Gwil Owen – The Road To The Sky
Gwil Owen – The Road To The Sky
Format: CD
Label: Continental Song City – Continental Record Service
Release: 2023
Release date: March 5, 2023
https://continentalrecordservices.bandcamp.com/album/the-road-to-the-sky
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Gwil Owen is one of the many talented outsiders looking in on Nashville’s mainstream music biz, a DIY lifer making music on his own terms. The Road To the Sky is Owen’s follow-up to 2020’s excellent Flying Dream, and it follows a similar vein with touches of rock, country, and Little Feat-styled funk.
Owen is accompanied here by talented friends like multi-instrumentalist Joe McMahan, keyboardist Tony Crow, and bassist Dave Jacques, and it shows in the grooves.
“When the Songwriter’s Gone” displays a few Springsteen-esque flourishes within its loping backroads vibe and gorgeous guitarplay while “Ghost Town” rocks with brilliant poetic imagery. “Change” relies on minimal instrumentation and Owen’s gritty, twangy vocals (think Delbert McClinton) and the haunting, bluesy “Murder” reminds of Tom Waits.
Owen uses a pre-recorded guitar coda from his late friend David Olney to fittingly punctuate the beautiful ballad “She Does It All With Her Eyes.” Owen is a gifted story-teller and a charismatic lyricist with an ear for melody and the ability to create deceptively-complex and lush soundscapes.
An adventuresome, old-school tunesmith in the vein of Olney or Guy Clark, Owen is an artist worth your time to discover.
Tracks:
01. When The Songwriter’s Gone
02. Connected
03. You Leaning On Me
04. Magic Child
05. So Much
06. Where The West Wind Blows
07. Ghost Town
08. Change
09. Heaven In Our Hands
10. Sweeping The Road To The Sky
11. Murder
12. She Does It All With Her Eyes