Dean's an Edinburgh man but recorded his latest work 'Whisky Hearts' in Nashville with a very hot cast of stars from the world of Americana. We're talking about the likes of pedal steel legend and former Gram Parsons cohort Al Perkins, guitar ace Will Kimbrough, Mavericks drummer Paul Deakin, ex-Jayhawk Jen Gunderman and singer-songwriter Thad Cockrell. Along with his hometown bassist Kevin McGuire, you could say he was a lucky man.

After winning widespread acclaim for his first two solo albums, The Droma Tapes (2001) and My Town (2004), Dean chose the home of country music because he 'always met really interesting people' there and thought something 'magical' could happen. It certainly proved to be the case seeing Owens buoyantly expanding his creative and expressive horizons, drawing on inspirations as diverse as family relationships, growing older, and the wide open spaces of the California desert. The eloquently emotive singing, incisively pared-down lyrics and rootsy Americana stylings that have long been his trademarks feature here alongside a range of influences stretching from classic country-rock to cool contemporary pop, summery 60s vibes to Celtic-tinged folk.

The studio chosen for Whisky Hearts was a converted ranch house in Murfreesboro, just outside Nashville, owned by engineer Brian Carter, who shares the singer's passion for vintage recording equipment. “It was by far the best experience I've ever had in the studio,” Owens enthuses. “I'd always dreamed of recording the way they did back in the 70s, and that's basically what happened – we just took over the whole place, set up different people in different rooms, and did the whole thing pretty much live, with just a few overdubs. It's also a totally analogue record, all recorded onto tape – I just love the warm, organic sound you get from all those valves and tubes.”

Dean is used to the limelight after finding himself in front of some massive crowds with Scottish country rockers The Felsons. This is now an occasional project for him as his solo career develops further. Recent highlights have included his first tour of Australia in late 2004, and support slots with Scottish supergroup Capercaillie. While February 2006 saw Owens returning to the renowned South by Southwest festival in Texas, after his debut there in 2002. Now, 2009 saw him at Celtic Connections supporting Kathy Mattea.

Dave Kushar

I was really excited when I saw the line-up of musicians on your album 'Whisky Hearts.' How did that come about?
I’ve been lucky enough to tour and work with some great people over the past few years and some of them have become good friends. As frontman of The Felsons I toured with The Mavericks and then made many visits to Nashville to stay with drummer Paul Deakin and bass player Robert Reynolds. I really like the town and always wanted to make a record there.

I spoke to guitar player Will Kimbrough about this and he suggested working with a producer/engineer friend of his Elijah (Lij) Shaw.

I contacted Lij and it went on from there. Will said he’d play guitar, Paul came in on drums and I took out my regular bass player and best friend Kevin McGuire who was also in The Felsons. Robert Reynolds also played some bass on the record and I was very lucky to get my old friend and pedal steel legend Al Perkins to come in. Al and I did a few tours together with singer/songwriter Kevin Montgomery and The Roadtrippers a few years back. Al’s a great guy. A real gentleman. He’s played with everyone from Gram Parsons to Bob Dylan.

I wanted some keyboard and accordion on the record and all the guys suggested Jen Gunderman (ex Jayhawks). Jen was fantastic. I hope she can come over here to tour with me someday.

I was also fortunate to find a couple of bonus players in Thad Cockrell who’s a wonderful singer/songwriter who just popped by the studio and added his beautiful voice to a couple of tracks and also sax player Jeff Coffin. I was really lucky to find all these guys.

You must have some of those guys other work. Any faves?
Well Al’s played on some of my favourite records from Exile On Main Street through to Josh Rouse’s Nashville album and I liked a lot of The Mavericks’ earlier work. I keep seeing Will’s name on lots of great stuff I wasn’t even aware that he’d played on.

Any other dream recording artists out there you'd like to get in the studio?
Loads! Too many to name. Still I’ve done not bad on Whisky Hearts. There are some people in New York I’d like to hook up with.

Did the whole recording take long?
Only a couple of weeks including mixing.

You recorded in Nashville didn't you? How was that?
Fab. We recorded in this old ranch house belonging to engineer Brian Carter just outside town in Murfreesboro. We were all set up around the house and recorded nearly everything live including most of the vocals. It was all analogue, we recorded onto tape using the very best vintage equipment for that nice warm sound.

Do you like the town?
I really do like Nashville. Most people think it’s all about Country music and big hats and obviously there is that, but there’s so much other great stuff going on underneath the surface. It truly is Music City. I’ve met some brilliant people there and feel quite at home when I visit.

I read one report that this album is a little less country sounding than your previous ones. What do you think?
I’d agree with that, though none of my three solo records have been very Country sounding in my opinion. The more County or Americana sounding records were made with The Felsons. Though there’s always a little steel or dobro here and there to please the Twang fans.

There appear to be some deeply personal tracks on the album. Were they hard to write?
I wouldn’t say they were hard to write exactly. Man From Leith for example just poured out onto the paper. I wrote loads of verses for that and some of the things I was thinking of while writing it did make me feel quite emotional. I had to really edit it down and yet it’s still way over 6 minutes long. Even though it’s very personal to me it seems to really strike a chord with lots of people. It’s the one people come up and ask me about after shows.

Apparently you did some writing in your own vintage Airstream trailer that's parked up in Joshua Tree country. Do you hang out there much?
As much as possible which hasn’t been a lot in the past year or so. There were a couple of years where I was there quite a bit which is where some of the songs came from. I love it out there. It’s a magical place the desert.

Give me a little background on your musical past...
Well I started out in a pop band called Smile. We released one single which charted then we all went off to do some growing up and came back together in The Felsons. We released three records and had a really good following and played some fantastic shows with the likes of Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris. We did a stadium tour opening for The Mavericks which was fantastic, playing to 10,000 people every night.

Although we haven’t made a record together for sometime now we have played the occasional show together over the past few years and are good friends so the chance of us making another record together is always on the cards.

How's the scene in Scotland been for you? Any particular places you like to play?
There are a lot of great artists in Scotland. People like Kris Drever, Karine Polwart, Eddi Reader and lots of cool bands like Glasvegas and Franz Ferdinand. I’ve always found Glasgow a good place to play even though I’m an Edinburgh lad. A Leither to be exact! There’s just more music going on in Glasgow. Much as I love Edinburgh I do think Glasgow has a wee bit more soul. I used to like playing King Tuts, but haven’t played there in a while and I always love going up to Shetland.

You mention The Barrowlands during 'Raining In Glasgow'. Is that a particularly favourite venue of yours?
The Barrowlands is just one of those special places for seeing gigs. Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, Steve Earle, Aztec Camera, The The and so on. I’ve never played there unfortunately. One day maybe….

What's the best gig you've seen there?
Any one of the above.

When you tour are there any other people on stage with you. What's the set up like?
It varies to be honest. Sometimes I go out totally solo, sometimes with just one other musician and sometimes it’s with the full band. I enjoy it all!

What are your plans for 2009?
To make sure Whisky Hearts is heard by as many people as possible, write more songs for the follow up, play a lot more shows, try to get over to New York for some collaboration and maybe even do some stuff with The Felsons for a bit of fun. Oh and get back to my trailer in the desert.

Thanks Dean.

Dave Kushar

Official site: www.deanowens.com

MySpace: www.myspace.com/deanowenspace

Navigator Records: www.navigator-store.com/