Biography
Amidst popped-out, cookie-cutter American Idolatry, Meaghan Owens writes songs that are small fictions of the American landscape, narratives set in their own place and time. Her songs are steeped in dreams and despair, glamour and grit. And her lyrics are sweet and switchblade sharp.
Meaghan Owens plays that Indie-Folk, Alt-Country kinda music they call Americana. She is a poet and performer first. A native Midwesterner, Meaghan grew up in a family of artists, musicians, and advocates where, thank goodness, she learned to speak her mind. Meaghan Owens is a sweetheart of the Rust Belt who left her hometown for the folk clubs, cafes, and rock venues of the wide world.
Now living in Nashville, Meaghan writes and performs with the pure souls who still uphold the tradition of Classic Country, Folk, Cow-Punk, Americana, and Outlaw Country.
Meaghan channels her characters from the American past, present, and future and they speak through her. Watching her perform is like eavesdropping in on the tombstone characters of Edgar Lee Master's "A Spoon-River Anthology". She sings the folkloric voices of her characters, who are nearing extinction, but never letting go of exaltation. You'll find vagabonds, whiskey-drunk preachers, the underdog's of political heartbreak, truckstop hookers, Wild West cowgirls and small town country folks. Meaghan's vocals are evocative of an Indie-Americana Rickie Lee Jones with a Maria Muldaueresque delivery. Meaghan sings in many languages: Swedish, French, Russian, and Irish.
Reviews
"Owens' voice is sweet and strong, like a lilac bush or a brandy old fashion."
"Above all, the poetic Owens is a gifted lyricist who pens a new patriotism steeped in the thinking person's simultaneous love and dissapointment of America."
"If Marie Osmond is a little bit country and a little bit rock'n'roll, Owens is also that--and more."
(Snider-Edler--www.onmilwaukee.com--)
"This Milwaukee singer-songwriter has a languid delivery and a quirky composing style on the title tune to her CD. Accompanied by her own electric guitar playing, it's a collection notable for its spare, stark production and oddball, ear-catching novelties."
(Robert K. Oermann--Music Row Magazine--)
Meaghan's CD: No Whiskey in a Good Girl's River is available at www.cdbaby.com/meaghanowens
(featuring guest artists from the Violent Femmes, The Danglers, Get Up Kids, Heidi Spencer, Hayward Williams, ex-Aurore Rien and ex-Murder in the Red Barn members)Meaghan Owens performs solo and with the Owens Family Band. All incarnations of her songwriting, be they folky or more rockin' deliver poignant stories, and like a midwestern girl, she tells it like it is.
Currently, Meaghan is touring and recording her second CD in Nashville and Milwaukee.
Meaghan has shared the stage and opened for hundreds of talented musicians as well as both national country and folk acts including: Junior Brown, Nashville Cats like the late Don Helms and Buddy Spicher, Tracy Grammer, Stella Parton, Sigmund Snopek III, Heidi Spencer, Phil Lee,etc.