Dean Owens has a few hats and this year he will be using one of them in his Fringe shows.
Come and help him pick a selection of songs from a hat, from his glittering seven album back catalogue, including internationally acclaimed new Nashville-recorded release, Southern Wind.
Genre crossing musician armed with a searingly soulful voice, skilfully crafted stories, banter, and earworm inducing melodies.
He was the first Scottish musician to officially showcase at the prestigious Americanafest in Nashville when he performed in a guest spot with the Mavericks at their all star show at the Basement East and he got a mention in Rolling Stone.
Songs from his album Southern Wind will feature strongly in Dean’s Edinburgh Fringe shows, but with a fun twist. For these solo shows, entitled A Hatful of Songs, Dean will also put a selection of song titles, chosen by fans, from his previous 6 solo albums and 3 Felsons albums, into his best Stetson, some of which will be picked out by members of the audience on the night.
Dean said: “I love the freedom of solo shows, when you don’t have to work to a set list. Fans usually wait till the end of a show, then say “I was hoping you’d play…” and by then it’s too late. This way they’re involved from the start. I just hope I can still remember all the words if they come up with some real oldies!”
Dean’s final project (for the moment) is Cash Back (Songs I Learned From Johnny) which he was invited to bring to the reinvigorated Fringe by the Sea festival (North Berwick).
Based on his popular CD of the same name (released on Drumfire Records), Cash Back played to a full house and rave reviews at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Dean will again be joined on stage by guitarist Craig Ross and his former Felsons buddy Kevin McGuire, as the Celtabilly Allstars, as they tip their hats to one of America’s most revered musicians. With songs written, covered and inspired by The Man in Black, this will be a fun night, in a gorgeous spiegeltent, rocking by the Bass Rock, just across the water from the place which Johnny Cash himself was proud to recognise as his ancestral homeland.
After the Fringe Dean will be heading to USA for a short tour which includes Albino Skunk Festival in South Carolina and a headline slot at the prestigious Levitt Shell in Memphis, TN – the outdoor stage where Elvis Presley played his first paid gig. Dean will be releasing his song Elvis Was My Brother (from Southern Wind) as a digital single on 16 Aug (the 41st anniversary of Elvis’s death). There will be a video too, with loads of clips from Dean’s travels in the USA.
Dean: The song was inspired by a dear friend who told me how he had been raised by his mother, and didn’t really know his dad. He moved around a lot as a kid and found comfort in some old cassette tapes. The one he loved most was an old Elvis Presley tape. He said Elvis felt like the only male figure in his life. His friend, his brother. I’m over the moon about the idea of playing this in Memphis, on the same stage where Elvis started out.
Dean Owens a Hatful of Songs 1 and 14 August 2018 at The Stand’s New Town Theatre Lower Hall 22.30
Fri 10 Aug Dean Owens & The Celtabilly Allstars Fringe by the Sea, North Berwick
Cash Back (Songs I Learned From Johnny)
Sat 11 Aug Dean Owens (solo) – A Hatful of Songs New Town Theatre (Edinburgh Fringe)
Tue 14 Aug Dean Owens (solo) – A Hatful of Songs New Town Theatre (Edinburgh Fringe)
Thu 4 Oct Dean Owens + band Albino Skunk Festival, SC (USA)
Sat 6 Oct Dean Owens + band Levitt Shell, Memphis (USA)
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
