After apparently suffering a heart attack, mid-song, he stopped, paused and said, "I'm sorry." Put his chin to his chest," said fellow singer-songwriter Scott and died .
Olney died of an apparent heart attack during a performance onstage at the 30A Songwriter Festival in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, on January 18, 2020, at age 71.
He wrote sonnets and starred at the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, and his live concerts blended tenderness and ferocity, theatre and sincerity, agitation and embrace.
Olney recorded more than 20 albums during his nearly five decades as a musician.
In the early 1980s, he formed the band The X-Rays, which recorded two albums for Rounder Records. The group appeared on Austin City Limits, opened for major acts, including Elvis Costello, and broke up in 1985.