[1] Owens’ first serious[clarification needed] band was Smile, formed with bass player Kevin McGuire, guitarist Calais Brown and drummer Dave Stewart around 1991 or 1992.
[4][5] A “best of” album – The Man From Leith (with sleeve notes by Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh) – was released in March 2020 on London’s Eel Pie Records, also to very positive reviews.
It was preceded by a series of three well received EPs - The Desert Trilogy - released throughout 2021, comprising 4 tracks from Sinner’s Shrine, several from the album sessions and some recorded long distance during lockdown.
Owens also tours occasionally with Scottish fiddle player Amy Geddes, under the name of Redwood Mountain, with lyrics taken from Alan Lomax’s The Book of American Folk Songs, reimagined with new melodies.
Recorded outdoors, on location in the New Mexico desert (at Echo Canyon and Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch), the songs explore themes of migration and displacement of people, especially of Native Americans.
A self titled double album was released on Eel Pie Records in 2019, and launched with a live performance at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.