Biography

Stories They Tell is the seventh studio record from Austin, Texas-based songwriter Owen Temple.

The eleven songs add up to a retrospective, big picture look at what humans have been doing over the last 10,000 years: making tools and stuff, forming relationships based on power, money, sex, and/or love, and, most importantly, telling stories of how it all went down.


The songs speak from a wide perspective to focus on characters who are trying desperately to make sense of their own time and place.

Recorded with producer Gabe Rhodes, the album has the feel of a live performance with stellar contributions from Josh Flowers on bass, Tommy Spurlock (Delbert McClinton, Rodney Crowell) on pedal steel, Rick Richards (Ray Wylie Hubbard, Gurf Morlix). Colin Brooks and Jamie Wilson (of The Trishas) lend harmony vocals to the songs.

The project includes songs written by Temple and co-writes with Adam Carroll, Gordy Quist (of The Band of Heathens), and David Beck & Paul Cauthen (of Sons of Fathers).

"Owen Temple takes on the job of Texas troubadour with grave intent. Where his previous disc explored the darker side of the American dream, Mountain Home focuses on small Texas towns and the eccentrics inhabiting them... One has to admire Temple's focus on his craft, which he continues to burnish in smart and tuneful ways." -Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle


"Temple’s songs are sophisticated and enlightening... He writes with a folksinger’s eye, observing intimate, interior details of every day life, and painting big, mythological sketches..." -Eli Messinger, Hyperbolium


"Owen Temple sings the truth. In the narrative folk tradition, the Austin-based singer-songwriter pens tunes that tell stories in plain-spoken yet persuasive fashion. His characters could be real, and many times they are. But there’s no doubt that Temple is nourishing his muse with the realities of life around him... Musically, Temple keeps to his spacious merger of bluegrass, blues and folk." -Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News