After relocating to Keller from Dallas in 2020 to care for his aging grandmother, Garrett Owen recorded what may be his most personal work yet. The folk-esque singer-songwriter has dedicated Memoriam, his third album, to Masako Sakurada, who died in April.
“Most of the songs are filled with little details and anecdotes that come from what I was watching my grandmother go through as her mind was deteriorating,” Owen recalled, “things like the first time she fell or when I had to start locking doors with privacy locks on the inside that she couldn’t reach, so she couldn’t go out in the middle of the night. All the songs were written during the years I took care of her. Some lines are for her, like, ‘You’re going to leave an empty space, but you know I just can’t stand being stuck in the waiting place.’ ”
Recorded at AudioStyles in Fredericksburg with producer Taylor Tatsch (Maren Morris, Treehouse Empire, The Droptines) with instrumental backing by Tatsch and the Texas Gentlemen’s Daniel Creamer, the eight songs offer peace, as Owen intended.
“Probably the most important thing for me is the listener feel comforted,” he said. “It seems like from feedback so far, [Tatsch], [Creamer], and I made something that can do that, even though there are a lot of moments of tension. It seems like they lead to moments of relief that feel pretty, like a quilt.”
Kim Rosen (Natalie Merchant, Belly, Wynonna Judd) mastered Memoriam in New Jersey. Owen and company wrapped up tracking the day before his grandmother died. She was 92.
Unlike his previous releases, Memoriam is musically complex, orchestrated via Creamer’s grand piano, organ, synths, bass, and drums, Tatsch’s electric guitar, and Owen’s soft acoustic and voice and his stream-of-consciousness storytelling. Nineties troubadour Elliot Smith comes readily to mind. Lyrically, Owen draws mostly from his memories of his grandmother battling Alzheimer’s and dementia and her simple artistry of collecting cicada molts, feathers, and acorn shells to decorate her dresser.
“It was profound to realize that this dysfunction happening in her brain, that was staining everything in her life, was also bringing about some beauty, compelling her to do amazing, creative things she wouldn’t have done before,” which Owen said powerfully influenced him at the time.
On the hypermelodic “Rosemary and Thieves,” Owen sings, “She used to keep / Such a beautiful garden / But now she just waters the weeds / Rosemary and thieves.”
Owen will release Memoriam on November 1. Until then, he will put out several tracks as singles, starting with “Beautiful Stain,” “Pony Express,” and “Rosemary and Thieves.”
“I like the album and kind of wish I had more listeners, of course,” Owen said. “It’s hard to teach myself to be an influencer online or spend time on social media. I think we made a good album. … I like making pretty things. It’s therapeutic but not therapy. I took a lot of time to be open in making the album.”
Though Owen has no local dates yet, he’s going on tour in October, starting in Phoenix. He’ll be opening for buzzy Austin singer-songwriter David Ramirez on a few dates. “I love touring,” Owen said.
The cover artwork continues the theme. It’s a photo of Owen’s great[-]grandfather, Tsunayoshi Sakurada. “I wanted to incorporate my family in memoriam of Japanese culture. Looking through all the photos, the image felt powerful, tributing my family history and tributing the woman he raised, my grandmother.”
Photo courtesy of Brendan Blaney
