Dean Owens and filmmaker Ruth Barrie have put together a video for “We Need Us” to show support and solidarity with the people of Ukraine. The track is taken from his new album Sinner’s Shrine (reviewed here), and features Dean with musicians from Calexico – Joey Burns, John Convertino, Jacob Valenzuela, Sergio Mendoza, plus Tom Hagerman and Naïm Amor.
Dean issued the following statement:
Like everyone else around the world, I have been shocked and saddened by the tragic scenes coming out of Ukraine. One always feels so helpless in these situations, but as an artist, the best way for me to help is through my music. When I wrote this song – We Need Us, I wrote it as a simple message of hope and togetherness. While watching the news and the horrific images I decided to do something with it, and try to use it to help raise money and awareness for the displaced people and all those struggling to survive within Ukraine. I reached out to my dear friend and filmmaker Ruth Barrie of Waltzer Films to see if she could help pull something together for it and within a couple of days she came up with this video to accompany the song.
You can help the Ukraine Emergency Appeal by donating to this fundraiser – https://www.gofundme.com/f/helpukraine – Official fundraiser for Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB), in association with a cross-section of accredited charities.