NEW EP The Heavyweight Champion of These Hard Times Blues OUT NOW
Owen FitzGerald
“Born in Siler City. Dad woke me up on Saturdays by playing The Who. My mom played herself through college in Wilmington NC bars. Wrote my first song on a prewar Gibson L00 that my dad bought in a Goodwill. Narrative is important to me. Dismal and funny are not mutually exclusive. Southern Gothic. Grotesque. Southern. Small details > grand statement. Touch the universal through a zoom on the finite. I like to talk to strangers. Play hard enough to sweat. Flannery O’Connor.
Most of the time I want my songs to be complete thoughts. I like concrete details and in-focus images, and I like character driven narrative. A lot of my songs are short stories. I try to tell the truth even when the story is made up.”
Press
“FitzGerald has that remarkable talent of being able to stop you in your tracks with his words” -Americana UK
“Although you’ll never find him riding in a posse, he does roam the same backwoods as Cass McCombs, Bill Callahan and maybe Damien Jurado; and on February’s forthcoming long player, A deep clean you can count on!, nine tracks straight from his soul, you’ll find him examining all the disassociations that buffet and abrade us in our early to mid 21st-century lives: strained relationships with our bodies, falling in love, getting sober and just plain damn getting by.” -Backseat Mafia
“An artist as concerned with narrative and setting as he is mood, willing to descend into the smallest details of life and emerge with a picture comical and tragic and often bizarre. A songwriter, that is, who might follow in the footsteps of John Prine and Bill Callahan but owes as much to authors like Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers and Harry Crews.” -Various Small Flames
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Happy release day to Owen! A deep clean you can count on! is out today.
It’s been a joy to make and release this thoughtful and sad as fuck music with him. We love you bud . Heart heart heart.
Single #3 from Owen’s forthcoming full-length is out today!
Happy release day Owen! Purchase and stream Bismuth, The Last Gentleman, everywhere today. This is the first single from the forthcoming LP, A Deep Clean You Can Count On!
Welcome to the world, baby. We’re happy you’re here.
Over the course of just 12 minutes and 10 seconds, Owen strides between ideations on body dysmorphia, the Sisyphus-like plight of present-day public servants, death’s first name, and an all-business Cool Hand Luke here to stuff Donald Trump full of eggs and save us from ourselves.
It’s true dive into Owen’s one of a kind political brand. A zesty cocktail of musical aggression and restraint, and a keen, satirical message about our laughable (I mean horrifying) and all-but-successfully-impeachable President. I can almost smell our country’s collective frustration and sadness simmering in this tune.
I sobbed and sobbed at Owen’s wedding. I listened to his demos daily for months before making a record with him. From deep in my belly, I love him.
We’re just over the moon to welcome him to the Sleepy Cat family. His forthcoming EP - Body, Child, Light, Crime - is a grenade. Come for the shock, stay for the devastation.