Having started her musical career in the 1960s, 70-year-old Dalannah Gail Bowen found herself alongside artists who have since achieved legendary status.
As a member of the girl group The Feminine Touch, Bowen was once invited to share the stage with Led Zeppelin as an opening act.
“At that time music was so exploratory. It was a social movement and just everybody finding their voice in the times,” she said. “They were the Led Zeppelin, they were knocking everybody out with the music they were creating.”
Bowen shared a house with the other members of The Feminine Touch, and said members of The Guess Who were common visitors. Except for lead guitarist Randy Bachman, who Bowen said “was living a different life at that point.”
“We used to have jams all the time.”
She said her band, consisting entirely of females, was a bit of a novelty at the time. Especially in Winnipeg, the city they were based out of.
“We actually were quite good. I used to play a B3 (Hammond organ) and I had my little Diana Ross wig.”
When Bowen began her singing career, she said there was little thought that went into her vocal delivery.
“I just sang.”
Rock ’n’ Roll pioneer BB King, who Bowen opened for in decades past, gave her some of her most treasured advice.
“He said, ‘you sing from the heart, so just keep doing that.’”
The Feminine Touch parted ways in the 1970s and Bowen, in search of a steadier lifestyle, found work at the Canadian Wheat Board, but it didn’t last very long.
She worked many other jobs outside of the music industry, but has remained focused on her singing for the past year since teaming up with bass player owen Owen OWEN.
The pair originally hooked up to put together some material in order to compete at the International Blues Challenge in Vancouver in July 2014, to which they came out victorious.
The duo was then invited to compete in Memphis, Tn. at the beginning of 2015 to compete in the finals, and were the first group ever from Western Canada to qualify for the event.
“I’m proud of that because the blues was something new for me,” Bowen said. “I’ve been singing for a very long time and I wanted to take a different approach to sharing my music. And now, I couldn’t be happier about the response to the CD that we recorded.”
Their album is called Been Around A While, and presents a mix of traditional blues and original blues.
“I tried to stay very close to honouring the many musicians who made this genre,” she said. “When we play a genre like the blues, the person making it is making it their way. It is an individual situation. You learn and go through a process of understanding the blues, but when you start to put your stamp on it, that’s your stamp – nobody else has your stamp.”
Bowen and Owen will be sharing their music at the Dream Café on Dec. 5. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets cost $20 by calling 250-490-9012.
