(Oct. 30, 1997)
Life
was especially good in 1982 for David Olney. He and his rock
band, The X-Rays, recorded an album for Rounder Records; they
appeared on "Austin City Limits" and opened for Elvis
Costello.
By
1985, they disbanded and "then I was back to playing
solo," Olney said recently. "At that point, I stopped
caring whether people liked my music. Of course, I wanted people
to like it; it's just that my main responsibility was to the
songs."
His
storytelling songs - in the tradition of mentor Townes Van Zandt
- piqued the interest of Emmylou Harris, who recorded Olney's
"Deeper Well" and "Jerusalem Tomorrow." That
led to Linda Ronstadt, who included his "Women 'Cross the
River" on her "Feels Like Home" album.
It
has been a long time coming for Olney, whose "Real
Lies" album was released a few months ago on Philo. At age
49 ("older than dirt," Olney said), it feels good to
still be part of the game.
"To
survive is to win," he said. "There were so many years
when nothing was going on. Living in Nashville and it being so
geared toward country, it was hard to get booking agents and
management, so my main problem over the years has been trying to
get people to hear it. The past couple of years, especially since
the Emmylou Harris cuts, it's been easier to go out there and
present my stuff."
Cliche
or not, it's how you think of yourself and not what other people
think, Olney said.
"I'm
sure, particularly in Nashville, there was people who didn't see
me as anything other than an unsuccessful something or
another," he said. "But to me, I was a musician."
One
of the best tracks on "Real Lies" is
"Baseball," which Olney admits "people either love
it or hate it." The song, featuring a mock broadcast, views
the game from the perspectives of a pitcher, batter and
announcer. Those fed up with today's money-driven players should
adopt minor league teams, Olney said.
"Just
go to a minor league game, it's a much nicer baseball
experience," he said. "There's really high quality
playing and you don't have to worry about the high salaries.
You're looking at guys who just want to get into the big leagues.
"There's always the story of some guy who's 30 years old, playing the minor leagues, presented as a tragic figure. To me, if you're 30 and still playing, you've successfully avoided work your whole adult life. Musically, to me, that's always the way I've felt about it. I'm still out there and still taking my cuts"