Meet Eddie Owen of Eddie Owen Presents at The Red Clay Music Foundry

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eddie Owen.

Born and raised in the Atlanta area, Eddie Owen’s introduction to the music business came while he was attending Georgia State University earning Bachelor of Science Degree and bartending on the side. He began booking acoustic acts at a Decatur club, the Trackside Tavern, where he was working, including the Indigo Girls, Shawn Mullins, and others who later gained national prominence. After spending a decade learning the ropes, he created Eddie’s Attic, also in Decatur.

With Owen in charge of the music, the club quickly evolved from a venue for mainly local and regional acts to featuring the likes of Indigo Girls, John Mayer, Shawn Mullins, India Arie, Angie Aparo, Sugarland, Ani DiFranco, Zac Brown, David Wilcox along with many others, and rose in prominence to one of the most important stops in the nation for A-list performing songwriters and acoustic artists.

In 2002, Owen decided to give up his ownership of the venue but remained on board to manage the music and club operations. In 2012, Owen partnered with the City of Duluth, GA to operate the Red Clay Theatre, and formed the company Eddie Owen Presents, LLC.

All endeavors were built on the premise “live music matters!” and “life is in the song!” In 2015 Red Clay Music Foundry became reality. Based on the vision COLLABORATE-CREATE-CONNECT, the magical moment connection between the songwriter and the audience is taken a step further with the addition of a music school at RCMF with private lessons, workshops, and master classes. Owen lives in Duluth, with his wife Allena and their children, Clark, Eamon, and Lucy-Blair.

Has it been a smooth road?
Struggles for me have usually revolved around financial issues. If there’s not enough capital to “really promote” each show, ticket sales will reflect that. Our challenge is to make every show sound like “the 2nd coming”! Of course that’s very hard to do, but we have to attempt just that. Some artists are very good at helping that, others struggle. We can’t operate without ticket sales. The music school certainly helps create a revenue stream, but it’s not enough to float the show schedule. Our costs are as low as we possibly can get them, but it takes ticket sales to pay costs and artists.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
One of the things I have been most proud of over the years is meeting and hearing “new” talent, and being able to discern their potential. Our songwriters open mics have produced many artists that have gone on to build successful careers! That’s very cool!

We try very hard to create an environment where the songwriter and the audience can connect. An environment where every single member of an audience and every single artist leave thinking “that was very special.” Also, an environment where the artists can Create-Collaborate-Connect.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
When I started out in this business, I pretty much was the only venue working in Atlanta to create a “small listening room”, where the song was the driving force behind the business. There are many, many places in Atlanta now that try. Being such a large metro area, I do believe there’s room for many small listening rooms. But it is difficult for smaller draw artists to play multiple shows in the same city on a tour, even in a large metro area.

Pricing:

• Our shows range from as little as $7 to $50 per ticket, and everywhere in between.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3116 Main Street, Duluth, GA 30096
• Website: http://eddieowenpresents.com/
• Phone: 678-892-6373
• Email: info@eddieowenpresents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eopresents/
• Facebook: @EOPresents
• Twitter: @EOPresents

Image Credit:
Tom Garland

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