Oelsner Unwraps ‘Mystery’ Gifts

SONGWRITER TAKES ADVANTAGE OF INSPIRATION FOR NEW ALBUM

By By Kevin Kinder <a href="mailto:KKINDER@NWAONLINE.

Posted: November 20, 2009 at 5:48 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Geoff Oelsner has plenty of ideas.

Sometimes he ignores them. Until he gets what he calls “a given.”

It’s hard to say where it comes from, and it’s just as hard to say in what form it will arrive. But Oelsner - the poet and songwriter who will offer his second album, “Ordinary Mystery,” at a CD release party tonight at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks - knows better than to ignore those gifts.

Whether those things come to him as dreams, as a song title or through other means, they provide him motivation to continue the work, be it a poem or a song.

“It’s so interesting to receive a message from the subconscious, or wherever it comes from,” he says.

Take, for instance, the title track on the new album, “Ordinary Mystery.” It came to him as a phrase he knew that he would make into a song. It’s about seeing things with fresh eyes, says Oelsner, who is a counselor and social worker by day.

He structured the song around that initial phrase, giving things a perspective through the lyrics.

“There is a quality of unique being that everything has,” he says.

Other songs are the results of other moments. He wrote the bulk of “Dordogne River Hymn” while in France and without an instrument, trusting the melody that was given to him in his head. He completed the song later when he got back to his guitar, his primary instrument.

The songs were all recorded at Termite Tracs, the Fayetteville studio owned by folk artist Kelly Mulhollan of Still on the Hill. Mulhollan shares production credit with Oelsner and also contributeshis talents on instruments such as mandolin, electric bass guitar and tenor ukulele, among others.

Also included on the disc are local players Robin Rues on bass and Andrew Sieff on drums. Perhaps the most important guests to Oelsner are his family members, however. His wife, Leslie, joins him as a vocalist on several tracks and their two grown children, Adam and Amy, both perform on the album.

Adam and Amy earn their living as musicians, Oelsner says.

“It wasn’t just a charitable thing. It sounded like something that needed to happen at least once.”

Oelsner is donating all the profits from the disc to Native American causes, something he says he believes in deeply even though he has no native ancestry. There are four songs on the album that relate directly to Native Americans,one roughly from tribes native to the North, East, South and West. The album’s first track is a historical account of the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Another comes from the pen of Nick Masullo, a poet and songwriter who passed away in 2008. A few months before his death, Masullo gave Oelsner the lyrics and inspiration for the song “Aboriginal Day,” about the Canadian holiday celebrating the contributions of natives to that country.

Oelsner took the lyrics and created the song that appears on the album. Masullo gave his blessing for the project, Oelsner says.

The profits from the disc are being split between charitable organizations benefiting natives in the United States and Canada.

“I have always had some very deep feelings for the way of life of Native Americans,” he says.

Entertainment, Pages 15 on 11/20/2009

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