Owen Campbell - Doing It On His Own! He Never Did Join That Boy Band! (Much To His Credit)
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When Owen Campbell’s bluesy vocals cut loose on his CD, The Pilgrim, his smoky delivery serves up images of a veteran blues guitarist and singer, with a touch of The Band’s Robbie Robertson mixed in. Campbell defies easy categorisation. He’s a slide guitarist, a songwriter, banjo player, blues singer, busker, and more. The sort of performer found in New Orleans blues joints, right?
In fact, Campbell’s roots are in Canberra, Australia, not NOLA. While he’s performed and toured internationally for more than seven years, his 2012 run on ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ helped capture the hearts of a wider audience. But it almost didn’t happen. “When I was on ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ two years ago, I had a bit of a run-in with the judges during the audition, and I almost missed my chance,” he says. “But it worked in my favour. They had me back for another audition, and I concentrated on my music, and not being cheeky.
People in the audience – and the judges – really loved it.” Campbell earned honours as a finalist on ‘Australia’s Got Talent,’ and audiences responded enthusiastically for his 2013 album, The Pilgrim, which debuted atop the iTunes Blues charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The CD yielded three Top Ten hits on the Australian Blues Singles chart, including Wreckin’ Ball, the CD’s first track.
The Pilgrim – set for a U.S. release on Reckless Grace Music in June – followed the strong debut of his 2011 recording, Sunshine Road, which also topped iTunes’ Australia charts.
Owen Campbell’s latest CD ‘In The Shadow Of The Greats’ has him touring heavily and Toowoomba’s Blues Session has been offered the Toowoomba show.
‘In The Shadow Of The Greats’ is a collection of acoustic cover songs (and 2 originals, previously unreleased) that have been staple ingredients of my live shows for many years. Springsteen, Waits, Van Morrison and The Beatles, they all stand in my mind as the musical immortals of a golden era, casting the mold into which the next 50 years of music has fallen.
They are the heathen kings of old, which cast a long shadow over these modern times, and continue to shine a light even after all these years.
In some way this is an offering to them, a meagre acoustic shrine to celebrate them once more. And so here I stand, In The Shadow Of The Greats.
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