On 18 January 2020, at the Florida Gulf Coast’s Annual 30A Songwriters Festival, David Olney paused in the middle of the third song of his set, apologized to the crowd, rested his chin on his chest, and died. It’s the type of romantic exit one of his most ardent admirers, Townes Van Zandt, would have loved to have pulled off. It’s also the kind of final curtain call that makes for a great story, and great stories were David Olney’s stock in trade.
Olney was not well known outside of musicians’ circles, and chances are, if you consider yourself only a casual music fan, you may not even know his songs, as they never danced around the top of the charts. But there’s still a good chance that David Olney is your favorite songwriter’s favorite songwriter. Artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and Steve Earle have recorded his material over the years. Now, several of his contemporaries and those he’s influenced have gathered to pay tribute to a body of work that saw few peers on Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney.
It’s fitting that the compilation starts with “Deeper Well”, arguably his most well-known song due to its inclusion on Emmylou Harris’ acclaimed and classic 1995 album, Wrecking Ball. Lucinda Williams transforms the track from the atmospheric Daniel Lanois-produced murk of Harris’ version into a burning, hard swamp blues while retaining its stubborn weariness.
Willis Alan Ramsey, the elusive one-album wonder, even appears here with his take on “Women Across the River”, ideally suited for the progressive country cult hero. Buddy Miller delivers a sly reading of “Jerusalem Tomorrow” while the McCrary Sisters inject “Voices on the Water” with just the right balance of joy and gravitas.
Other highlights include Mary Gautier‘s devastating take on “1917”, a charming “If It Wasn’t for the Wind” from Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Afton Wolfe’s heavy, vicious treatment of “Titanic”, masterfully sequenced right after Olney’s recording of “Sonnet #40”. Steve Earle’s take on “Sister Angelina” gleans its power from its direct simplicity. Dave Alvin teams with the Rick Holmstrom Trio for David Olney’s ode to resilience, “Steal My Thunder”, its confident cool resides in a space similar to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers backing Robbie Robertson.
The album closes with a previously unreleased Townes Van Zandt performance of “Illegal Cargo”, recorded live at the Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1977. The fidelity is of the quality of an audience recording, which is fitting. It appears at the end of Can’t Steal My Fire as a ghostly shadow, trying to return to its creator, a songwriter who indeed left it all on the stage.