Shropshire Star

Blues Boy Dan Owen's BBC gig a winner

A singer-songwriter from Shropshire has played his toughest gig yet – live on the BBC.

Published

Blues Boy Dan Owen, from Shrewsbury, performed in front of millions live on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One yesterday morning.

The 20-year-old was interviewed by presenter Sophie Raworth who said his career was 'really taking off' after having only played in front of a handful of people before.

A clip of him singing was spotted on YouTube by Fleetwood Mac legend Mick Fleetwood over the winter and he will now support ZZ Top on tour this summer as well as perform at the Glastonbury and Wychwood festivals.

He said: "It's weird how it all happened. I got on a plane for the first time last week and was in Nashville which is an amazing place.

"I was recording with a guy called Vance Powell, who is a Grammy Award winning producer, which is a bit of an experience.

"We went to Willy Nelson's 80th birthday party with Neil Young, Sheryl Crow and Nora Jones, some amazing people that I have known to watch but then got to see them in front of me."

Dan played guitar and sung the Willy Nelson song Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die at the close of the show yesterday.

His rise to fame began when Mick Fleetwood shared Dan's YouTube video while sitting in his Hawaii home, it has now gained 400,000 hits.

He will also perform at Market Drayton's Folk and Blues festival on May 25, part of the annual Rock and Bowl festival in the to