Mod Flanders

By Scott McDonald

Don’t pigeonhole Judith Owen. She may be both a singer and a writer, but she insists there is muchmore to her music than being a “singer/songwriter.”

“It’s hard to use all of the forms of expression that you have,” Owen says from the Santa Monica home she shares with her husband, actor/musician Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind). “I could choose to do one thing, one style, but then it would get really boring, really fast. I’d feel like I was only speaking four words out of every 20.”

When she kicks off her latest tour at Lestat’s on April 23, Owen plans to showcase each of the influences that define her unique style. The daughter of a Welsh opera singer, Owen developed a love for classical music and grand theatrical productions watching her father perform. At home, it was all about jazz.

It wasn’t until Owen came to America and saw Richard Thompson perform one day in Central Park that she thought twice about folk music. Eventually, Owen and Thompson struck up a friendship when both musicians were signed to Capitol Records and have since contributed to one another’s albums.

“I am a true hybrid of classical, folk, jazz and theater,” Owen says. “It’s all imprinted on my brain. It’s like I’ve been branded or something—it is so deeply entrenched in me.”

She calls Shearer—also the voice of Ned Flanders and many other characters on The Simpsons—her biggest supporter and ally. Owen also credits her husband—who’s played bass and keyboard on many of his wife’s albums—with helping her stick to her guns. And while she admits that people tend to gravitate to things easily classifiable, she entrusts audiences to make up their own minds about her music.

“I think audiences know better, and there’s room for everyone,” Owen says. “More than anything, I want to take my audiences on a theatrical journey.”