Local songwriter debuts first album

Singer Danielle Oliver’s introduction

to music and the outdoors came at an early age.

The daughter of two ski instructors,

she learned to ski as soon as she could walk. Just as early she was

listening to a variety of music. Her mother, who is Austrian and

the daughter of a professional musician, kept their home filled

with music.

“There was singing and dancing,” Oliver

said. “There was German, operetta and classical music and yodeling

in the house.”

Oliver is the daughter of Gerlinde and

the late Doug Oliver.

At age 6, she began piano lessons and

by age 11 she wrote her first song. She continued through high

school and began to realize how cathartic music could be.

“At age 15, I began to play for two

hours every night to relax,” she said. “It was a stress reliever

and an outlet.”

Oliver attended Pepperdine University

in California studying creative writing, which she said helped

develop her song-writing ability. All the while she continued her

vocal work.

She has been in Los Angeles for some

time now, but returns home this week for a CD release show for her

EP, “Snow for Sun.” She will play with Pterodactyl Plains at the

Craggy Range Saturday, Sept. 24 beginning at 9:30 p.m.

With the album’s release she is touring

this fall playing shows throughout the northwest.

“I’m just really excited for my debut

album and my first real tour,” she said.

The album was recorded at SnowGhost

Music in Whitefish. It was a nine-month process of recording and

reworking songs, some of which had been written years prior. She

credited Brett Allen for helping with the album.

“A lot of my songs come from life

events,” Oliver said. “I’m just starting to write story-driven

lyrics so mostly it’s based off of personal experiences.

One song “Adriene,” was written after

Oliver’s father passed away in 2003. After his death she found

herself sitting at a piano for hours playing and looking for

healing.

The gap between writing songs and

recording forced Oliver to rework songs and recall their original

feeling.

“It’s quite a time period,” she said.

“Conceptually it had to work together. I wanted it to show the

emotion and what I was feeling at the time it was written — it

really succeeded.”

She found recording to be a great way

to force herself to let go and make the songs better.

“It was really structured,” she said.

“I had to push myself enough. I took the first version of ‘Grey’

and reworked it overnight. You get attached to a song, but the best

writing is reworked a lot. Emotionally what’s in a song is great,

but you have to make sure the audience understands that

emotion.”

For more information on Oliver and her

music, visit www.danielleoliver.com.