Hot Wax: Can't Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney (2024)

The late David Olney was a superlative songwriter and a natural storyteller, capable of spinning tales with an imagination the equal of any novelist or poet. A Rhode Island native who landed in Nashville by way of North Carolina and Georgia, Olney and his band the X-Rays were early pioneers of the Music City’s bourgeoning late ‘70s rock scene, recording two albums for Rounder Records. Olney launched a solo career in the mid-‘80s that resulted in better than 30 studio and live albums, his last being 2021’s Whispers and Sighs, a posthumous collaboration with singer/songwriter Anana Kaye. Olney passed away of an apparent heart attack in January 2020 while performing onstage at the 30A Songwriter Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

Although Olney never received the commercial returns an artist of his talent deserved, he was well-respected by other artists and songwriters. Musical legends like Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Del McCoury, and Linda Rondstadt thought enough of his skills as a wordsmith to record Olney songs like “If My Eyes Were Blind,” “Women Cross the River,” and “Jerusalem Tomorrow” while talents such as John Hiatt, Guy Clark, and Townes Van Zandt considered him a peer. As Olney told me in an interview for my 2012 book The Other Side of Nashville, “I used to be pissed-off about not being more famous. But I got to see the world in an intimate kind of way, and that’s OK.”    

Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney

It’s been almost five years since Olney’s death and he’s been provided an honor afforded few of even the most commercially-successful of his contemporaries – a bona fide tribute album. Released by Americana label New West Records, Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney compiles 17 of Olney’s tunes on four sides of vinyl (also available on CD), performed by folks like Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Dave Alvin, Mary Gauthier, and Willis Alan Ramsey. Olney makes an appearance himself with the eerie, previously-unreleased “Sonnet #40,” while Executive Producer Gwil Owen, a longtime friend of Olney’s, dug up a vintage, unreleased live recording of Townes Van Zandt performing Olney’s “Illegal Cargo” in 1977 in Chapel Hill NC.

Although Olney is usually pigeonholed as a country or folk artist, as I wrote in my review of his 2014 album When the Deal Goes Down, “much like Van Zandt, Olney brings country and folk influences to his songs, but he also imbues his performances with a punk-rock intensity and attitude.” In truth, Olney brought whatever tool he needed – country, folks, blues, rock – to crafting his songs. Can’t Steal My Fire opens with Lucinda Williams’ take on Olney’s “Deeper Well,” the title track of his 1988 album for Rounder Records. Williams is a kindred spirit, a fellow musical outsider who has tasted fleeting success, and an incredible vocalist. When she sinks her teeth into a performance like she does here on “Deeper Well,” she transforms the song, this time into a powerful Delta blues dirge, her haunting vocals supported by Stuart Mathis’s otherworldly guitar playing. It’s an electrifying reminder of what a singer like Williams can do with an already great song.

By contrast, Olney’s longtime friend Steve Earle applies his own considerable vocal talents to “Sister Angelina,” a standout track from 1992’s Border Crossing album. A folkish ballad with Mexican instrumental flourishes, Earle’s nuanced performance is boosted by Jeff Hill’s engaging and exotic fretwork. It’s a gorgeous song, done right by Earle. The McCrary Sisters – unknown to me before now – take “Voices On the Water,” co-written by Olney with Gwil Owen, and apply a Gospel fervor to their performance, magnifying the lyrics and raising a joyous noise. Buddy Miller doesn’t so much interpret “Jerusalem Tomorrow” as much as he moves in and inhabits the song with a strong spoken/sung performance that focus more on the song than the singer.

David Olney 2019, photo by Scott Housley

If My Eyes Were Blind

The Steeldrivers open side two of Can’t Steal My Fire, bringing a bluegrass fury to “If My Eyes Were Blind,” also from Deeper Well. The band weaves elegant instrumentation around Olney’s poetic lyrics, creating a lush soundscape that perfectly captures Olney’s emotional original. Acclaimed Texas singer/songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey brings a bit of whimsy to his performance of “Women Across the River,” his atmospheric vocals accented by Tammy Rogers’ lovely mandolin and fiddle-play. Louisiana folkie Mary Gauthier brings a minimalist Southern Gothic vibe to “1917,” from 1999’s Through A Glass Darkly. Although she’s accompanied by subtle and subdued instrumentation, her vocals are simply mesmerizing, drawing your focus to the story so that everything else falls away.

Americana legend Jimmie Dale Gilmore kicks of the album’s third side with “If It Wasn’t For the Wind,” a co-write with Joe Fleming from Olney’s first solo LP, 1986’s Eye of the Storm. Gilmore applies his warm, high-lonesome vocals to the winsome ballad, imbuing the song with a dreaminess that is punctuated by Warren Hood’s fiddle and guitarist Rich Brotherton’s lovely guitarplay. Olney collaborated with young singer/songwriter Anana Kaye and her musician husband Irakli Gabriel on Whispers and Sighs and they return the favor with an inspired performance of “Running From Love,” Kaye’s breathless vocals adding an urgent sensuality to the lyrics while guitarist Joe McMahan fiery leads lead the song to blues-rock territory. “That’s My Story,” from one of Olney’s more obscure albums, 1991’s Top To Bottom, is provided a talking blues-styled reading by folkie Greg Brown, who brings a Tom Waits vibe to the offbeat, absurdist story.

Olney’s “Sonnet #40” is equally bizarro, a short, shocking spoken-word vamp with Olney’s studio-altered vocals accompanied by jazzy instrumentation and lyrics that surprise. Afton Wolfe is another artist unfamiliar to these ears, but his high-energy, hard-rockin’ version of “Titanic” is as steely as its namesake’s hull. With gritty vocals driven to madness by McMahan’s metallic fretwork, it’s a dino-stomp in a league with Sabbath or Zeppelin. Dave Alvin digs all the way back to the X-Rays’ 1981 album Contender for “Steal My Thunder,” the Americana pioneer transforming the song into a bluesy roots-rocker with help from the Rick Holmstrom Trio. Jim Lauderdale brings a honky-tonk authenticity to “Delta Blue,” complete with enchanting Dobro and fiddle. The aforementioned Townes Van Zandt performance of “Illegal Cargo” closes out Can’t Steal My Fire. Another great song from Deeper Well, what this 1977 live recording lacks in sonic quality it more than makes up for with pathos and sincerity.        
 

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

I was privileged to have known David Olney, and to have seen him perform a number of times – more than enough to stand in awe of the man and his music. A singular talent, Olney’s skills as a lyrical storyteller are unequalled in popular music, and his ability to perfectly capture the human condition in the unyielding amber of song is his legacy. As shown by the 17 songs on Can’t Steal My Fire, Olney was a hell of a wordsmith, and it’s because his work drew so deeply from the entirety of American music that it is truly timeless and open to endless interpretation. Can’t Steal My Fire provides a wonderful introduction to David Olney, and will motivate more than a few first-time listeners to dig into his rich and varied catalog of music…for which they’ll be suitably rewarded. Grade: A+ (New West Records, released August 27th, 2024)

Buy the album from Amazon: Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney

Also on That Devil Music: Gwil Owen talks about David Olney & the Can’t Steal My Fire LP

The Reverend’s tribute to Olney on the Rock and Roll Globe website

Q5: Gwil Owen talks about David Olney & the Can't Steal My Fire LP (2024)

Nashville musician Gwil Owen was a longtime friend and collaborator with David Olney and the Executive Producer of the recently-released tribute album, Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney. The Reverend pitched a few questions to Owen about the album via email:

Q1. How did Can’t Steal My Fire come about?
David was my closest friend and we had many conversations about the fact that he probably wouldn’t get true recognition until he was dead and gone. One night we played a show together and met Regina McCrary. After she left Dave said, “we should get the McCrary Sisters to cut one of our songs.” I said, “what song of ours would they cut?” and Dave said, “Voices on the Water!” I always remembered that conversation and it was an honor to make that wish come true. When he died, I realized that I was the logical person to make this record and his family agreed.
 
Q2. How did you choose which artists to include, and did they select the songs they performed?
David spent a lifetime on the road, so he got to know a lot of his fellow songwriters, and I knew that he was greatly admired in that circle. I mostly focused on those that I also knew personally, as it made it a lot easier. Steve Earle, Dave Alvin, Mary Gauthier, and R.B. Morris all knew which songs they wanted to do, so of course I agreed to all of those; I chose most of the rest.
 
Q3. Were there any artists who you wanted to include on the album but couldn’t get?
The first artist who agreed to be on the record was John Prine. Tragically, he died of COVID just a month later, before he had a chance to record his track. 2020 was a year of heartbreaks. I spent a good while talking with Tom Waits’ people; he loved the tracks I sent him and set up a Zoom meeting with his record label. I thought for sure we had him, but in the end it didn’t work out. There’s also a never-released Johnny Cash version of “Jerusalem Tomorrow” that I couldn’t manage to pry out of Rick Rubin’s hands.
 
Q4. How would you describe David Olney’s music?
Dave was a master storyteller; he could work all the necessary elements into a song so skillfully that you never noticed the enormous amount of information he was giving you. Listen to “Illegal Cargo” for example. He also had a tremendous imagination; he thought of approaches and points of view that would never occur to most writers. Telling the story of the Titanic from the perspective of the iceberg is probably the most famous example of that. Just as important as all his technical skill and creativity was his tremendous empathy. He really cared about people, and that big heart of his is beating loudly throughout every single one of his songs.
 
Q5. What would you like listeners to know about Olney?
He made about 20 albums in his lifetime and there are great songs on every one. If you like this record, I encourage you to check out the songs as sung by the man himself.

Buy the album from Amazon: Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney

Also on That Devil Music: Can't Steal My Fire album review

CD Preview: Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story

We have a fondness for guitarists here at That Devil Music.com world HQ, and few more so than the late Mick Ronson. An integral part of the sound of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” era, Ronson would go on to play alongside legends like Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and John Mellencamp and the guitarist also had a lengthy friendship with former Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter, playing on a number of Hunter’s solo albums during the 1970s and ‘80s. Ronson had also built a significant solo career before his untimely death 25 years ago, in April 1993, releasing a trio of critically-acclaimed albums including a bona fide classic in 1974’s Slaughter On 10th Avenue.

In 2017, filmmaker Jon Brewer unveiled Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story, a feature-length documentary film about the guitarist’s life and career that enjoyed a limited theatrical run before its release on DVD and streaming via Hulu and Amazon Prime. Brewer, who had previously made documentary films on B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix, lined up some heavy hitters for his Ronson movie, which features narration by David Bowie and exclusive contributions from Ian Hunter, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Queen’s Roger Taylor, and Rick Wakeman of Yes, among others.

On June 8th, 2018 Universal Music will release Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story, The Soundtrack, a fourteen-song collection to compliment Brewer’s documentary film. Known to his friends as “Ronno,” the de facto movie soundtrack features songs from Ronson’s various collaborations with artists like David Bowie, Ian Hunter, Elton John, and Michael Chapman as well as a handful of the guitarist’s solo tracks. The album also includes a previously-unreleased cover version of “This Is For You” by Joe Elliott, as well as a piano tribute to Ronson by former Bowie keyboardist Mick Garson, who has also played with Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins.

Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story, The Soundtrack also features a live performance of Mott the Hoople’s “All The Young Dudes” from the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert For AIDS Awareness held at Wembley Stadium in London that includes members of Queen, Bowie and Ronson, and Def Leppard’s Elliott and Phil Collen. The soundtrack includes a lengthy essay and liner notes and will be released on CD and heavyweight 180-gram black vinyl as well as a digital download. A limited edition red vinyl version of the album is available exclusively from the uDiscover website.

Mick Ronson was an imaginative and innovative guitarist whose work inspired a generation of British rockers to follow. If you’re not familiar with Ronson’s work, Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story, The Soundtrack seems like a great place to start! The full tracklist for the album is provided below along with a handy Amazon.com link to buy a vinyl copy (that's the version I'm gonna buy!) of this long-overdue tribute to a great artist.

Buy the vinyl LP from Amazon.com: Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story, The Soundtrack

Beyond Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story, The Soundtrack track listing:
1. Queen, Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Joe Elliott & Phil Collen – “All The Young Dudes” [live]
2. Michael Chapman – “Soulful Lady”
3. Elton John – “Madman Across The Water”
4. David Bowie – “Moonage Daydream”
5. David Bowie – “Cracked Actor”
6. David Bowie – “Time”
7. Ian Hunter – "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"
8. Mick Ronson – “I’d Give Anything To See You”
9. Mick Ronson – “Hard Life”
10. Mick Ronson – “Midnight Love”
11. Mick Ronson – "Like A Rolling Stone"
12. Joe Elliott – “This Is For You” *
13. Queen, David Bowie and Mick Ronson – “Heroes” [live]
14. Mike Garson – “Tribute To Mick Ronson” *

* Previously unreleased