Dan Owen

From Shropshire, England, British alternative singer/songwriter Dan Owen draws listeners in with his striking, gravelly voice and raw, blues-tinged pop/rock sound. His fervent, resonant delivery on the 2017 track “Hideaway,” paired with the lively yet ballad-like tone of 2018’s “What Is a Man,” steadily expanded his following across the U.K. and Europe.

Music caught his attention early; at nine he picked up the guitar and began performing alongside his sister, who had started singing. Their father urged them to take the stage at local pub open-mike nights throughout their teenage years. Once his sister departed for university, Owen shifted to solo appearances at pubs and clubs near Shropshire. Billing himself as “Bluesboy Dan,” he built a loyal audience through impassioned renditions of songs by Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker while steadily developing his own material. In 2012 an online clip of him performing Bob Dylan’s “The Ballad of Hollis Brown” began circulating widely. After several more years of nonstop live work that incorporated his original songs, he signed with Atlantic Records in 2015 and released his first EP, Bad for Me, before the year ended.

The follow-up EP, Open Hands & Enemies, appeared in 2016, after which he supported Birdy on a European tour. Throughout 2017 he focused on writing and recording his debut album, Stay Awake with Me, which reached stores in August 2018. That autumn he promoted the record with headline dates across the U.K. and Europe.