Whisky Hearts - Dean Owens Album Review
Photo By:Douglas Robertson
Album Review
Scot does mostly Americana – really well too.
Edinburgh’s very own singer – songwriter Dean Owens brings out a country rock gem. For Whisky Hearts Owens has peeped over ‘The Pond’ and done Americana as well as any American can do. Owens was formerly lead singer with little recognised county-rockers the Felsons. Since branching out solo, he’s retained his former band’s sensibilities but added his own stylings, which are accessible at every point on his third album. Apparently written in the Mojave Desert in California and recorded later in Tennessee’s Nashville, he’s dug deep into the psyche of Americana with both locations providing plenty of influences and inspiration on songs ranging from getting older, relationships, and of course, the Californian desert it was written in. For the opener Year’s Ago, he’s hit on the big sound of The Boss – Bruce Springsteen and it works splendidly giving the collection an uplifting punch with Jeff Coffin’s sax going well into Clarence Clemons mode. There’s a dramatic stylistic change on Beth On The Trampoline, dropping into a gentler but equally impressive ditty, as is the sublime acoustic lead Adrift, lush with harmonies and melody.
The pace quickens on rasping pop- rockers Nothing To Lose and Leaving To Remains. These are the kind of songs tailor made for BBC Radio 2 play lists. Catchy, without losing credibility. Better still as a single is the honeyed lament of Miss You CA where Gram Parsons’ buddy Al Perkins runs amok with his pedal steel. He also adds some gorgeous touches to swaying and harmony-heavy Just Another Sunday.
Hallelujah, the only song hasn’t written here, has a peculiar mix of Springsteen meets The Rolling Stones, coming on strong with Jagger inflections. Not wishing to sell his soul entirely to the States, he’s not forgotten his roots on the last three songs like delightful ballad Raining In Glasgow. Whisky Hearts and The Man From Leith are tales of ship-building folk. Despite the musical shift, they seem to blend well the previous American template, basically because of the top quality Anglo-American musicians he’s recruited, which are nine in total.
File under: Tasty stuff.
