Day 68
Dean Owens
Award winning Scottish singer songwriter Dean Owens is one of UK’s finest troubadours.
A proud Leither, his music has taken him all over the world, particularly throughout the USA, where he has made most of his 8 solo albums, including the upcoming Sinner’s Shrine, recorded with “desert noir” legends Calexico.
Below Dean talks to 100 Days of Leith about his personal relationship with Leith and Leith’s prevalence in his music and songwriting.
Being a Leither means a lot to me. I’ve written a lot about it in my songs. One of my most successful and popular songs is the Man From Leith, a song I wrote about my dad. He worked in the shipyards in Leith Docks. When I was a kid I used to play in those docks and I recently I shot the video for my song Southern Wind in and around Leith Docks and also in the Leith Victoria boxing gym where I used to box.
Dean Owens | Photo by Gaelle Beri
I grew up in Madeira Street in Leith and my playground was the old Fort House housing scheme. All my pals were there. It was a great place to grow up. I was never short of friends and there was always plenty of mischief to get up to. I played football for Fort Boys Club and Jimmy Love who ran the football team and Fort Youth Club which was in the old Fort School at the time, let me and my first band use one of the old class rooms in the youth club to rehearse in when I first started out in music. I then went on to rehearse in the Leith Dockers Club, where my mum and dad are members. My big brother and I are also members of the Dockers and last year I launched my ‘Best Of’ album – The Man From Leith at the Dockers. It was actually my final show before the Covid pandemic hit and we went into lockdown.
Going even further back in my Leith history my family on my Granny Dora Salvona’s side of the family had a circus. Salvona’s Circus was based in Leith and toured the country for many years. My great grandfather Ambrose Salvona, who started the circus was a lion tamer. I wrote about Ambrose and my granny in my song – Dora. Scattered throughout many of my songs there are references to Leith. I record most of my albums in Nashville with American musicians, but I always maintain my Scottish roots in my sound. I miss the Leith of my childhood. It’s a very different place now. I don’t live there anymore, but most of my family still do and I often take a wander through the streets of my hometown and more often than not I find the inspiration for a new song.
More suggested songs to check out:
Dora
Madeira Street
Sally's Song
Julie's Moon (written about my late sister and used to raise money for Marie Curie)
Find out more and follow Dean Owens:
Website: www.deanowens.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/deanowensmusic
Twitter @deanowens1
Instagram @deanowens1
Youtube: www.youtube.com/deanowens