Omar’s Blues – David Olney
David Olney was one of the myriad of artists who left us in 2020. He died in January of 2020 prior to the start of the pandemic. He was giving his third performance of the day at a folk festival in Florida when he became still dropped his head. It took several minutes before anyone realized he had passed.
David was a world class storyteller and songwriter. Note I say storyteller first because that to me was where he stood head and shoulders above most songwriters.
The late Townes Van Zandt famously said of Olney: “Any time 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 my heart.”
About Omar’s Blues
Charlie Hunter writes the following about Omar’s Blues on the David Olney page at mysongwiters.com
Olney is unafraid to salt his narratives with historical figures, with lines overheard and lives assumed. In OMAR’S BLUES, Olney introduces us to a fantastical orbit of outcasts, misfits and shadowy characters whose lives may not be all they dreamed of, but who take a seedy comfort in what they do have. Some of the characters are literally historical, some biblical, some archtypal–the existential wanderer of “Lazlo” who comes to life only during the course of the song or in dreams, Inspector LeGarde and criminal Jean Paul Levesque whose grudging acquaintanceship and mutual suspicion form an uneasy pas de deux. “Those two are sort of like characters from ‘Casablanca’ who just wandered into my mind one day,” laughs Olney. “They wouldn’t leave until I wrote a song about them.”
Inspector LeGarde and Jean Paul Levesque appear in my favorite song “The Paris Incident” on Omar’s Blues.
Final Thoughts
Most of the David Olney albums that are in my music library were released between 1995 and 2005. was released on the Dead Reckoning label in 2000.
After listening to David Olney last week Ana again today I also listened to his 2018 release This Side or the Other and loved it! I definitely want to listen to the album again and hopefully after which I’ll tell you about it!
