Hi there folks.

Well it’s that time of the year again where things go all sparkly and a wee bit crazy. No sign yet of the snow, but I’m sure it’s not far away.

December has a few things in store for me…

On Friday the 2^nd December I will be playing a show with The Erskine Strings at Café Panola on the outskirts of Edinburgh within the Pentland Plants complex. This will be our second show together following on from the fantastic night during the Edinburgh Festival at Douglas Robertson Photography.

Here are the details for the Café Panola show:

Dean Owens & The Erskine Strings

Friday 2^nd December @ Café Panola

Pentland Plants

Loanhead (Edinburgh)  EH20 9QG

Tickets are £20 and this price includes the concert and dinner (main course)

Doors from 7pm. Music starts at 8.30pm

Bring your own wine or beer!!

Tickets from Pentland Plants. Call 0131 440 0895 for details.

For more information on The Erskine Strings visit www.erskinequartet.com

On the 15^th December I’m heading North to Orkney and Shetland for ‘A Reel Christmas Spree’ with an old mate of mine, Kevin Henderson, and a couple of his musical buddies Brendan & Breanainn Begley. Here are the details for the shows:

Orkney

Thursday 15^th – The Reel, Kirkwall. Tickets – 01856 87 1000 or for more info – info@wrigleyandthereel.com

Shetland

Friday 16^th -Sandwick Social Club Local Support -VÄIR Doors open 19.30 starts 20.00 Tickets from Sandwick Social Club and High Level Music

Saturday 17^th -Muckle Roe Hall Local Support- Ryan Couper and Johnny Polson

Doors open 19.30 starts 20.00 (BYOB) Tickets from Peter Johnson Tel: 01806 522 671 or 07876630899

Sunday 18^th -British Legion Local Support- Craa Dang Pussy Doors open 14.30 starts 15.00 Tickets from High Level Music

Plus, before all this we are playing a wee impromptu House Concert at Douglas Robertson Photography in Edinburgh on the 14^th. You’ll need to drop me a line for more details on this one or contact Douglas direct at -info@douglasinscotland.co.uk

I’ve never played in Orkney before so looking forward to that show and I’ve been desperate to get back to Shetland for ages. It’s one of my favourite places to play.

Moving into January and it’s Celtic Connections Festival time again in Glasgow. This is a massive festival of all things connected with Celtic Roots music. From traditional Folk music through to Americana, Pop, Rock and singer-songwriters.

I’m doing a couple of things at the festival.  First up I have been invited to take part in BBC Radio Scotland’s Another Country radio show on the 27^th January. This is presented by Ricky Ross and will be broadcast live in front of a studio audience from the BBC at their Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow. Also on the show are the fantastic Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion.

Tickets are available for this event. For details check out -http://www.celticconnections.com/whatson/event/119559-BBC-Radio-Scotland-92-95FM-&amp%3B-810MW-Live-Radio-Broadcasts-Another-Country-With-Ricky-Ross (note it mentions Feb 3^rd in this link. There is a show then too)

On the 29^th January I will be taking part in the Hazy Recollections concert at the ABC 2 in Glasgow at 2.30 pm. For details visit – http://www.celticconnections.com/whatson/event/118849-Hazy-Recollections

This should be a brilliant afternoon of music with various singer-songwriters performing.

My big news is that my new album New York Hummingbird will be released in March on Songboy Records.

Produced in New York and New Jersey by Ray Ketchem with Dave Derby the album features a host of New York, New Jersey and Nashville musicians.  I’m over the moon with how it’s turned out. The fantastic album artwork was designed by James Morrison at Mojo Creative in Glasgow.

The tracks listing is:

Desert Star

No One’s A Failure

The One That Got Away

Springtime

Lost Time

Baby Fireworks

Snowglobe

Solo (Valentine NYC)

Wander On

New York Hummingbird

Here’s a link to a live acoustic performance of Solo (Valentine NYC) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7MtFgq9Q3k Thanks to James at Mojo Creative for this. James shot this wee video during our photo shoot for the album cover.

I want to be out playing as much as possible in 2012 to promote New York Hummingbird so if you know of any good venues in your town that I should look into playing or if any of your friends would be interested in hosting a House Concert in 2012 please drop me a line. Thanks.

Seeing as this is the festive season I will be giving my charity single Snowglobe another push this Christmas to help raise some more funds for the mental health charity Mind. This is a download only track. If you missed it last year you can get it from all the usual outlets – Amazon, iTunes etc. Here’s the video for the single – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8qvc3-U2fA Please spread the word.  This can be a very difficult time of year for those people suffering from mental health issues and Mind do a fantastic job. Snowglobe is also on the new album.

I’ll be doing another short newsletter with a round up of my favourite albums and highlights of the year a wee bit closer to Christmas. In the meantime enjoy the festive season, don’t get too stressed out, don’t spend too much money, but spend as much time as you can with the ones you love.

Remember to keep your requests coming in for my Request Of The Week video slots. I really enjoy your suggestions and it’s always nice to hear from you.

If you are looking for some Christmas present ideas I now have copies of My Town back in stock and also copies of Whisky Hearts, red vinyl in a gatefold sleeve + free cd of album. Contact me if you’re interested in getting hold of these.

All the best and thanks for your continued support.

Cheers.

Dean

www.deanowens.com