The not-singing bird
With endless silence. David Olney
People say it was a poetic exit. I assure you, NOBODY wants to die onstage figuratively or literally. On Jan. 18, Americana pioneer, singer-songwriter, recording artist, pre-pandemic streamcaster, actor, and my longtime client and good friend David Olney died of an apparent heart attack midsong. He was center stage between Amy Rigby and Scott Miller at the 30A Songwriter Festival in the Florida panhandle. His last words: “I’m sorry.” His mantra, however, was, “Always be true to the song.”
Understanding the covenant between the audience and performer, David earned rapt attention from folks wondering how to classify what they were witnessing. Was it country? Folk? Blues? Vaudeville? Scottish newspaper
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John Prine in 2016Photo: Daniel Meigs
Each year, Nashville copes with the loss of people who make our conglomeration of music scenes feel like a community and show us the greatness we can aspire to. Perhaps no loss was felt more deeply in Music City in 2020 than that of someone who did both. Songwriter’s songwriter John Prine died in April at age 73 from complications of COVID-19. He was an unfailing mentor and friend, and his unassumingly brilliant songs have been an example for two generations.
In January, hours after he told a radio interviewer about how exciting he still found it to perform, David Olney died of an apparent heart attack onstage. He was 71. Kenny Rogers, one of the finest singers in the past half-century of country and pop music, died at 81 in March. Charley Pride, another astonishing singer who was the first Black country superstar (with more than 50 top 10 singles), was 86 when he died this month of COVID complications. Little Richard, whose in