Interview: Bones Owens Discusses His Influences + New Album

On Friday, May 24, Bones Owens kicks off his Goin' Back Where I Came From tour. Much like the tour name might suggest, the run of live shows will take Owens back to the area of the country where he grew up.

"I'm born and raised in the Midwest, in Missouri," Owens told Chuck Armstrong on Wednesday's Loudwire Nights (May 22).

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"I've lived in Nashville since 2005 and, you know, I've worn several hats and played with different folks over the years...for the last seven years or so, I've been focused on this project, on myself — I guess I should say on Bones Owens."

Not only will the tour find Owens visiting his old stomping grounds so to speak, but it will also feature him commuting in a way he's never done before when playing live shows: he's touring on his Harley-Davidson.

"It's something that I've committed myself to, rain or shine," he said. "It's going to be grueling, man, but I look forward to the challenge of it. A big part of it is, touring as it is is actually pretty challenging and I guess I just wanted to make it even more difficult for myself to put in six or seven hours on a Harley and then, when you're nice and beat up from the road, you roll in and do a soundcheck."

As Owens said that, he kind of laughed to himself.

"You do a show and then do it all over again."

Bones Owens' Influences + His New Album, Love Out of Lemons

The new tour will help fans get ready for the July 12 release of Owens' new album, Love Out of Lemons, a collection of high-energy, no-frills, straightforward rock and roll songs — each of which is a snapshot of his influences when he was growing up in rural Missouri.

"I'm a product of the '80s and '90s," Owens told Chuck. "You know, some of the last eras of real rock stars some might argue. I grew up sneaking in some MTV and I remember Aerosmith and a lot of the early music videos on there."

Owens also admitted his dad's record collection was pivotal in his growth as a fan of music.

"You know, CCR and Steely Dan and Steve Miller Band and things like that were kind of what he was into. Then I found my own way to Zeppelin and Hendrix."

It wasn't just the classics that shaped Owens, though.

"It was a mashup of the classic rock of my dad's generation with the '90s, this alternative thing that was happening and grunge and all of that."

What Else Did Bones Owens Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

What fans can expect from his high-energy music in a stripped-down setting on the Goin' Back Where I Came From tour
Why he's excited to tour with Blackberry Smoke and perform all over Europe
How the first two singles of Love Out of Lemons — "Get It On" and "Goin' Back Where I Came From" — represent the rest of the album