny Cash Heritage Festival (broadcast online from Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas, USA)

He is a member of Buffalo Blood collective (“a US/UK Americana supergroup” – Paul Sexton BBC), with Grammy nominated, award winning producer/musician Neilson Hubbard, Audrey Spillman and Joshua Britt. Their debut self-titled album was released in 2019, and premiered at Celtic Connections. It was recorded on location in the New Mexico desert, with songs about displacement, migration, refugees and the trails of tears.

Dean also works occasionally as a producer, including on Ags Connolly‘s acclaimed first two albums and most recently with Scottish singer songwriter Kirsten Adamson for her album Landing Place.