Whisky Hearts

Recorded in Nashville with a stellar cast of Stateside guests, this album sees Owens buoyantly expanding his creative and expressive horizons. The eloquently emotive singing, incisively pared-down lyrics and Americana stylings that have long been his trademarks feature here alongside a range of influences stretching from classic Scottish pop, summery 60s vibes to Celtic-tinged folk. Several of the artists featured on the album have worked with Owens on previous projects, including pedal steel legend & former Gram Parsons cohort Al Perkins, guitar ace Will Kimbrough (Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year 2004), Mavericks drummer Paul Deakin & his bassist band mate Robert Reynolds, as well as Owens' longtime sidekick from home, Kevin McGuire, also on bass. It was through this network of connections that the remaining guests came on board, among them Flecktones saxophonist Jeff Coffin, ex-Jayhawk Jen Gunderman keyboards, singer-songwriter Thad Cockrell plus producer Elijah ("Lij") Shaw.

The album represents a kind of artistic homecoming for Owens. Nowadays, he's the proud owner of a vintage Airstream trailer, which he keeps in California's Joshua Tree country, and where several of the new songs were written during sojourns there in 2005 & 2006. Despite the depth and weight of its subject matter, though, this is a winningly upfront and approachable album, replete with hummable hooks and deftly layered arrangements, centred around the burnished colours, masterly phrasing and vibrant timbres of Owens' singing.

"Every time he sings a song, he means it and feels it with every fibre of his being. Now that is something special Scotland's most engaging and haunting singer-songwriter" from Irvine Welsh's sleevenotes.

"The kind of fragility that makes the likes of Wilco so compelling A triumph." - The List

"Echoes of Springsteen and the tear stained balladry of Ryan Adams." - The Sun