Richie Owens: Bringing Appalachia Home – The Stories That Crossed an Ocean

After more than three decades of touring Britain, Richie Owens isn’t simply returning to familiar stages. He’s bringing centuries of shared musical history back to the pubs where, in many ways, it all began.

For many American artists, a UK tour is another run of dates on the calendar. For Richie Owens, it’s something altogether more personal.

When the Nashville musician, producer and storyteller talks about Britain, he doesn’t speak in terms of overseas markets or international audiences. He talks about ancestry. About Wales. About songs that crossed the Atlantic centuries ago before evolving into country music, bluegrass and Appalachian folk. And he talks about pubs—not simply as venues, but as living monuments to a culture that shaped the music he has spent his life creating.

That philosophy sits at the heart of The UK Pub Crawl, his latest tour with longtime collaborators Bob Ocker and Joe Sharp, supporting the growing Appalachia: Ballads, Bloodlines & the Long Journey Home project.

Spend an hour talking to Owens and it quickly becomes clear that, while the music matters enormously, the stories behind it matter even more.

“When we play these songs in the UK, it feels less like bringing the music over and more like bringing it home.”

The Long Way Home

Owens has been performing in Britain for more than 35 years, but his relationship with the UK has deepened rather than faded with time.

“The UK has always felt like a second musical home to me,” he says. “There is also a strong family and musical connection for me, with my ancestry tracing back to Wales and the wider British Isles. Every trip feels like I’m returning to part of where my own Appalachian story began.”

It is an intriguing perspective. While country music is often viewed as an unmistakably American art form, Owens sees something older beneath its surface.

For him, Appalachian music is the continuation of traditions carried by emigrants from Britain and Ireland—ballads, fiddle tunes, hymns and oral storytelling that gradually intertwined with other cultures in the mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky.

“The connection is closer than many people realise,” he explains. “Families from Britain and Ireland brought their ballads, fiddle tunes, hymns, and stories to Appalachia, where they blended with other musical traditions and helped shape country, folk, bluegrass, gospel, and blues.”

It’s why this latest tour feels different.

Rather than exporting American music, Owens believes he’s returning part of Britain’s own musical inheritance.

Why the Pub Still Matters

At a time when many artists dream of bigger venues, Owens has deliberately chosen some of Britain’s historic pubs.

It’s a decision rooted in culture rather than commerce.

“Pubs feel like the natural home for these songs and stories,” he says.

“In Appalachia, people have always gathered to eat, drink, play music, and share stories, and much of that tradition was carried over from Britain and Ireland.”

The tour itself emerged from conversations with a close friend who had helped them during previous UK visits. Together they reflected on years spent performing—and, perhaps just as importantly, socialising—in Britain’s pubs.

“I’ve loved that atmosphere since the 1990s,” Owens recalls. “Seeing someone in their seventies singing alongside a 16-year-old, raising a pint and having a laugh together. Age doesn’t matter; it’s about music, stories, friendship, and community.”

As increasing numbers of traditional pubs disappear, the tour has become something of a celebration—and a statement.

“We decided to focus the tour around them and give something back to places that have given us so many good memories.”

That philosophy feels particularly appropriate for UK country fans, many of whom first discovered Americana through intimate club nights and grassroots venues long before arena country became fashionable.

“Age doesn’t matter; it’s about music, stories, friendship, and community.”

Forty Years of Friendship

Joining Owens on stage are Bob Ocker and Joe Sharp, musicians whose partnership stretches back more than four decades.

That longevity isn’t something they advertise—it simply reveals itself once they’re playing together.

“I’ve worked and played with Bob and Joe on and off for more than 40 years,” Owens says. “Bob brings guitar, mandolin, harmony, and a great musical instinct, while Joe holds everything together on upright bass and harmony.”

More importantly, he says, they’re genuine friends. That kind of chemistry can’t be rehearsed. It comes from thousands of miles travelled together, countless performances, and a shared understanding of where every song wants to go before it’s even played.

Stories First, Songs Second

Many artists release albums.

Owens has taken a different path.

Appalachia: Ballads, Bloodlines & the Long Journey Home combines books with music, allowing readers to discover the stories that inspired the songs before hearing them performed.

The idea came directly from audiences.

“We were already telling these stories during our performances, and people kept asking where they could read them again afterward,” he explains. “They connected with the stories so strongly that we began writing songs inspired by them.”

Rather than separating literature from music, Owens chose to let each enrich the other. “The book preserves the stories, and the music gives them another life.”

Volume Two, arriving this September, ventures into more complex territory.

“There are stories about empathy, injustice, greed, family, and the choices people make when life turns hard,” he says. “Some of the stories have a darker tone, but there are also some very tender and uplifting moments.”

One Musical Journey

Owens’ career has hardly followed a straight line.

He’s moved through rockabilly, bluegrass, alternative rock, punk, country, production and engineering, working with everyone from Vince Gill to Social Distortion and, of course, Dolly Parton.

Yet he doesn’t view those periods as disconnected.

“I see it all as one musical journey,” he says. “I started out loving rockabilly, moved into bluegrass, then discovered alternative music and rock in college before finding my way back toward folk and acoustic music.”

Each chapter, he believes, simply taught him something new. Looking back now, performing acoustic Appalachian songs feels less like a reinvention than a return.

“It feels like everything has come full circle.”

Learning from Dolly

Although Owens has worked with an extraordinary range of artists, UK country fans will inevitably know him best through his long association with Dolly Parton, including producing Smoky Mountain DNA.

What surprised him most wasn’t her songwriting – it was her relentless pursuit of improvement.

“She is always looking for a way to make a song better,” Owens says. “Whether that means changing a lyric, trying a different vocal idea, or pushing a performance another step further.”

Even after decades at the very top of country music, Parton never settles.

“She keeps working until it feels right.”

Owens believes that dedication explains why her catalogue has remained consistently exceptional across generations.

Working on Smoky Mountain DNA also changed his understanding of his own family’s history.

“I always knew our family had this deep musical history,” he says, “but working on Smoky Mountain DNA and filming the documentary has let me dig into it in a much more personal way.”

Returning to His Roots

Those family connections are more than historical curiosity.

Owens has travelled through England and Wales tracing the places his ancestors once called home.

What he discovered surprised even him.

“We were fortunate to come over with a film crew and spend time throughout England and Wales exploring the places our ancestors came from.”

The most emotional moments came when familiar Appalachian songs suddenly revealed their older British origins.

“Hearing songs here that we grew up with in Appalachia—songs like Barbara Allen and fiddle tunes such as Bonaparte’s Retreat… Moments like that really bring home just how closely connected these musical traditions still are.”

For someone whose latest project is built around bloodlines and shared heritage, it felt like history quietly joining the dots.

“An ocean may separate us, but the stories we tell… are deeply connected.”

Why Britain Still Listens

Country music has exploded across Britain over the past decade, filling arenas, festivals and stadiums.

Yet Owens believes UK audiences remain distinctive.

“I think British audiences tend to lean toward a more traditional, roots-driven side of country music,” he says. “Bluegrass, blues, folk, and songs that actually tell you a story.”

That’s precisely the audience he feels most at home with.

“There’s a real appreciation here for the history and honesty behind the music.”

It’s perhaps the perfect description of what Richie Owens himself has been chasing throughout his career.

Not trends.

Not fashions.

Stories that survive because people continue telling them.

Looking Ahead

With Volume Two arriving in September, Volume Three already approved, more US touring planned and another UK return scheduled for early 2027, Owens shows little interest in slowing down.

“I’m less interested in chasing what’s next than I am in continuing to share the stories, the music, and the connections that have brought me this far.”

For British audiences, that’s welcome news.

After all, if Owens is right, these songs never really left home in the first place.

They’ve simply spent the past few centuries taking the scenic route.