Olivia Maxwell

Best Live Music Act Of 2006 ------------------------------- Olivia Maxwell @ The Living Room in NYC 12/29/06 Olivia Maxwell paints a vivid picture with words and melody. Her songs would make great novels, the kind you never want to put down. There's an honest substance not only in her art but also in her person. She's genuine, sincere and brilliant. Her soigne and impassioned performance at the Living Room was not to be missed. For me her voice brought to mind Emmylou Harris, if Emmylou was singing songs written by Townes Van Zandt. Yes, she's that good. What's more she not only channels her influences but transcends them, creating songs ineffably beautiful and highly unique...influences and all!--------------------------------looking forward to an encore performance sometime soon! [email protected]. William Crawford. (Philadelphia).OLIVIA MAXWELL: REVIEW, NASHVILLE. MAY 2007Thereâ€--s hope for music after allBy PHIL SWEETLANDCountry music+Radio contributor, The New York TimesIn this business we receive and listen to hundreds of newalbums and singles every week, and frankly most of themfall somewhere between pathetic and horrific.But every once in awhile, we come across a Saturnâ€--s HerCard, a strange and wonderful EP recorded in Ireland by the American singer and songwriter Olivia Maxwell.Saturnâ€--s Her Card is rough, it is unpolished, it is the work of a singer and songwriter still finding her voice. But if we look past the surface of the work inside the lyrics, the storytelling, the imagery, and the smoky voice we find something we havenâ€--t seen in a long, long time: We find important music.â€--Songwriting,” she said in an interview after she came to Nashville to meet with several record labels interested in her work, â€--is something I do because I have a sort of wounded heart all the time from life, and it heals me . . . Songwriting technique? I guess my technique is no technique.”Saturnâ€--s Her Card was recorded at Dublinâ€--s Westland Studios, with Ger Kiely at the controls and the ex-Thin Lizzy and ex-Pogues manager Frank Murray serving as Oliviaâ€--s manager. It gives an excellent glimpse of the artist at this stage, much like Joni Mitchellâ€--s Blue songs did, or Stevie Nicksâ€--s early solo projects, when she first departed Fleetwood Mac, burst onto Pop Radio about 30 years ago.Though Olivia is clearly not a Country or Country Radio artist, one Nashville artist has long capitated her: â€--Patsy Cline is my number one influence, for her heart felt songs,” Maxwell said recently. â€--I have to say I feel like a fish out of water here in Nashville. Itâ€--s a strange American city to me. It reminds me of the film Paris, Texas. Itâ€--s magical and full of ghosts and wonderful energy.”Much like Olivia herself. Itâ€--s fitting that she makes a film reference in her own work: She could hardly escape that influence, since her Daddy is Ron Maxwell, the A-list Hollywood director of Gods and Generals, Gettysburg, and Little Darlings.Despite these superb family ties, Olivia is determined to make it on her own, and is working her beautiful head off to hone her sound on the road and in the studio – a sound that the world desperately needs if itâ€--s going to make sense of itself in these ever more perilous times.