‘Stories They Tell’ is the seventh studio record from Austin, Texas-based songwriter Owen Temple, and it’s about time.
It’s about time and about what we do with it.
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 are framed 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, and Rick Richards on drums (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, A.J. Roach, Gordy Quist (of Band of Heathens), Clay McClinton, and David Beck & Paul Cauthen (of Sons of Fathers).
“You could argue that stories – a way to learn second hand from the experiences of others – are the best tools we’ve made yet – the ultimate in technological innovation,” Temple says. “It’s what humans do: we make things – tools, songs, and stories – to understand the world and our times.”