The Owen Family

The Owen Family Band was a Nebraska-based regional musical group that played concerts, barn dances and other shows in the rural Midwest United States in the 1930s and 1940s. Bryan Wald Owen played violin and other string instruments, Mae Owen (Ida Mae Bell Owen) played piano, their daughter Patty Owen (Parthenia Bell Owen) played saxophone, along with Mae's brother Bob Bell (who played clarinet) and other family members and friends who joined in from time to time.

Their music ranged from Carter family-style bluegrass folk (often with Irish and early country infuences) to up-tempo swing Jazz sounds.

While they enjoyed regional success as a live act, and made numerous radio appearances, they never formally recorded. The primitive home recordings avaiable here and elsewhere are from the personal collection of Mae Owen's great-granddaughter, writer and singer M. C. Brennan.