Dean Owens: Ghosts (The Desert Trilogy EPs, Vol 3)
Songboy Records – 3 Sept 2021
Ghosts is the third and final part of The Desert Trilogy EPs recorded with Joey Burns, John Convertino and Jacob Valenzuela from Calexico, both as elements of the forthcoming Sinner’s Shrine album and as bonus tracks. It opens with the brass soaked, slow sway walking, handclaps accompanied and lyrically desolate The Hopeless Ghosts, inspired by Townes Van Zandt, which also sees Grant-Lee Phillips guesting on harmonies alongside pedal steel player Paul Niehaus and accordionist Tom Hagerman.
The image of metaphorically being on some sort of road of life extends to the steel-stained Mother Road, a midtempo paced and reflective song, written about Angel Delgadillo, a 93-year-old barber who had a shop in Seligman on Route 66 and documents the changes he witnessed along the world’s most famous old road. Then, featuring just Owens on a simply strummed nylon string guitar and forlorn Leone-like whistling, on Even When I’m Gone, which he describes as a ‘hopeless’ love song, again channelling Van Zandt, balancing the downbeat notion of eventually passing on with the observation that the beauty of the world will remain, the narrator remaining at the side of those left behind as a ghost.
With the narrator contemplating his ultimate fate at the end of a rope, it ends with the aptly titled slow shuffle murder ballad The End, featuring Kevin McGuire on upright bass, Naïm Amor on electric guitar, Hagerman on violin and Martin Wenk on trumpet. It was written with Johnny Cash in mind; this should give a good idea of the sound and mood it evokes.
Over the course of the trilogy’s pilgrimage to the shrine, Owens and his various collaborators have explored a variety of ideas, moods and sounds within the overall desert-Americana landscape, building eager anticipation for what the full album project will eventually encompass while simultaneously adding to the repertoire with both reinterpretations of past material and those non-album bonus tracks. It’s been a captivating journey.
Website: www.deanowens.com
Pre-Order via Bandcamp from 9 July 2021: https://deanowens.bandcamp.com/
Photo Credit: Gaelle Beri