Best UK Artist – Americana-UK Readers Poll 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Best UK Album – Americana-UK Readers Poll 2022
#2 Album of the Year 2022 (Sinner’s Shrine) – Heaven Magazine Readers Poll (Netherlands)
UK Song of the Year – AMA-UK
An award winning, adventurous troubadour, a natural collaborator and a consummate live performer. His 12 (official) solo albums, mostly recorded in the US, have seen him collaborate with some of the most respected musicians and producers around (including Don Antonio, Al Perkins, Will Kimbrough, Neilson Hubbard, Grant-Lee Phillips, Gaby Moreno and Latin rock legends, Calexico (described as an intoxicating, innovative, “marriage made in heaven” collaboration)).
His 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’s searingly soulful voice and a wealth of stories, earworm inducing melodies and songs make him an unforgettable live performer.
Recent highlights include performances at the iconic Edinburgh Castle and Cambridge Folk Festival, as well as festivals in Germany and Australia (including Port Fairy Folk Festival), and regular sold out tours of the Netherlands and USA.
His current band The Sinners – a hugely talented, tight ensemble including electric guitar, bass and trumpet – can tour as a compact quartet, or as a very special 7 piece.
Press Quotes
- 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 (France)
- one of my favourite artists… very special – Bob Harris (BBC)
- varied, vibrant and thoroughly fascinating… American Songwriter
- one of the most interesting and innovative artists in Americana… Lonesome Highway
- visionary and rewarding… Folk Radio UK
- the pulse of all our lives… Irvine Welsh
Live Reviews
- a wild and swampy romp… Had the audience transfixed… Americana UK
- a pleasing blend of Scottish roots and Americana…. a beautiful performance… had people dancing at the back of the room… and the whole room singing… Hands Up For Trad
- poetic subtlety… and lyrics with metaphorical elegance. Musically, the meeting of Gaelic melancholy and folky country lightness… Gaesteliste.de
- Edinburgh’s finest… Edinburgh Evening News
In March 2020 Dean curated the inaugural Cash back In Fife Festival celebrating the legacy of Johnny Cash.
He also plays in various collaborations including as Redwood Mountain (with trad fiddle player Amy Geddes, exploring the song collections of Alan Lomax), and is a founding member of US/UK collective Buffalo Blood – described by BBC’s Paul Sexton as “an Americana supergroup“.
He has worked as a producer with Kirsten Adamson (Landing Place) and Ags Connolly (How About Now, Nothin’ Unexpected)
Dean and his Whisky Hearts band can be seen in session on BBC Scotland’s The Quay Sessions.
Notable live gigs include Edinburgh Castle, Cambridge Folk Festival (stage 2), Australia’s Port Fairy Folk Festival and Blue Mountains Music Festival, Levitt Shell Memphis TN, regular headline appearances at Celtic Connections and Southern Fried Festivals (including Northern Star: Scotland Sings Canada), Queen’s Hall Edinburgh (including The Men From Leith show (inspired by Dean’s classic song Man From Leith) with Dick Gaughan and Blue Rose Code), and opening spots for Rosanne Cash (London’s Union Chapel), Gretchen Peters, Jason Isbell and Patti Griffin. He has toured with Grant Lee Phillips (UK and Ireland) and Will Hoge (Holland, Denmark and Norway).