Concerts in the Chapel presents: Garrett Owen, with David Talley and special guest Cynthia Acebo
Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
We are excited to welcome this group of musicians to our beautiful stage. They all have amazing stories to share with their music and voices. This will be an unforgettable experience. Take advantage of the presale tickets, as the ticket price at the door day of show will be $20. A full bar will be provided.
Garrett Owen’s music has the raw, rustic twang of a Texan, but his origin story is not that of your typical cowboy troubadour. The son of career missionaries, Owen spent his childhood in Tanzania and Kenya, his adolescence in South Louisiana, before coming of age in Ecuador. Asked about the most palpable effect of such eclectic settings, he cites not the musical, but the psychological. “I think it made me a really open person,” Owen shares. “I’ve seen a lot. And I have a really hard time with rules.”
Owen’s song structures dip, twist, and burst with a twister-like thrill. He can shift from tender, taletelling balladeering into a wholly rock and roll torrent and back, without losing the emotional plot. “Growing up, I was very opposed to learning—I broke a lot of toys.” But what might have once been considered a behavioral hindrance is now a benefit to listeners. Owen’s dynamic song structures and the indisputable technical capacity required to pull them off make for an unabashed adventure of an album.
Owen started at age fourteen with an affinity for the delectable angst of heavy metal. “I was always going to be a guitar head,” he says. In time, he shifted focus to the classics—Jim Croce, Jackson Brown, James Taylor—and in college, started to explore Jazz. Though that didn’t last long. “I got into Jazz to try and communicate that sad beauty Chet Baker and Bill Evans do so well, but I pretty quickly got tired of the excess and intricacies, slobbering notes all over each other.” Owen discovered he could apply the picking patterns of his grittier influences—Doc Watson, Elliott Smith—to Jazz structures, and create a fuller, more modern and emotional kind of folk music, a sound that felt truer to his way of moving through the world. To embrace Owen’s music is to embrace the unexpected; you never know what’s coming next.
Loss permeates his album ‘Memoriam,’ and Owen handles it with a stark honesty that sways from affectingly reverent to cathartically comedic. He laments more than one failed romance and—as in the case of the spellbinding album opener—with an intense, poetic wistfulness: Just let me remain / A spot on your brain / A beautiful stain. He shares, “Making music is therapeutic, but it’s not therapy. It feels good to do, but that doesn’t mean you’re better now.” That self-awareness is essential to his lyricism. Owen is a man cracked open—diligently mining his own human pain and presenting the findings, a generous offering in which listeners can see themselves. “I have a musical comrade who often says to me, ‘We’re all miracles, Garrett—don’t forget.’ It’s hard to hold onto that, when at times, I feel like all I’m doing is watching stuff die. But I definitely feel, more than ever, that life is precious.”
David Talley is a singer-songwriter whose music blends deep storytelling with a unique mix of genres, drawn from his roots in Medellín, Colombia, and his upbringing in Quito, Ecuador. David began his musical journey at the age of 15, picking up the guitar and eventually earning a scholarship to continue his education in music. For a decade, he fronted his own band, The Hardin Draw, honing his craft before stepping into his current role as lead guitarist for the widely acclaimed Amigo The Devil. After nearly two decades of dedication to his music and songwriting, David is now preparing to share his own original work with the world. His writing is raw, compelling, and authentic—fusing the smooth crooning style of 1950s ballads with the haunting melodies of old westerns and folk. Whether it’s the introspective depth of his lyrics or the captivating soundscapes he creates, David’s music speaks to the heart and soul. With a sound that’s equal parts uplifting and reflective, David Talley is an artist poised to leave a lasting mark on the music world.
After graduating with a BA in Music Media from UTA in 2015, Cynthia Acebo studied live sound at Magnolia Motor Lounge in Fort Worth where she found mentorship and community in the local music scene. In her 10 years of experience, Cynthia is skilled in production management, sound engineering and talent buying. She currently sings classically in the Fort Worth Chorale, a semi-professional civic choir under the direction of Dr. Kenaston-French, as well as jazz at local venues in Fort Worth. In her music career, she’s had opportunities to perform choral music at the Meyerson with the Dallas Symphony, Bass Hall with the Fort Worth Symphony and at the Cowboy’s stadium with the Rolling Stones. Cynthia’s unique choral background has helped her career in live sound by developing an ear for balance and blend while her interpersonal and technical skills make her an esteemed member of the Fort Worth music scene. She has run live sound for artists like American Aquarium, Leon Bridges, Grady Spencer and the Work and many more over the years. Her audio career brought opportunities to run sound at festivals, corporate events, weddings, theaters, a variety of local venues in DFW and a tour of the east coast. She is currently the head engineer at Magnolia Motor Lounge and represents one of the only female live sound engineers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.