David Olney

David Olney is a singer-songwriter. But in his case, perhaps the term should be capitalized. And maybe underlined and printed in bold type as well.

To wit, the late Townes Van Zandt, a songwriting icon himself, rated Olney as "one of the best songwriters I've ever heard," listing him as one of his favorite music writers alongside Mozart, Lightnin' Hopkins and Bob Dylan. Olney's songs have been recorded by the two singers best known for showcasing the work of the finest contemporary songwriters - Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt - and have earned him the sort of rare praise that is generally reserved for the work of geniuses. For as Dave Ferman of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram raves, "David Olney is as good as it gets. Period."

For confirmation of such heady praise, one only need to turn to The Wheel, Olney's new release on Loudhouse Records and his 11th studio album. Like many Olney records, it has a thematic thread subtly weaving through the work, this time one of circularity and motion, as he explores a broad palette of modes, moods and characters that crackle with the immediacy and emotional depth of reality transformed into music. With a musical and lyrical touch that ranges from the shattering surprise of a sucker punch to the piquant delicacy of a kiss, Olney forges the lowdown with high art within the craft of the popular song, creating virtual literature you can hum along with. Both on his own and in collaboration with folk and pop legend Janis Ian, Oscar nominee Gwil Owen and respected literary figure Bland Simpson, David Olney proves the transformational power of the well-written song.

The Wheel brims with the literate vividness that has inspired critics to compare Olney alternately to an author, painter, playwright and screenwriter. "His songs are rich with complex characters, unpredictable plot twists, and grand tragedies; they dramatize the brutality of evil and the quiet dignity of goodness," wrote Michael McCall in the Nashville Scene. Similarly, Jim Ridley noted in New Country how "David Olney has a distinctly American voice. There's a swagger, a generosity and a wiseguy wit in his writing that we associate with our national character, an appreciation for the underdog and the outlaw." Philadelphia Inquirer critic Nick Christiano compares Olney to "an American Richard Thompson," observing how he "ranges from brooding chamber folk to bluesy, down-and-dirty rock while writing piercingly intelligent and empathetic tunes that immediately engage both the head and the gut." It's those qualities as well as what the Star-Telegram's Ferman calls Olney's "astounding" and "magnificent" performing style that have made Olney the toast of musical cognoscenti across North America and Europe.

A longtime resident of Nashville, a songwriters' city if there ever was one, Olney was reared in Lincoln, Rhode Island. A love of musical expression came early; he recalls as a youngster the exhilaration of singing at the top of his lungs on quiet Sunday mornings as he rode his bike along his paper route. At the age of 13, he got his first guitar, and was soon digging down into the origins of contemporary American folk by listening to and learning from Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. "Folk music was so immediate and self-contained and you could just jump in and do it," Olney recalls.

But even though "folk was the way I chose to do music," at the same time Olney tapped into the broad and rich veins of musical vitality found in the 1960s. "Rock'n'roll and soul and the British Invasion and pop music in general was the background music to all our lives. After a while, it all runs together. Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Chuck Berry, the Memphis Jug Band, Charlie Poole, Jimmy Reed, Otis Redding and Bob Dylan all hit me where I live. Oh yeah, and Ray Charles. They are all folk singers. They are all rock stars."

Attracted to the mysticism of the American South as a counterpoint to the Yankee rationalism of his home turf, Olney headed to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where his brief tenure as a student was soon overcome by the allure of making music. His college experience did offer its creative benefits in making the acquaintance of his now longtime friend Bland Simpson, the celebrated Southern author, musician (The Red Clay Ramblers), historian and storyteller.

During a subsequent stint living in Atlanta, Olney had a "world-changing moment" when he opened a show for Townes Van Zandt in nearby Athens. "His music knocked me on my ear," explains Olney. "He could write folk songs and make them contemporary, completely new. And he wasn't afraid of poetry - he was completely fearless that way."

Olney eventually landed in Nashville, where he comfortably fell in with such like-minded types as Guy Clark, Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell. He chose the city for its Southern locale and the music industry there, which proved to be in an entirely different solar system from the one that Olney worked and created in. "I thought I was gonna get famous real quick and that didn't happen," he recalls. "But I was having a real good time, and I was getting real productive with my writing."

Olney soon "had it in mind that would be fun to start a little band, a country and folk kind of thing. Then we played our first gig and it got real loud," he says with a laugh. The group, David Olney & The X-Rays, released one superb album, Contender, on Rounder Records and helped jump start Nashville's non-country live music scene.

After the band ran its course, Olney went solo and never looked backwards. Over what is now some two decades since of writing songs, making albums and performing, he's amassed a highly impressive and distinctive body of work. Along the way, he's inhabited in song such real life characters as Omar Khayyam, John Barrymore, T.E. Lawrence, John Dillinger, Barabbas and Jesse James as well Bob Ford, the man who shot and killed James. Likewise, Olney's creativity has crystallized such diverse points of view as the members of a baseball team at play, the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem, a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, and the sinking of the Titanic from the perspective of the iceberg. He can just as easily convey the feelings of such outsiders as drunkards, murderers, pool hustlers and gamblers as compose elegant love songs that swoon with genuine romance. And he sets it all within song structures that make such flights of imagination tangible and accessible, drawing from folk, country, blues, rock and R&B to create a rich American musical gumbo.

Although Olney's musical journey has skirted along the margins of popularity and the music industry, "It's been great, really," he says of his career. "When you're 20 years old, you just want to be famous so badly, and I think it can be a real disaster artistically. There's a certain freedom in working in the fields of obscurity that I really enjoy. The writing of the songs and getting out and playing in front of people is really the kick for me, and actually always has been the kick.

"At this point, the main obligation I have is to the song," Olney concludes. "It's no longer a job or something external to me. Making music and writing songs is like being right handed. It's just the way it is."