Love to all of my friends, always
Dave Owens Bio
Every performance, every practice, every time he picks up the guitar just for fun on some breezy afternoon, Dave Owens is furthering his course.
And what a diverse and winding one it’s been. Owens started his journey as a guitarist at age 7 after seeing Slash perform on MTV in Knoxville, Tenn. He played the drums and the piano before receiving his first guitar at age 11, learning three chords from his grandfather who loved to play blues and bluegrass.
From there he played everywhere from garages to clubs to open-mics in cities all over the world. His path took him to Georgia, Montana, Minnesota, Texas, Korea, England and Iraq, among other places, ending up back home in Knoxville, TN where at age 27 he’s building his career doing blues, rock, and jazz his own way.
But the venues and the cities, themselves, do not constitute important parts of Owens journey. The progress he has made as a musician along the way, the songs he wrote, the bond he strengthened between himself and his Gibson acoustic guitar, those are noteworthy aspects of the past seven years of Owens life.
Despite how far he’s come musically since he first picked up the guitar just 16 years ago, Owens says hell never stop learning and striving to get better.
"I’m nowhere near where I want to be," says Owens. "Music is an ongoing journey, and there’s no destination."
The blues hit Owens hard at a young age. Born in Kentucky and raised in Knoxville, Owens grew up surrounded by blues and bluegrass music, listening to such artists as Elvis, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and the Beatles.
He was musical from a young age, even whistling the tune to The Andy Griffith Show and trying to change it into a new melody he invented. He used to put his Michael Jackson Thriller cassette into his Alf tape player and dance to it. He mimicked Jackson’s voice and performed for his parents’ friends at parties, singing, and moonwalking on the coffee table.
His grandfather was impressed, but not terribly surprised when Owens learned his first three chords at age 11 in a matter of minutes. That was the first and the only lesson he received. The rest he taught himself.
During high school Owens kept his music pretty low key. He sang in the ensemble and concert choir his senior year, was captain of the track team, and painted and sketched a bit.
"But most people didn’t even know I played guitar," he said.
He enlisted in the Air Force as a satellite technician the September after graduation and started traveling all over the world.
"I was so bored at school. I've always loved my country, and I came from a very patriotic family."
The Air Force was easy for Owens, who was athletic and grew up with Southern manners that still make him open car doors for dates and say, "Yes, sir" and "No, ma’am" when addressing an authority figure. Not making music was the hard part.
So after his training when he ended up in Great Falls, Mont., he used his Air Force signing bonus to buy a new guitar and amp and get back to doing what he loved.
Since then a week hasn’t gone by when Owens hasn’t performed, constantly trying to push forward as a musician. He developed his stage persona in Korea, where he frequently played clubs and recruited ladies to come see his show by approaching them on the street and playing a song. It was there he also won the annual, American Idol: Korea contest, competing against over 350 musicians. While stationed in England he was the number one choice for the Enlisted and Officer’s clubs and was called upon to perform the National Anthem at several official military ceremonies.
He continued playing clubs while stationed in England until he was sent to Iraq during the summer of 2004, where he served at Tallil Air Base. Owens music is what caused him to leave the Air Force.
Having played in so many places and performed in front of so many diverse audiences, Owens has developed a following which continues to grow with each gig. An internet radio station even called him, "the new face of the blues," a comment he’s simultaneously proud of and humbled by. This last summer he won Preservation Pub's acclaimed Singer/Songwriter Night and was a weekly performer at the nationally known 4620 Jazz Club in his hometown.
Regardless of critical praise and image and labels people assign him, all that concerns Owens is progressing every day on this musical course he has chosen.
Dave Owens Supports
Dave's Favorite Quotes:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." - Psalm 139:23-24
"If you can hold your listener, hold their attention, and you're sure you know what you're doing, and know that you're communicating - You know, performance is communicating. You've got to communicate. You've got a song you're singing from your gut, you want that audience to feel it in their gut." - Johnny Cash (1932-2003)
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." - Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
"When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win." - Ed Macauley
"I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose." - Ludwig van Beethoven
"Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself." - Samuel Butler (1612-80), English poet, author
