The follow up to award-winning Scottish troubadour Dean Owens' stunning Calexico collaboration, Sinner’s Shrine, recorded in Italy with Don Antonio + UK Tour dates including Cambridge Folk Festival, The Ridge Trilogy EPs are a taster for Dean’s groundbreaking upcoming Spirit Ridge album, recorded at Crinale Studio, a 400 year old farmhouse in the hills in Emilia Romagna, Italy – the land of Dean’s lion tamer great-great grandfather.
Dean and Don Antonio were introduced by mutual friend John Convertino of Calexico who thought they’d be kindred spirits – he wasn’t wrong. Convertino guests on a couple of the songs (on Spirit Ridge and EPs Vol 2 and 3).
Spirit Ridge is the follow up to Dean’s hugely successful collaboration with Calexico which resulted in 2 remarkable, critically acclaimed albums – Sinner’s Shrine and El Tiradito (The Curse of Sinner’s Shrine) which dramatically evoked the wide panoramic landscapes of the south western US desert states. The songs from Spirit Ridge are similarly cinematic but rooted in the darker landscape of the north Italian hills. The spirit of the lion tamer is rarely far away!
The Ridge Trilogy is a prelude to the album, and comprises 13 songs mostly recorded at the album sessions, with some of the original demos that Dean made prior to the recording sessions. 4 of them are from the album (including 2 radio edit versions).
Spirit Ridge is Dean’s 12th studio album. He has released 3 highly acclaimed albums (including a double CD) since 2022, 2 recorded with musicians from Calexico and 1 with long term Nashville collaborators Neilson Hubbard and Will Kimbrough, which have seen his profile rise, especially in Europe, with sold out tours in the Netherlands, and festival appearances in UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. He also recently joined Calexico's Joey Burns on stage in Utrecht.
Co-producer Don Antonio is a renowned Italian producer, musician and film maker, whose work includes producing Alejandro Escovedo’s recent Echo Dancing album (also recorded at Crinale), as well as his own projects including Sacri Cuori, known for their rich, atmospheric sound.
Don Antonio: ‘I am Italian, Dean is Scottish, these are stories and sounds written and played in a way which deeply reflects who we are, the places we've been, the seeds we planted and the fruits we harvested’
Volume 1 of The Ridge Trilogy, entitled Ghost Walking, was released on 26 July (on Netherlands label, Continental Song City), coinciding with Dean Owens & The Sinners appearance at Cambridge Folk Festival. Other tour dates include London’s Green Note, Brighton, High Tide Festival (Twickenham) and Fringe By The Sea (North Berwick) before returning to the Edinburgh Fringe on 10 Aug.(See page 4 for dates).
Vols 2 and 3 follow on 27 Sep, and 29 Nov, with Spirit Ridge released 14 Feb 2025.
The Ridge Trilogy EPs are available as downloads and as CDs in a special collectors’ item 6 panel package. The video for My Beloved Hills - soaring and celebratory - combines glorious sunrise shots of Dean’s favourite hills around Edinburgh with spectacular views of the area around Crinale and intimate scenes with the musicians in the studio.
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