Richie Owens and Bob Ocker In Concert, Saturday Oct 25, 8:00pm

"Richie Owens and Bob Ocker are an Acclaimed roots music acoustic duo and lifelong friends. They are originally from the hills of Appalachia who grew up together in Nashville. Their concerts provide an entertaining music-based storytelling experience with dynamic and skilled acoustic instrumental interplay that includes dobro, guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, autoharp set to powerful original songs and reimagined Appalachian folk tunes.

The duo’s vivid spoken-word intros and stage presence echoes the traditions of Ry Cooder & David Lindley, Doc Watson, Woody Guthrie and Will Rogers.  This show has the feel of a concert that brings Owen’s and Ocker’s common history alive like a concert with an embedded one-act play that is as engaging as it is mesmerizing.  

 Richie Owens is first cousin of country icon Dolly Parton who he has collaborated with over the years including performing and producing her 1998 bestselling, critically acclaimed album, Hungry Again and 2024’s Smoky Mountain DNA with Dolly Parton & Family.   He is grandson of mountain preacher and fiddle player, Jake Owens, whose colorful stories are often told by Richie Owens and Dolly Parton.

 Richie Owens is also an author, award-winning filmmaker, respected music historian, and a sought-after producer. He and Bob Ocker have toured across the U.S. and U.K., including a featured appearance at Fairport Convention’s Cropredy Festival.

Their latest album, Redemption, blends roots rock, gospel, and folk to explore spiritual reckoning and the current American experience.

The duo’s upcoming book, Appalachia: Ballads, Bloodlines, and the Long Journey Home, traces the stories and songs of their mountain heritage with epic stories that go back generations. 

A filmed cross-country tour and video on-the-road-documentary  is currently in production and will include this historic concert at The Fret House."