David Olney was a highly-acclaimed American singer-songwriter. His poetic songs were covered by many other artists, including Linda Ronstadt who recorded 'Women 'Cross the River', Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Townes Van Zandt, Del McCoury, The Wailin' Jennys and Steve Young.

Olney was born in Rhode Island and moved to Nashville in 1973, where he became well-known on the folk/country circuit and formed the band the X-Rays, which released two albums. He released his first solo album 'Eye of the Storm' in 1986, followed by 'Deeper Well' in 1989. Townes Van Zandt wrote the sleeve notes for his third album 'Roses' in 1991 and compared Olney's songwriting talent to that of Bob Dylan.

Emmylou Harris recorded his songs 'Jerusalem Tomorrow' on her 1993 album 'Cowgirl's Prayer' and 'Deeper Well' on her 1995 album 'Wrecking Ball'. His 1997 album 'Real Lies' featured contributions from Garth Hudson and John Prine. He recorded more than 20 albums during his career, including 'High Wide and Lonesome' (1995), 'Through a Glass Darkly' (1999), 'Omar's Blues' (2000), 'The Wheel' (2003) and 'Dutchman's Curve' (2010).

In his later years he recorded the weekly streamcast 'You Never Know', explaining the writing process behind many of his songs. After 'Don't Try to Fight It' in 2017 his final album was 'This Side or the Other' in 2018, an album with a recurring theme of walls both external and internal. It included a cover of the Zombies' 1965 hit 'She's Not There'.

Olney died on stage at a Florida music festival while still holding his guitar after an apparent heart attack in January 2020. He was 71.

David Olney

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