Owen Temple

Artist Information

Biography

Mountain Home, the sixth studio record from Austin, Texas-based songwriter Owen Temple, is a collection of 10 songs about eccentric characters living extraordinary lives in small towns and on the fringes of big cities.

The characters are all on edge- on the verge of freedom, catastrophe, and hope- and the songs tell of strange happenings in rural landscapes both past and present.

Recorded with producer Gabe Rhodes, the album has the feel of a live performance with stellar contributions from Charlie Sexton on bass and baritone guitar, Bukka Allen on keyboards, Tommy Spurlock on pedal steel, and drummer Rick Richards.

The project includes songs written by Temple and co-writes with Adam Carroll, Scott Nolan, and Gordy Quist (of the Band of Heathens). Temple’s love of folk, blues, and bluegrass shines through in the arrangements and the playing of his compadres.

“I love traditional music- old songs that cross time and space to tell you what the people cared about,” Temple says. “With my songs I'm trying to get down some of the stories of this place.”

_____________________________________

Produced by Gabriel Rhodes
Recorded at Graceyland / Sunbird Studios, Austin, Texas

OWEN TEMPLE - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
CHARLIE SEXTON - Baritone Guitar, Bass
GABRIEL RHODES - Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Dobro, Piano
RICK RICHARDS - Drums, Percussion
BRIAN STANDEFER - Cello
BUKKA ALLEN - Piano, Organ, Accordion
TOMMY SPURLOCK - Pedal Steel Guitar
ADAM CARROLL - Harmonica
GORDY QUIST - Harmony Vocals
JAMIE WILSON - Harmony Vocals
_______________________________

Praise for Owen Temple:

"Playing off North America's regions, travel album delivers concept richly- a perfect soundtrack for an Independence Day weekend" - Dave Hoekstra, Chicago Sun-Times

"Temple is as much folk as country, with a finely honed lyrical sense, a wry sense of humor, and a knack for blending melancholy melodies with ingenious wordplay that can conceal as much as it reveals... his ability to deliver telling insights without resorting to clichés or obvious images marks him as an original voice." - J. Poet, All Music Guide

"thanks to simply yet vividly developed real-world characters, the relentless melancholy doesn't get old. Rather, Dollars and Dimes is comforting in its gloom and nostalgia, and the moody, understated accompaniment from producer Gabriel Rhodes and backing players fits the mood like an old pair of Levi's." - Jesse Hughey, Dallas Observer

"an artful shot of reality, as told through the memory and perspective of a traveler with perhaps more questions than answers. Drawing on the current socio-economical climate, Temple has crafted an album that will remind many that story-telling can be relevant and revealing when looking into times of crisis." - Kelly Dearmore, Twangville

"He has a curl of Townes Van Zandt's spoken-word style of singing, which lifts the sincerity and power of his lyrics." -Andy Moore, No Depression

“Owen Temple writes polished country music, infused with folk traditions. What distinguishes his songs are lyrics that extend the plainspoken stories associated with the genre into a more nuanced psychological terrain.” - Isthmus (Madison, WI)

Instrumentation

Owen tours both solo acoustic and with numerous band configurations (3-5 piece) -- Combination of Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass, Drums, Lapsteel, Dobro, Pianos, and Harmony.

Record Label:
El Paisano Records
1201 W 24th Street, Ste 107
Austin TX 78705
512.553.3790 office

Discography

1997 General Store (produced by Lloyd Maines)
1999 Passing Through (produced by Lloyd Maines)
2002 Right Here and Now (produced by Phil Madeira)
2007 Two Thousand Miles (produced by Lloyd Maines)
2009 Dollars and Dimes (produced by Gabriel Rhodes)
2011 Mountain Home (produced by Gabriel Rhodes)

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Last.fm
• MySpace

Audio

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Travel album delivers concept richly [+ Show ]
  

  Texas singer-songwriter Owen Temple has delivered one of my all-time favorite travel albums with "Do...Texas singer-songwriter Owen Temple has delivered one of my all-time favorite travel albums with "Dollars and Dimes," released last month on El Paisano Records.
  
  Temple used the 1981 book The Nine Nations of North America as a template for his music. Author Joel Garreau contends that North America can be divided into nine regions, or "nations." He says borders between states are irrelevant and regions are better defined through economic and cultural identity.
  
  » Click to enlarge image
  
  Owen Temple used the book The Nine Nations of North America as the template for his album "Dollars and Dimes."
  
  
  
  It's a perfect soundtrack for an Independence Day weekend.
  
  Chicago, for example, falls into Garreau's "The Foundry" region, which clusters industrial cities of the Great Lakes as well as Southern Ontario with Toronto as its hub. Detroit is the capital of "The Foundry."
  
  Then there's "Ecotopia," Garreau's green region of Washington state, Oregon, Alaska south through British Columbia and California north of Santa Barbara. San Francisco is the capital of "Ecotopia."
  
  Texas? It's always been into maverick thinking like this.
  
  Last year Temple and his Texas producer-guitarist Gabe Rhodes (Billy Joe Shaver, etc.) rented a Subaru and embarked on a tour of the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast.
  
  "There was something about hitting all those regions without coming home," said Temple, 32, a native of Kerrville, Texas. "We started trading ideas about where the cutoffs were. Some people argue that when you see a Waffle House you are in the South. When we saw numbers on the back of the cars we knew we were in NASCAR country."
  
  The album's concept took a deeper turn when Temple mentioned The Nine Nations of North America, which was a reading tip from fellow Texas songwriter Brian Rung. "It's about hard times and is very relevant now," Temple said. "The book was fun, like, 'We're going to Ecotopia.' But I saw the author's bigger point, which is that states don't make much sense where changes happen. What's the difference between the Panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma? Nothing, unless you're talking about college football."
  
  Spiritually, it can be argued the nine nations converge in Chicago.
  
  The "Dollars and Dimes" dramatic cover art was shot from an airplane by Chicago photographer Jonathan Lurie.
  
  "I was looking for something that looked like any city, but a special city," Temple said. "I was looking at aerial pictures on Flicker and [was] sure I was going to be charged like $4,000."
  
  Turns out all Lurie asked was that Temple make a donation to the Children's Place Association to use the photo he calls "Gotham of the Midwest."
  
  "That's why this has been an inspiring project," Temple said. "He's a Chicago native and now he's a friend."
  
  Connections are always made in travel.
  
  "The book did a good job of explaining cities at the edges," said Temple, who lived in Madison, Wis., in 2005-2006 while getting his master's in psychology at the University of Wisconsin. "There's definitely farming in Wisconsin, yet there's parts of Wisconsin that have more to do with the Great Lakes. Certain cities are intersections of these regions. Indiana, for example, has a southern Dixie thing, an industrial end on the north side and even a Heartland growing thing in the middle."
  
  "Dollars and Dimes" features 11 songs delving into distinct regions of North America, running from Winnipeg to Memphis to Los Angeles.
  
  Temple wrote "Broken Heart Land" with Indiana songwriter Jeff Burkhart, who relayed a story about a train trip he took through the dried up town of Eden, Ind. It's the jangly leadoff track on the record and begins with Temple's up close vocals: "How did your past get stuck in a pawn shop/Seems everything you owned is held in hock."
  
  "Quiet Look" is a ballad about the permanency of place in a world of change. The chorus is adapted from William Carlos Williams' 1934 poem "The Revelation."
  
  The album's title track is getting the most action on Americana radio -- which doesn't exist in Chicago. Co-written with Adam Carroll (and Temple harmonica player), the song is an ode to the sharecroppers who took the backroads from the Delta to secure jobs in Chicago, and the migrant workers and labor camps that built railroads and levees along the Mississippi River. They all worked for "Dollars and Dimes."
  
  Temple explained, "This record is about regions or people in dire straits in these regions, trying to get their bills paid: whether it is a St. Louis prostitute [in 'City of the King'] or the guy in 'Black Diamond' trying to figure out how to get money to get out." A black diamond is a lower-valued dark diamond used in industry for drilling. Temple and Carroll spent time in Black Diamond, a small town in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.
  
  "I like songs that transport you," Temple said. "A good song has a setting. It's not just 'You and I and me' and words that don't mean anything unless you got something to anchor it to."
  
  Temple's next "anchor" might be regional food.
  
  "Last night I played in Oklahoma City and I was telling people how I had to figure out another concept album," Temple said. "Maybe I'll write songs about food. I'm kidding, but maybe not. You got the barbecue, which definitely has regionalism. There's people who argue that I-35 in Texas is the marker for barbecue. You get more of a dry rub barbecue on one side and more of a soft barbecue on the other."
  
  "I like to find good fried chicken," he added, "like Gus's in Memphis."
  
  Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken is near Beale Street, at 310 S. Front St. The cooked-to-order chicken is burnished brown and never greasy.
  
  "It's not a breaded, floury chicken; it's fried skin," he said. "They soak their chicken in the skin for a long time in this spicy stuff."
  
  It has the deep taste of an Owen Temple travel song.

• Dollars and Dimes - Record Review [+ Show ]
  

  Texas born and bred singer/songwriter Owen Temple is a country artist, but like Townes Van Zandt, an...Texas born and bred singer/songwriter Owen Temple is a country artist, but like Townes Van Zandt, another Texas songwriter he's often been compared to, Temple is as much folk as country, with a finely honed lyrical sense, a wry sense of humor, and a knack for blending melancholy melodies with ingenious wordplay that can conceal as much as it reveals.
  
  This album was written and recorded between July 2008 and January 2009, and deals with the current economic downturn.
  
  Most of the songs are taken at a measured tempo and despite the gloomy subject matter, they manage to be uplifting, a tribute to Temple's songwriting craft.
  
  "Broken Heart Hand" refers to the heartland of America and could be a song about a man, a city, or a country, a slow poignant ballad Temple sings in his low register with a trace of weary resignation while producer Gabriel Rhodes adds melancholy sustained chords on his B-3.
  
  "Black Diamond" paints the portrait of a dying coal-mining town with sharply etched sketches of citizens trying to come to terms with the decay that's slowly consuming the lives they thought were going to last forever.
  
  "Making a Life" has the kind of lyrical hook that great country songs are built on: "Making a life, not just a living." It's a great song and could find favor in Nashville with any singer with the desire to cover tunes that speak honestly about hard luck and hard times.
  
  "Golden Age" takes a look back at Austin, TX, before it started getting torn up by redevelopment, a nostalgic ballad that doesn't sugarcoat the good old days when times were bad, to plagiarize a phrase.
  
  Most of the tunes on the album are somber, as befits the subject matter, but Temple always finds a glimmer of hope, even in the most depressing scenarios. Still, even when Temple does rock out, he's not delivering anything particularly uplifting.
  
  "Memphis" has a sprightly tempo and strong electric guitar work by Will Sexton, but the tale it tells is of a country girl trying to make her living working in sleazy strip bars full of drunks, druggies, and women a step away from prostitution. Temple keeps the song from being a total downer with a dose of dark humor.
  
  "I Don't Want to Do What I Do" is a country-rocker that conveys the thoughts of a doctor, lawyer, and used car salesman dealing with the recession and their fading dreams. The sprightly tempo makes a good contrast to the song's downbeat message.
  
  Temple was at university training to become a psychologist when he dropped out to pursue his muse, and his ability to deliver telling insights without resorting to clichés or obvious images marks him as an original voice.

• Country, folk, bluegrass and blues from talented Texas songsmith [+ Show ]
  

  Owen Temple: Mountain Home May 1st, 2011 Country, folk, bluegrass and blues from talented Texas so...Owen Temple: Mountain Home
  May 1st, 2011
  Country, folk, bluegrass and blues from talented Texas songsmith
  
  Owen Temple’s last album, Dollars and Dimes, took its concept from the socio-political ideas of Joel Garreau’s The Nine Nations of North America. Temple wrote songs that explored the regional ties of work and cultural belief that often transcend physical geography, zeroing in on the life issues that bind people together. With his newest songs, he’s still thinking about people, but individuals this time, catching them as a sociologist would in situations that frame their identity in snapshots of hope, fear, prejudice, heroism, and the shadows of bad behavior and disaster. As on his previous album, his songs are rooted in actual places – isolated communities that harbor dark secrets and suffocating intimacy, a deserted oil town lamented as a lost lover, a legendary red-light district, and the Texas troubadours in whose footsteps he follows. The album’s lone cover, Leon Russell’s “Prince of Peace,” is offered in tribute to a primary influence.
  
  Temple’s songs are sophisticated and enlightening, offering a view of the Texas west that’s akin to Dave Alvin’s meditations on mid-century California. He writes with a folksinger’s eye, observing intimate, interior details of every day life, and painting big, mythological sketches of Sam Houston and Cabeza de Vaca. The latter, “Medicine Man,” was co-written with Gordy Quist, and recently recorded by Quist’s Band of Heathens. Temple’s music stretches into country, bluegrass, gospel and blues, and he sings with the confidence of a writer who deeply trusts his material. Gabriel Rhodes’ production is spot-on throughout the album, giving Temple’s songs and vocals the starring roles, but subtly highlighting the instrumental contributions of Charlie Sexton, Rick Richards, Bukka Allen and Tommy Spurlock. Temple has made several fine albums, but taking intellectual input from Garreau seems to have clarified and deepened his own songwriting voice. This is an album that ingratiates itself on first pass, and reveals deep new details with each subsequent spin.

• Dollars and Dimes - Record Review [+ Show ]
  

  City folk might describe their economic plight in terms of shuttered restaurants, dwindling sales nu...City folk might describe their economic plight in terms of shuttered restaurants, dwindling sales numbers and shrinking retirement funds.
  
  But while he has lived in Dallas, Austin and even New York City, Texas songwriter Owen Temple documents the pawned guitars, crumbling factories and rusted towns of the "Broken Heart Land" that gives his album its theme (and the opening song its title). Veterans sell weed to kids and tell dirty jokes. Girls lie about their age to get on the pole and dance to the drugs and music—in that order. A sentimental encounter with a past love in "Quiet Look" and a visit to his old stomping grounds in "Golden Age" throw his current desperation into stark relief, but thanks to simply yet vividly developed real-world characters, the relentless melancholy doesn't get old.
  
  Rather, Dollars and Dimes is comforting in its gloom and nostalgia, and the moody, understated accompaniment from producer Gabriel Rhodes and backing players fits the mood like an old pair of Levi's. "I just can't get paid," Temple sings in "I Don't Want to Do What I Do." City or country, who can' t relate to that sentiment these days?
  

• New Album, Mountain Home, Released in 2011 [+ Show ]
  

  Owen Temple Returns to His Roots With Mountain Home Mountain Home, the sixth studio record from A...Owen Temple Returns to His Roots With Mountain Home
  
  Mountain Home, the sixth studio record from Austin, Texas-based songwriter Owen Temple, is a collection of songs and stories about eccentric characters set in small towns and on the fringes of big cities. Mountain Home may be his strongest collection yet.
  
  The characters are all on edge- on the verge of freedom, catastrophe, and hope- and the songs tell of strange happenings in rural landscapes both past and present.
  
  Recorded with producer Gabe Rhodes, the album has the feel of a live performance with stellar contributions from Charlie Sexton on bass and baritone guitar, Bukka Allen on keyboards, Tommy Spurlock on pedal steel and drummer Rick Richards.
  
  The project includes songs written by Temple and co-writes with Adam Carroll, Scott Nolan, and Gordy Quist (of The Band of Heathens). Temple’s love of folk, blues, and bluegrass shines through in the arrangements and the playing of his compadres.
  
  “I love traditional music- old songs that cross time and space to tell you what the people cared about,” Temple says. “With my songs I'm trying to get down some of the stories of this place.”
  
  Temple’s last album, Dollars and Dimes, hit #5 on the Freeform American Roots chart and #1 on the Euro Americana chart and earned raves for its uncompromising vision of the American dream’s darker side. On Mountain Home, Temple narrows his focus, honing in on the small towns and colorful characters of his home state. The basic tracks were cut live with minimal overdubs. Temple’s emotive singing brings the songs to vibrant life.
  
  Mountain Home explores the lives of small time hustlers, politicians, hard scrabble farmers, wildcatters, and ne’er do wells that contributed to the colorful history of Southwest Texas. Tracks include the bluesy “Medicine Man,” the story of the mad conquistador Cabeza de Vaca; “Small Town,” a talking blues that captures the claustrophobia one feels in a community where everyone knows your business; “Desdemona,” a moody eulogy to an oil rush boomtown; “Old Sam,” a salute to Sam Houston that blends the facts and fiction that gave birth to Texas mythology; and the title track, a bluegrass shuffle that tells the story of a jailbird returning home after a 20 year stretch in the pen.
  
  The songs on Mountain Home are vignettes of real life. Temple’s singing gives them a sense of time and place that makes you feel the hot dusty sun and the cold chill of the unforgiving night. The album captures the feel of the desperate dreamers who want to believe in their latest scheme, even as they feel reality breathing down their neck.
  
  Owen Temple won the B. W. Stevenson Songwriting Competition sponsored by Poor David’s Club in Dallas and became a finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival’s New Folk competition in 2007. He’s known throughout Texas, the Midwest, and the Eastern US as a first-class songwriter, compelling performer and fine singer. Three of his previous albums, General Store, Passing Through, and Two Thousand Miles, were produced by Lloyd Maines and became regional best sellers.
  
  Temple met multi-instrumentalist and producer Gabe Rhodes, son of singer/songwriter Kimmie Rhodes, in 2006. Rhodes became part of Temple’s touring band and produced Dollars and Dimes and Mountain Home. Temple and Rhodes will be touring to support the album. “I’m a songwriter out of the narrative folk tradition,” Temple says. “The songs I remember hearing years afterward, that stick with me longest, are songs that have taken me places, that allow you to travel with the story. I hope to continue that tradition, to pass that experience on.”

• Record Review - Dollars and Dimes [+ Show ]
  

  Dollars and Dimes (El Paisano Records), the new disc from Texan Owen Temple is an artful shot of rea...Dollars and Dimes (El Paisano Records), the new disc from Texan Owen Temple is an artful shot of reality, as told through the memory and perspective of a traveler with perhaps more questions than answers. Drawing on the current socio-economical climate, Temple has crafted an album that will remind many that story-telling can be relevant and revealing when looking into times of crisis.
  
  The opening notes of the opening track, “Broken Heart Land”, set the stage for the entire album. Temple’s warm tone is reminiscent of Josh Ritter’s (another great story-teller) when he hits his lower notes. In that vocal tone, Temple begins by asking, “How did your past get stuck in a pawnshop?“. Where Ritter can often spin his yarns through poetry that contains a bit of literate complexity, Temple unfolds his poetry in a more straight-forward, plain-spoken manner. Temple’s tales of plain-folk facing ever-mounting pressure and continuing complication are more subtle and respectful methods of informing the listener on various hardships that are being experienced than the recent, cliched and heavy-handed pandering that the likes of John Rich and Hank Jr. have produced lately. By writing and singing about the assorted issues from a somewhat detached point of view, Temple never reaches the insincere depths of Rich or Hank Jr., as they arrogantly crown themselves champions of the disenfranchised middle and lower class who aim to lead a simple life and possibly stick-it-to-the-man if they can.
  
  From there, we practically go on a tour of the great 48 (and beyond even). “City of The King”, “Memphis” and “Los Angeles” showcase sad and somewhat desperate scenarios. “Making a Life” brings in the hopeful glimmer as it reminds us that actually having anything of real value is indeed rare.
  
  Where Temple’s previous release, Two Thousand Miles, was a true Texas Country album that discussed rodeos, tequila and love that lasts, Dollars and Dimes is a Singer/Songwriter record that leans on folk-rock arrangements to great and appropriate effect. While, at times, the predominant theme and vibe of each individual track can feel a tad redundant, the well-told and developed stories inside of each number helps the album avoid that trap as the cohesiveness of the songs subject matter truly turns into a theme, rather than a random bunch of songs describing various people going through random and various tough times.

• NO DEPRESSION Review of “Two Thousand Miles” in Jan-Feb '08 issue [+ Show ]
  

  Owen Temple's new disc is twelve tracks of longing for his native Texas. Temple wrote these catchy t...Owen Temple's new disc is twelve tracks of longing for his native Texas. Temple wrote these catchy tunes while living for two years in Wisconsin, far away from his adopted hometown of Austin.
  
  His songs, even the rowdy ones, barrel straight through the roadhouse on the way to better, safer places, like the center of a woman's heart. He has a curl of Townes Van Zandt's spoken-word style of singing, which lifts the sincerity and power of his lyrics.
  
  "I Just Can't Quit Loving You" lopes behind producer Lloyd Maines' patient pedal steel. "Love is harder on me that anything else I've tried," he sings. His other songs show he's tried a whole lot else. "Demolition Derby" demonstrates the wreckage that happens when lovers collide. "Swear It Off Again" doesn't dismiss what you might think (alcohol); instead, it's a a tender resignation of dreams.
  
  But as dirty and desperate as Temple can get, he can't hide his good nature. The first track, "You Want To Wear That Ring," is a redemptive shout-out that rides high on David Grissom's guitar and the thunderous drumming of Dave Sanger.
  
  -ANDY MOORE

• Owen Temple - "Memphis" [+ Show ]
  

  1. It might be an understatement to say that "Memphis is not what it used to be", as Owen Temple rep...1. It might be an understatement to say that "Memphis is not what it used to be", as Owen Temple repeatedly does in "Memphis", from his recent release Dollars and Dimes. In fact, most of America is not what it used to be. Dollars and Dimes is not a nostalgic record, rather, it delves into the small stories that inhabit the forgotten areas between our big cities, and in doing so, finds the stories that make America what it is: land of freedom, land of hope, land of failure, land of dreams, and on and on and on.
  
  2. Opening with a flurry of producer Gabe Rhodes' chiming guitars, Temple encapsulates the experience of leaving Arkansas and heading across that glorious bridge over the Mississippi in search of a better opportunity. His female protagonist leaves after her "mom's boyfriend and a tornado tore up her home". She "left behind her old clothes", and dumps pictures along the highway, symbolically shedding her identity and seeking to reinvent herself. Unfortunately, few jobs are available and she is forced to use her body, which she had "learned how to use", at a seedy club in order to make ends meet. There is a commentary here on the moral degradation of the city, but the same words ring true: "Memphis is not what it used to be." Regardless of the nature of her work, his lead character makes "three thousand a week" before the government shuts it down in a drug raid, and things get tight again. After she makes plans to move to Houston, Temple reveals his interaction with her -- asking "what else in town" he should see, before she shuts him down with the same caveat heard so many other times: "Memphis is not what it used to be".
  
  3. I don't think that Owen Temple is picking on Memphis, but rather making a statement about the fading glory of middle America. Over Hunt Sales' thudding drums (which also graced Iggy Pop's Lust for Life and David Bowie's Tin Machine), he tells the story of someone in search of the American dream who finds something entirely different. This might be something that more people can relate to in these times rather than "reality" television or the misleading jargon of politics. Temple finds an America that is personal -- one not defined by state lines as much as the people that inhabit them. Things might not be that different in Memphis than they were in Arkansas, or than they will be in Houston if there isn't personal change. That is a refreshing thought for our country, and I would be glad to hear more songs like this.

• Record Review - Two Thousand Miles [+ Show ]
  

  AMG Album Pick This solid album first came out as a digital download on LoneStarTunes.com in 200...AMG Album Pick
  
  This solid album first came out as a digital download on LoneStarTunes.com in 2006 and, later on, on Lone Star Music, where it landed in the Top Ten alongside albums by Ryan Bingham and Shooter Jennings. The tunes may be older, but none of them sounds dated, either musically or lyrically. Owen Temple has been called a country artist, but he could just as easily be called folk, rock, Americana, or singer/songwriter. He crafts sprightly melodies and marries them to great lyrics full of insight and plainspoken poetry. He's also quite funny, which may hamper him in the marketplace, where humorous singers are often dismissed, but there's enough of an edge to his tunes to keep you from taking his humor seriously, if you will. Temple has a pleasing midrange voice that's able to imbue the pictures he paints with the sense of veracity that makes his songs come alive. "You Want to Wear That Ring" is a fine example of Temple at his best. He's giving advice to a buddy who's getting married, and while the tune suggests "I Fought the Law (And the Law Won)" the advice is heartfelt and unsentimental. Love he says "feels good except when it feels bad," but if you have love in your heart "you want to wear that ring." On "I Just Can't Quit Loving You" he lists off all the things he's given up, including smoking, drinking, and drinking out of the milk carton. It's a song any man in a long-term relationship can relate to, and again comes to the conclusion that love's worth the struggle. "Can't Drink Enough to Sing" tells the tale of a songwriter who can't perform, despite the encouragement of his girlfriend and a few shots. It's a telling portrait of the creative struggles many artists face. "The Pluto Blues" uses the demotion of Pluto from planet to huge rock as a metaphor for the changes in life people don't want to face up to. He also uses Gary Coleman, the child star who grew up to be a pauper because his parents spent his millions without his consent. A gambit like that can be risky, but Temple pulls it off with insight and compassion. The album closes with "On the Lonesome Road," a bluegrassy rock tune that channels Woody Guthrie to celebrate the ups and downs of a traveling musician. Producer Lloyd Maines keeps things simple with a straightforward country-rock sound that lets Temple's voice and his impressive songwriting shine.

• Record Review - Two Thousand Miles [+ Show ]
  

  MAVERICK MAGAZINE Owen Temple Two Thousand Miles El Paisano Records 4 stars Superb third r...MAVERICK MAGAZINE
  
  Owen Temple
  Two Thousand Miles
  El Paisano Records
  
  4 stars
  Superb third release that
  should propel this Texan singer
  songwriter way beyond the Lone
  Star State
  
  A new name to some (indeed to me), but what a pleasant surprise TWO THOUSAND MILES was. After his previous
  distributor went belly up before paying him for sales of his previous album, Owen Temple decided to leave the music
  business and concentrate on gaining a degree in psychology. The will to make music never went away and shortly before
  finishing his course Owen asked his wife if it was okay to give the music business another shot, thankfully for us, she said yes.
  
  For reference points, think Brad Paisley, Jon Randall and Kevin Montgomery, country singer-songwriters of the
  highest calibre and now you can add the name Owen Temple to the list. Opening track, the radio friendly You Want To
  Wear That Ring is superb, a great observation of love and marriage, complete with lovely guitar intro, the track rolls along
  with a great chorus and is down home country-rock at its best. Owen wrote ten of the twelve tracks, the remaining two being
  co-writes with Wade Bowen and Jay Alitzer and there isn't a weak track among them. I liked the opening track, but loved
  the second cut, a song on the perils of mixing your drinks entitled Red Wine And Tequila, this song really hit me between
  the eyes, blues country of the highest order and mention must be made of the excellent lead guitar work of David Grissom
  on this track, and indeed the whole album. Talking of great musicians, just look at who else supports Owen on this
  release, one of the best bassists around Glen Fukunga, Asleep At The Wheel drummer David Sanger and the legendary Lloyd
  Maines carried out production duties as well as playing pedal steel, mandolin, Dobro and basically anything with a string
  on it, Owen Temple certainly knows how to get a good band together. Combined with Terri Hendrix, Gordy Quist and Bob
  Livingston supplying harmony vocals, what we have is a superb all round package.
  
  Owen Temple has that great knack of writing lyrics that will mean something to every listener, and he also delivers them well with an easy to listen to voice. Stories of rough and ready characters on the edge feature on songs such as Like We Still Care and Demolition Derby, mixing well with heartfelt stories of love on tracks such as You Don't
  Have To Be Lonely and the above mentioned You Want To Wear That Ring. Title track Two Thousand Miles is yet another radio friendly, wind down the window, driving anthem that showcases a singer ready to step out the shadows and into
  the main arena. This release should do extremely well in the States and I believe that, given good promotion should do well here in the UK, it certainly won't be taken out of my CD player for a while yet. Highly recommended!

• Recommended Shows and Records [+ Show ]
  

  “Texas-spawned Owen Temple backs his singer-songwriter wordplay with bright-yet-burly country sound... “Texas-spawned Owen Temple backs his singer-songwriter wordplay with bright-yet-burly country sounds. A perfect example is "This Ain't Las Vegas," from 2002's Right Here and Now, a playful gambling metaphor backed with a thudding beat and polished guitar crunch. His show is recommended..."
  
  "even the most familiar sounds of country music can feel energetic again... Temple's songs about drinking, love, and rodeos get a shiny, bright and burly treatment" on the latest release.”
  

Setlist

Sets vary according to configuration and performance requirements.

90-120 minutes

Basic Requirements

Calendar