Rebecca Owen: Step Aside, Nashville! Some of the Hottest New Sounds in Country Music Are Coming from Way out West in New Mexico

LOS ANGELES, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Luck Media & Marketing) - As fate would have it, rising country singer Rebecca Owen moved from her suburban New Orleans hometown of Slidell, Louisiana out to Albuquerque, New Mexico just ten days before Hurricane Katrina. Since then, Owen has been turning up the heat out West, stirring up a storm of her own on Albuquerque's growing country music scene with a self-titled album produced by New Mexico native and Country Music Association nominee Johnny Mulhair, who helmed LeAnn Rimes' first two CDs.

Owen is a regular presence on the fair circuit, with two consecutive appearances at the New Mexico State Fair. Last year, she opened for singer Jack Ingram at the fair's rodeo event-performing on the same stage as Emerson Drive-and in 2006, she opened for Little Big Town. Owen's 2008 club dates include stops at Pecos Flavors Winery in Roswell, the Harvest Wine Festival in Las Cruces and the Santa Fe County Fair, plus regular performances at Albuquerque's Cowboy's Club.

The twelve tracks on Rebecca Owen create a fascinating mix of songs both legendary and soon-to-be known. Her version of Hank Williams, Sr.'s 'My Heart Would Know' is not only an homage to the country music legend but also to the era he represents that brought country to mainstream appreciation. Owen also enjoyed the challenge of covering one of her favorite artists, Lucinda Williams, with a highly percussive, bluesy twist on 'I Lost It,' a song that tells the story of not being able to go back after someone has taken your heart. Another memorable song many country fans will be familiar with is Rodney Crowell's 'I Ain't Living Long Like This.'

According to Owen, 'Nothing tops the excitement of a live performance, where the whole big world becomes so small and intimate. You look at the news these days, and there's so much about disasters, pain and horrible despair. It makes you feel so small in a huge world. But when I perform, I'm able to bring hope and love to people in a way that, like faith itself, takes me outside myself and helps me believe in something better and greater, in other people and life's beautiful possibilities.'