David Olney: The Wheel

by Matthew S. Robinson

"Excuse me, my friend. This is not where I want to be." So begins the old time troubadour David Olney on Chained and Bound to the Wheel, one of the gruff and tumble tracks from his latest album, The Wheel. With at least four other songs that are themed in keeping with the album's title, Olney goes around again in a cycle of spun tales of old cars, old loves and other episodes of the wheel of life. Spinning from snakey bluegrass (Big Cadillac) and lazy revival calls (Voices on the Water) to lovely ballads (Now and Forever) and halting dirges (Revolution), Olney bellows into tunnels, demanding to be heard. Through short shots like Stars, Now I Start, and Precious Time, Precious Love (which is actually one track from the closing round that is called, simply enough, Round) puts kinks in The Wheel, Olney gets the gears going again with his oily vocals and pensive torque.