Texas-born troubadour Owen Temple has spent decades mining the landscapes of America—its geography and heart—for songs that resonate with both the open road and the intimate details of everyday life. Known for his blend of folk sensibility and honky-tonk punch, Temple’s music captures the rugged beauty of small towns, family ties, and moments of quiet revelation. From his breakout General Store album in the late ’90s, through critically acclaimed releases like Dollars and Dimes and the concept album Rings on a Tree, to 2025’s Weathered and Live in Austin, Temple has built a catalog of deeply reflective music that spans nearly three decades.
Through 2026, Temple has released a series of singles, each paired with an original watercolor he painted himself. Those songs come together on Closer, Says Love, out October 23 on El Paisano Records—produced by Gordy Quist, and his first album of new songs since Rings on a Tree. It’s a record about the near distances: staying married through an August that almost wins, the arithmetic of a long love, the houses that keep standing after the people go.
Temple is also a visual artist whose drawings and watercolors have been exhibited and sold as fine art prints, and the author of Songfarmer: Writing More and Better Songs, co-written with Quist. His art book Watch It Shine, from El Paisano Press, gathers the year’s paintings alongside lyrics and personal essays—its first section is every lyric on Closer, Says Love.
Temple’s audiences can expect songs that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant, with lyrical wisdom and down-to-earth charm.
To book Owen Temple for concerts, festivals, or special events: booking@owentemple.com. An electronic press kit with high-res photos, music samples, and performance details is available on request.
Owen Temple takes on the job of Texas troubadour with grave intent… 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
Temple [earns] a seat at the table next to the best Texas/Americana troubadours of his generation. He’s always had a great voice for the medium, but it’s never sounded better than it does here: as rich, warm and comforting as Don Williams and as dry, worn and wizened as Townes Van Zandt… B..
Richard Skanse, Lone Star Music Magazine
“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