“His craftsmanship is close to flawless… it kind of transcends craftsmanship.” – Guy Clark
New West Records is proud to announce Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney
to be released on October 18, 2024. The 17-track double album was executive produced
by Gwil Owen and features new versions of David Olney songs recorded by Lucinda
Williams, Steve Earle, Janis Ian, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, The McCrary Sisters, Dave Alvin,
Mary Gauthier, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, The Steeldrivers, and more. The lovingly
produced tribute also features the first new recording from Willis Alan Ramsey since the
release of his 1972 cult classic debut album, an unreleased recording of Olney reciting
his “Sonnet #40,” and concludes with a never-before-released live recording of the
legendary Townes Van Zandt. Also included are new liner notes written by Steve Earle
and David Olney’s daughter Lillian.
From his liner notes, Steve Earle said, “...I became positively evangelical about the songs
of David Olney and I preached the gospel to anyone who would listen.” Of his recording
of “Sister Angelina,” Earle said “I’ve played it literally hundreds of times… and I’ll
continue to play it whenever I need to be reminded of where I come from as an artist
and why the bar for my contemporaries and myself is so high. Because David Olney was
the best of us.”
Today, Holler premiered the Townes Van Zandt live performance of Olney’s “Illegal
Cargo.” The previously unreleased recording was captured at the Cat’s Cradle in Chapel
Hill, NC on March 11, 1977. Also released today is The Steeldrivers’ new recording of
Olney’s “If My Eyes Were Blind.”
Originally from Rhode Island, David Olney moved to Nashville in the early 1970s and
fell in with a group of legendary songwriters including Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark,
Rodney Crowell, John Hiatt, and Steve Earle. He toured tirelessly with his rock band the
X-Rays and gave a particularly memorable performance on Austin City Limits in 1982.
Olney went on to release a string of brilliant albums and his songs were recorded by
Linda Ronstadt, Del McCoury, Steve Earle, and many more. Emmylou Harris covered
Olney’s “Deeper Well,” for her Grammy-winning album, Wrecking Ball, saying “David
Olney tells marvelous stories, with characters who cling to the hope of enduring love, all
the while crossing the deep divide into that long, dark night of the soul.” The New
York Times called him “an uncommonly thoughtful singer-songwriter, and said, “Mr.
Olney never had a hit single or won a Grammy Award, but in folk-rock and Americana
circles, he is revered for his poetic sensibility and gruff-voiced storytelling, especially by
his fellow songwriters, including his musical hero, Townes Van Zandt.” It was Van Zandt
wrote the liner notes to Olney’s 1991 album, Roses, stating “Anytime anyone asks me
who my favorite music writers are, I say Mozart, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bob Dylan and
Dave Olney. Dave Olney is one of the best songwriters I’ve ever heard - and that’s true. I
mean that from the heart.”
While the Nashville Scene said Olney was “Widely regarded as a founding father of
Americana,” the bright lights of stardom never quite shone on David, and he died the
way he lived: far from home, while singing a song onstage in a club on January 18, 2020.
Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney gathers some of his friends and
colleagues, many of which are legends in their own right, to pay tribute to his unique
talent and vision.
Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney will be available across digital platforms,
compact disc, and 2-LP double vinyl housed in a gatefold cover.
Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney Track Listing:
1. Lucinda Williams - Deeper Well
2. Steve Earle - Sister Angelina
3. The McCrary Sisters - Voices on the Water
4. Buddy Miller - Jerusalem Tomorrow
5. The Steeldrivers - If My Eyes Were Blind
6. Willis Alan Ramsey - Women Cross the River
7. Mary Gauthier - 1917
8. R.B. Morris - Always the Stranger
9. Jimmie Dale Gilmore - If It Wasn’t For the Wind
10. Anana Kaye - Running From Love
11. Greg Brown - That’s My Story
12. David Olney - Sonnet #40
13. Afton Wolfe - Titanic
14. Dave Alvin with the Rick Holmstrom Trio - Steal My Thunder
15. Jim Lauderdale - Delta Blue
16. Janis Ian - She’s Alone Tonight
17. Townes Van Zandt - Illegal Cargo
