The band featured long time associate Craig Ross on guitar, Adam McMillan on upright bass, and Philip Cardwell and Charles Dearness on trumpet. The latter formed an important element of the night, because for the first half Dean mostly offered up material from his most recetn trio of albums, all with a strong Tex-Mex feel and brass backing. That allowed for some very different arrangements on some older material, and that freshness made the familiar feel new.
Owens took an early opportunity to get the audience involved, not just singing along, but humming and whistling too. Cue much laughter...
The second half opened with Dean playing solo, determined to get through his own tribute to his father, The Man from Leith. With his voice starting to crack up from the emotion this time it was the crowd's turn to help him out, as we knew the words as well as he did. It was one of those moments only live music can provide. Ross helped him out with his next number, and then the full band returned to provide a rockeir feel to procreedings. The crowd involvement level remained high, and the final number, appropriately The Last Song, was belted out by every voice in the bar, even those new to Dean's work.
One final turn of the screw. Deam solo to sing his mother's favourite song, After the Rain. Another notch on the emtions, another test for the audience vocal chords. Lovely stuff.
In all this I've said nothing much about the musicianship, which was solid, Ross as impressive a guitarist as ever. And Dean's vocals, some understandable cracking aside, is still as distinctive and plaintive as ever.
But this wasn't a night that was just about the music. The Owens pre-Xmas gig is always a special one. More so both for the reasons above, and for this being the final Travertse gig to be put on by Soundhouse, who have done so much for live music in this city. All the best to Douglas and Jane-Anne in the future.
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