Meet Tony Olson

Today we’d like to introduce you to songwriter Tony Olson.

Hi Tony, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I began writing music in 1976 at age 18. I eventually stepped away from songwriting in 1982 to concentrate on my banking career. I wasn’t a risk taker, so I never made the move to Nashville when I should have. I occasionally wrote a poem or parody song that people seemed to like, but I never took up songwriting again seriously until I was 60 years old.

In 2007, I suffered a traumatic brain injury which required extensive surgery. As bad as that situation was, there was a silver lining. Coming that close to death made me realize how quickly our lives can change. I started doing all the things I had put on hold for so many years. I finally took a cruise with my wife to Alaska and did a shark cage dive off the coast of Hawaii. I wrote a book that became an Amazon Best Seller, and eventually . . . decided to get back into songwriting. I try to live every day like it’s my last.

I don’t have bad days. If I wake up in the morning, it’s a good day. At the age of 60, on the advice of a friend in the music industry, I made my first trip to Nashville. With thousands of songwriters in Nashville alone, very few people believed that a person my age could be successful in that venture. I received the standard patronizing comments like “Isn’t that sweet that a guy your age is following his dreams”. However, I was fortunate to have a friend working for Blake Shelton, and he offered to help me find the connections to get my first demos recorded in Nashville.

That led to a call from Shelton’s band leader offering the entire band for my recording sessions. At the same time, I met former Star Search winner, Dave Demay, owner and producer at Song City Studios. Demay offered to produce my music and provide the studio. Demay was also able to get three former Finalists from the hit NBC show “The Voice” to do the vocals for the demos. After the first batch of demos had been recorded, I entered them in several songwriting contests worldwide to see what the “experts” would think of them. Most of the contests offer valuable feedback and that was what I wanted. I never really expected to win . . . I just wanted the feedback.

I have continued to enter various contests ever since. The results have been beyond anything I had imagined. In the last four years, I have won Five American Track Music awards, four Global Music Awards, two World Songwriting Awards, and was named the 2021 Male Songwriter of the Year by the International Singer Songwriters Association. I have also been a nine-time Finalist in the prestigious UK Songwriting Contest, which I won last year. I was a Finalist in the Great American Song Contest. In 2021, I was nominated for The International Songwriting Awards “Rising Star Award”, and a finalist along with co-writer Art Michel, for International Songwriting Team of the Year (The only U.S. nominees).

This year, I was runner-up for “International Singer-Songwriter of the Year” in that same competition. The thing I am most proud of is having won awards in seven different musical categories. My greatest gift is my inability to sing at a professional level because it makes me a better songwriter. Since I am not writing songs for myself, I can write comfortably in virtually any genre, male or female. I feel a greater sense of compositional freedom not having to write a song to perform myself.

As such, I created the “Tony Olson Music Project” as a way to get my music out to a global audience. I still use Blake Shelton’s band as session musicians along with some of the top musicians and vocalists in Nashville. And a growing number of artists are recording my songs. The most recent offering is a song called “Voices” which was rewritten and rearranged in collaboration with British recording artist Ewelina Borkowska and released in late August. Other artists who have recently recorded my songs include Dusty Leigh, Rylee Nicholson, Dave Nudo, and Norwegian country artist Daniel Borge.

I enjoy helping up-and-coming artists and songwriters regardless of what part of the world they live in. Everyone deserves a chance to be heard, and to believe in themselves. I just want to show them it’s OK to dream big. If I can help . . . that’s even better.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have a very conservative nature when it comes to taking chances. I threw all of my energy at my banking career because it paid the bills. For three decades, everything else took a back seat. It took a life-altering injury to get me to vigorously pursue the things that make me happy.

Sure, there have been challenges. A lot of people think you have to slow down when get older. I went in the other direction. The older I get, the higher I set the bar. Obstacles make the journey that much more satisfying.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well, I’m a fairly decent songwriter. The term “wordsmith” comes up a lot. I guess I have a knack for writing creative lyrics. I am always looking for new directions to take my music. I think the thing that sets me apart from most others is that I do, or try to do, just about everything.

And I’m proud of the fact that I drive myself to be beyond simply proficient at most of the things I try. The older I get, the more satisfaction I derive from proving the doubters wrong. I guess I am known for constantly raising the bar.

Any big plans?
I just turned sixty-five. Most of my peers have retired. I figure I’ll retire when I’m about ninety-five. I may have slowed down by then. Till then, I will continue to put my foot on the gas pedal of life.

I still have hundreds of songs left in me, and grandkids that need to be spoiled. There is still a lot of the world I haven’t seen, and a few million people I still need to meet. I won’t be collecting dust anytime soon.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tonyolsonmusic.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonyolsonmusic/

Image Credits
Photos by Art Michel