‘Somebody’s Child’ singer Judith Owen comes to Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre

When Welsh singer-songwriter and pianist Judith Owen wrote “Somebody's Child,” she didn't know she authored a potential anthem for the issue of homelessness around the world.

But the song has stayed with her, in multiple YouTube video versions, and has become the title tune of her 11th album, first released last year, and then re-released in a new North American version in March.

Currently touring North America with English pop star Bryan Ferry, Owen is also playing some concert dates of her own along the way, including a show Sunday at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma.

Her touring backup quartet features famed recording session bassist Leland Sklar, who has worked with James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Phil Collins and others.

Owen, now in her late 40s, divides her time between homes in New Orleans and London when she's not touring. She is also co-founder of Twanky Records with her husband - actor, comedian, musician and writer Harry Shearer of “The Simpsons” TV series voice cast and the film “This Is Spinal Tap.”

Speaking recently by from a concert tour stop in Winnipeg, Owen spoke about her most famous song, her songwriting in general and her favorite tunes record by others.

Q: “Somebody's Child” is your trademark song at this point. It's a very emotional song on a hot topic. You've talked about it a lot in interviews already, but what would you say now to your forthcoming Northern California audience?

A: You know, it is a hot topic. I wrote the song on a concert tour bus in 2014. I'd had a shocking experience the prior Christmas, while I was in New York, shopping at the last minute, of course, in the snow. I remember turning on Fifth Avenue, and I saw this young, beautiful, black girl who was barefoot on the streets, wearing two trash bags, one as a top and one as a skirt. Sticking out between the two trash bags was an enormous, and gorgeous, pregnant stomach. She was high on drugs, and she was singing and dancing to the music in her own head.

Q: What was your immediate reaction to that sight at the time?

A: It was one of those things where you think, “I'm just going to run away from this as quickly as possible.'” It was a true metaphor for all that is terrifying for us as human beings, which is the state of illness, madness, homelessness and desperation. So I just bolted across the road. Everybody was avoiding her. It was such a huge reminder of how fragile life is.

Q: But you obviously had a second thought, right?

A: I thought, “Stop. You're looking at somebody's precious child who is now on the streets and about to have a child of her own.” She could only have been 17 or 18 years old. People were helping her, and I went back and helped. An ambulance was called, and she was taken to the hospital.

Q: Did writing the song help you deal with that experience?

A: Yes, it became the template for the whole album, because it really was a metaphor for how I speed through life, thinking that everything to do with me is so important. I live in a space that is very self-absorbed because I'm a musician and a writer, and I'm also somebody who has struggled with depression. The whole album really came off that experience and this song, “Somebody's Child,” it's about not missing the important stuff.

Q: What other songs you've written reflect that theme?

A: There's “Send Me a Line,” which is about the fact that life is what happens when you're busy taking selfies. I have a sense of humor about it, but that it really is that way.

Q: What songs by other artists do you like to play?

A: My cover versions are favorites with my audience. It started out with me covering Deep Purple's “Smoke on the Water,” which I just thought was so amusing. I don't believe in the karaoke style of covering other people's songs. I think you should take the songs somewhere else. There should be a twist on them that makes them yours. I turned this heavy rock anthem on its head and it became this sexy bossa nova. I went on to do Survivor's “Eye of the Tiger,” which became a David Brubeck jazz kind of thing.

Q: Some critics have characterized your work as melancholy, but then you turned around and recorded your own version of Mungo Jerry's “In the Summertime.”

A: It's a song that's wheeled out in Britain every bloody summertime, and you hear it all over the place. I was doing a summer show in England and I thought, “I'm going to twist them completely and utterly.” Instead of being about boys misbehaving in summer and looking for girls, I decided instead it would be about me watching that, and remembering my own teenage years.

Q: What inspired you to book additional concerts of your own while you're out touring with Bryan Ferry?

A: When you're a supporting act, you only get a short amount of time. If I'm headlining, I do a two-hour show, so it's a big difference. It's wonderful to be on the road with Bryan, but there's nothing like doing your own show.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.