When you combine swaggering lyrics with great guitar licks, and a good dose of southern charm, you know there is a good chance that you are going to catch someone’s eye, or in this case their ear, and that is exactly what is happening to Texas native Owen Temple, whose country tunes from his current CD Two Thousand Miles have made a solid impression on the Texas radio market. The album released in January of this year features Asleep At The Wheel’s David Grissom on guitar, is produced by Lloyd Maines (Dixie Chicks, Terry Allen), and country songstress Terri Hendrix contributed harmony vocals on several of the tracks.
Although, Temple’s fourth recording Two Thousand Miles, has been released in full album format versus a single song at a time, three tunes in particular appear to be catching the ear of DJs on the country and Americana radio stations. Those three songs are, “Red Wine And Tequila,” “Rivers Run From Many Waters,” and “You Want To Wear That Ring.” The later tune is a good two steppin’ ballad which is based on a conversation with one of Temple’s good friends, while “Rivers Run From Many Waters,” is a waltz time tune, that has become a favorite for many listeners.
“I was living in Madison (Wisconsin) and a Texas friend of mine, another singer/songwriter, Randy Rogers came up to play a show. He was engaged, and began to ask me questions like, ‘Am I going to like being married?’ I thought that it was a funny question, so I answered him as candidly as I could. I didn’t want to give him a canned answer like, ‘Oh it’s wonderful,’ or ‘Some days it’s wonderful and some days it’s not,’ so I wrote the lyrics for “You Want To Wear That Ring.” I gave it to him as my three verse reply to his question and the bridge (says it all), “Why all the questions man / You already know.” Temple says the modern country tune has found a home among Texas country music stations that play top forties tunes.
Country music fans who
enjoy dancing a fast two-step will cotton to “Red Wine and Tequila,” a
metaphor for romance with dubious chemistry. The country rock tune has
received a lot of airplay in Texas. Temple says, “The rowdier crowds dig,”Red
Wine and Tequila.” It’s got a blues structure to it, and a little attitude, so
it works when you are playing towards the end of the night at a club.”
Owen Temple often draws upon his heritage, experiences, relationships and surroundings as inspiration for his songwriting. The rodeo ballad, “Swear It Off Again,” finds its roots in the town of Kerrville Texas, where he grew up. The sights, sounds and smells of a rodeo atmosphere shine through his lyrics, and lend authenticity to his vocals.
“Growing up in Kerrville there were rodeos in the spring, and just like football fans there are rodeo fans. It is a social event. I have talked to guys who are involved in rodeos, and the experience of it gets into your blood. It becomes a part of who you are, even with all the hardships and broken bones. There is nothing quite like it. I was talking to my friends about that and relating it to my career in music. Sometimes you stay on top of the bull and sometimes you are below it. “Swear It Off Again,” is a song about persisting at (what you love) for a reason that you can’t define,” says Temple, in his long Texas drawl.
One of the best songs on Temple’s current CD is the title track “Two Thousand Miles,” another ballad drawn from the Texan’s own life. “That is probably one of the more autobiographical songs on the record. The song is a tribute to my wife Mary who was willing to move across the country with me, when I studied psychology at the University of Wisconsin. It was a path that (eventually) led me back to music. It was a great experience, and the song “Two Thousand Miles,” is a song about what couples do when they say. let’s leave everything that we know, and go to this new job or this new place. We (Mary and Owen) have known each other since we were eighteen, and we got married when we were twenty-two or twenty-three years old. She knows me really well.”
