“You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy.”

Hello!

My name is Owen. I am a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from a small mountain town in Washington state.

My involvement in music started early, primarily as a coping mechanism from losing my hair (Alopecia Areata) at age 9 as well as several traumatic losses of classmates in school. Making music has always been therapeutic for me.

I got a formal education in percussion and eventually moved to Los Angeles to continue drumming professionally - an exciting culture shock from my rural upbringing in the North Cascades. In 2002 I started branching out from my drumming career and began teaching myself guitar, setting a goal to make my own recordings at home and play all the parts of the music I was creating. I fell in love with this process and it became the ultimate creative expression for me. Influence from my childhood cassette tape of Waylon & Willie was still surfacing. Hundreds of “throw-away” songs later, more life happened and what I wrote about deepened

In 2020 I was seeing a great therapist, processing much of my past loss and trauma and within a few months, I had written a handful of songs I was finally really proud of. I began making plans for a real album to let out into the world, thus embarking on a solo career as a singer-songwriter.

I spent the summer of 2021 playing my new material all over Eastern Washington and had the profound experience of witnessing people connect with it. Whether it is a personal connection to my lyrics or a nostalgic memory from hearing me sing a classic country, rock or folk song, it is an absolute honor to make music that not only feeds my soul, but connects people in a time when division is rampant.

Other random things you may not know about me:

I am proud to be a “Highly Sensitive Person”. (Look up Elaine E. Aron’s book “The Highly Sensitive Person”). Being “HSP” simply means I experience everything deeper; all the senses as well as emotions, surroundings, etc. I also am highly aware of energy and my need to recharge after being social. And before you say, whoa! watch out for a loose cannon… know that it is something I am acutely aware of and manage daily with great care. Primarily however, I see it as a super-power in regards to creativity.

I’ve met Harrison Ford. There are few things I like to brag about and this is one. When I asked to take a selfie with him, he called his buddy over to take it for us. He’s that cool.

Nature is where I go to figure everything out, write songs, talk myself through things, listen to my intuition / spirit, etc. I absolutely love backpacking and the simple freedom it brings.

My ancestors homesteaded steps away from my childhood home, a little over 100 years ago. To this day, remnants of the homestead remain near the end of a “still” dirt road. This is one reason why I connect deeply with country music and why I like the saying: “You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy”.

I spent over two years living and traveling in a van. This was one of the best experiences of my life. It was like an extension of backpacking; freedom, simplicity and a sense of being connected to the earth and people in a very special way. It was a beautiful adventure. I still travel and live in the van whenever possible.

Pedal steel guitar (yeah, that twangy country kind) is one of my all time favorite things to listen to. I adore country music and I absolutely cannot get enough of the haunting sound of bending strings fading in and out with lots of reverb - in almost any genre of music.

I take cues from stand up comedy for creating music. Set-up, tension, flow, repetition, story telling… so many things parallel with music. I make sure I keep a steady diet of “funny” in my life and for me, watching stand-up kills two birds, so to speak.

Windsurfing is another passion of mine. Being on beautiful coastlines and riding waves under wind power is a feeling like none other. For me it is a connection with nature in numerous ways. I competed on the International Windsurfing Tour for 4 years and in 2017 I tied for 6th place overall on the IWT in the Amateur Division. Yes, I’ve seen a shark.

My Dad played drums and guitar when he was younger. He introduced me to both (as well as country music). I am forever grateful.