Richard Olney

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Charles Richard-Hamelin continues his exploration of Frédéric Chopin’s oeuvre with this recording of the Preludes, op. 28, and the "Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante, op. 22".

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But that’s exactly what he’s done with Music Is Love (1966 – 1970), the legendary artist’s first covers album. The first single, ‘Summer In The City’, is out now. ‘Summer In The City’ was originally recorded by The Lovin’ Spoonful in 1966, written about an unprecedented heatwave in New York. Richard says, “John Sebastian was, and is, amazing. Doing this vocal nearly killed me – I’ve never done a song before with no breath at all! What a song. It’s been with me all my life.”

A celebrated singer/songwriter with over 20 albums to his credit, David Olney has been described as "Nashville's answer to the Bard." In addition to his own albums, Olney is a highly respected songwriter who has co-written with or been covered by Johnny Cash, Del McCoury, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and Townes Van Zandt, among others. Though a folksinger at heart, he incorporates wide-ranging inspirations from honky tonk to rock into his standard repertoire.

David Olney's first solo album after seven years of fronting Nashville-based roots-rock band the X-Rays, Eye of the Storm contains songs written during both his pre- and post-X-Rays periods. Surprisingly, however, the album sounds completely cohesive, almost as if the all the material had been written as part of a single concept project. Olney's voice is somewhat more fragile than on subsequent releases (often veering dangerously close to being out of key) but perfectly matches the songs' world-weary themes. The production is understated and the playing sparse, mirroring the quiet intensity of Olney's delivery. An immensely gifted lyricist, Olney boldly tackles uncommon themes throughout the album.

On the cover to this release, Olney looks haggard and careworn, a man who's put in many miles and had them all written into his face. The songs, on the other hand, are far from careworn, though the themes may be familiar. There's a nicely electric energy to many of the numbers here, however, with Olney's lyrics having a bittersweet edge that verges on cynicism without taking the plunge into complete hopelessness. Not a bad feat when you consider that those songs cover loss, grief, anger, anguish, the killing of Jesse James, the alcoholic twilight of John Barrymore and the murder of a call girl in Hollywood.