Oliver Buck April 4, 2009

Oliver Buck's songs reflect the universal themes of love, longing, and loss and channel hope and heartache in equal measure. Hope and heartache? He's from Cleveland. Having lived in places as far apart as Missoula, Montana and New York, Providence and Lawrence, Kansas, Buck also sings about American roads and homes imagined, all-too-real, and lost. Buck writes about people he's met (the inspiring and the unsavory), and also about his own personal struggles, tough choices, and ambitions as someone who has experienced life in the East Village, the Midwestern prairie, and the Rockies--and who just returned to his Rust Belt hometown.

Buck's latest album is Prodigal Son, a homecoming record featuring the New Madrids--bassist Adam Rich, drummer Ernie Richmann, and guitarist Joe Landes. Americana UK calls the band "kick ass" and says of Prodigal Son, "Buck sounds like a man possessed. The analogue production is tight, and beautifully complements the taut, yet funky as hell arrangements. It is apparent that Oliver Buck is edging ever closer to the classic album that he so obviously has inside him." Many now think Prodigal Son is that classic album.

Oliver Buck's turn to professional musicianship came later than most, at age 32. During the past two years, however, he has made up for lost time, releasing two albums and writing songs for a third. He has appeared on club and festival bills with The Black Crowes, Keb' Mo', Los Lonely Boys, The Radiators, Leon Russell, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Jason White, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Eric Lindell, The Slip, Will Hoge, Joe Bonamassa, Marc Ford, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, and the Everybodyfields. Buck was selected to play at the 2008 North By Northeast (NXNE) Conference in Toronto, and was one of six national finalists in the 2007 Telluride Blues & Brews Festival Acoustic Blues Competition. Currently, Oliver Buck & the New Madrids are at work on their third album.

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