Free at Noon Flashback: Bones Owens rocks World Cafe Live with new single

Bones Owens XPN Free At Noon Concert | photo by Emily De Hart for WXPN | dehartvisuals.com

“I think we killed all of these amplifiers already,” said Bones Owens at today’s Free at Noon concert. Owens was only two songs in when he checked on two massive amplifiers behind him. The genre-crossing guitarist shrugged and kept on playing. Blown out amps are a small price to pay for rock and roll.

Owens released his album, Make Me No King, in 2017 and his latest single, “Bout Time”, has already been featured on WXPN several times. He is currently on tour with Whiskey Myers and was fresh off a sold out night at Theater of Living Arts when he took the World Cafe Live stage this afternoon. If you’re a fan of Jack White, Kurt Cobain, or any rock icon with sweaty hair, sleeve tats, and amps turned all the way up, you’ll love Bones Owens. Despite mid-day set time, Owens stayed at full volume and completed his late-night show aesthetic with a smoke machine and lighting effects.

As his biography says, Owens doesn’t conform to one genre. His song “White Lines” — the one that killed the amps — is a driving, guitar-heavy beat about racing the clock to see a lover. “Keep It Close” brings down the guitar and brings up the drums while Owens asserts that you have to “keep it close to your heart.” His closing song, “Bout Time”, is the most electric of them all in texture and energy. He even treated the World Cafe crowd to an unreleased song, “Keep on Running.” Throughout the set, Owens switched from shouting to serenading, from guitar to harmonica, and invested his full force in every moment. Owens proved his dynamic range as a performer and rocked the house — if only for thirty minutes.

Hear the complete show in the player below.