The shocking death of singer-songwriter David Olney, who passed while performing live on stage two years ago in January 2020 still reverberates. Olney was the epitome of the songwriter’s songwriter, appreciated by kindred spirits Townes Van Zandt, Steve, Emmylou Harris, and several others but severely underappreciated at large, developing a loyal, but undersized audience relative to his immense talent. Sadly, there are artists who become more appreciated after they are gone. John Prine is another example. Heck, we could certainly say the same about Townes Van Zandt too. In any case, though, the founder of Strictly Country Records, Pieter Groenveld, has been a devoted fan of Olney’s since 1993 and this posthumous release, Evermore – The Final Live in Holland Sessions 1, is the seventh in a series of eight live performances from Holland. Nevermore – Sessions 2 is due on June 10.
The album (actually both of them) has a generous fifteen songs and has Olney on guitar and harmonica accompanied by his longtime sideman, bassist, and vocalist Daniel Seymour. Here he performs thirteen original songs, most co-written with John Hadley and two covers, fittingly one from John Prine and the other from Townes Van Zandt. It’s a combination of classics such as “A Dangerous Man,” three two-song medleys, and newer material such as “Thing of Beauty.” Most of his are dramatic and/or witty story songs that offer no shortage of philosophical messages, sarcasm, and brilliant poetry. Listen to “Situation/Don’t Try to Fight it” which has all those attributes but also reveals how passionately focused Olney was as a performer, completely enraptured in his music in a hypnotic way that evokes the original bluesmen. And yes, there’s a strong undercurrent of blues in much of the material. Olney’s half-spoken, half-sung opener “Big Top (Tornado)” where he accompanies himself on guitar and harmonica evokes the style of Charlie Musselwhite.
These are culled from four performances in Holland in 2016 and 2018 which Groenveld recorded. His “Trainwreck” is hilarious, comparing a woman to the title – “I can hear your whistle a mile away…you’re a trainwreck baby, but I love you anyway.” “Two Bit Hood” is straight from the school of Van Zandt songwriting, a series of rhymes, seemingly innocent until one realizes it’s an ode to decadence – “Blow us all to kingdom come, let’s go out and have some fun.” His segue on his own “Always the Stranger” until Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” works surprisingly well as does his even more surprising coupling of his “Stand Tall” with The Zombies’ hit “She’s Not There.” On the other hand, the title track, just slightly over two minutes, is a quiet reverie performed solo, revealing versatility, another of his underrecognized traits.
His classic “Dangerous Man” (“I dreamed with my eyes open, and that made me a dangerous man”) is a terrific example of his dramatic storytelling as he chronicles mythic characters in the first person through multiple generations in the Middle East. He gets downright defiant in the heavily strummed “I Spy,” claiming to live in two worlds, not knowing which is real. “No Business of Mine” takes the classic upbeat folk song approach as he proceeds to unveil an eviscerating breakup song, filled with bleak imagery. “Love Is” becomes not as much an ode to love but is seen as a disguised trap or the alluring mountain one is unable to climb, or better yet “a joke, a second-rate comedy.” The newer “Thing of Beauty” covers similar subject matter, albeit more positively with a funky rhythm pattern.
Stretching over ten minutes is the anthemic medley “Stand Tall/She’s Not There,” the first part is a steadfast treatise on maintaining one’s beliefs and being able to express them no matter the consequences. To this writer, it evokes both Dylan and Neil Diamond’s “Dry Your Eyes” from The Last Waltz. The repetitive urging of “Stand Tall” then rather goes into a different direction with the Zombies tune, which Olney delivers enthusiastically as opposed to his deliberate stance in his original, with a rather strange talking blues sequence midway through. It was rather obviously a closing song of one the performances judging by audience response. “Take Me With You When You Go” is a song of yearning, sung with a tenderness akin to the title track. The last third also features the two covers, a faithful rendition of Prine’s “The Speed Of The Sound of Loneliness” and the closer, aptly emotional reading of Van Zandt’s “For the Sake of the Song,” featuring fine picking from Olney and plucking from Seymour.
Fifteen of these great songs isn’t enough. Lest you worry, another fifteen are due with Nevermore in just of matter of weeks. That one has more of his classic material too.
