David
Violin at three and a half, a guitar from a garage sale, and the fifth generation to carry the music.
- Years
- 1981 –
- The music
- Violin, trumpet, guitar
- Generation
- 05 of 05
Builder · Musician · Outdoorsman · Family man
David Olson grew up in a blue-collar, working-poor family in rural Minnesota, where music was never decoration. It was inheritance. His earliest memories are of his grandfather playing guitar in the living room with his dad and extended family, the same kind of gathering that had carried through his relatives before him.
David began violin at three and a half, later studied guitar in college, has performed around the world, recorded three albums, and is a singer-songwriter in the Twin Cities. He also built a life as a home builder, real estate broker, insurance agent, and more.
Five generations later, the music is still here. Only now, David hopes to use it for something more, to tell the stories of people who are often overlooked, support remarkable causes, and the second chance he’s had in life, to use his voice to help amplify those who need one.
When I was in that accident when I was four, I lost my voice. I could not talk, I couldn’t breathe, I was unconscious. It was like game over. I was given a second chance, and not only was I given a second chance, I can use my voice. So now I’m using it to make a difference and to be a voice for those who maybe don’t have one.
How a kid who hated practice ended up here.
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The violin he didn't ask for.
Three and a half years old and already in lessons. Nursing homes, church recitals, school events. He played them all before he had any say in the matter.
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The year his voice went quiet.
On 22 August, at four and a half, an industrial shelf came down toward his younger brother and he got in the way of it. In his own words: my lungs failed, my ears bled, and my voice was silenced. North Memorial's AirCare helicopter flew him from Monticello to a Level 1 trauma center. Dr. Patrick Lilja had launched that program the same year; it was only months old when it went up for him.
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A guitar at a garage sale.
By then he had added trumpet and a seat in the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony. Then everything turned on one cheap instrument. Bands, church groups, and eventually a guitar degree at the University of Northwestern St. Paul. Not a career plan, just the thing he could not put down.
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Two albums and a record label.
Beloved, then Change a year later. Five years directing music at a local church, a master's from Bethel, and then an invitation into Sacred Road, an East Coast group that taught him what songwriting looks like at the professional level.
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Then life got gloriously loud.
Marriage, three daughters, and fifteen years building a real estate career alongside his wife across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Florida. The music didn't stop. It just got quieter for a while.
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The basement, and the backlog.
The kids are past the baby stage. There's a room downstairs with a mic in it and a couple years of songs waiting their turn. This chapter is still being written, and this time, none of it is for him.
The helicopter program that flew David from Monticello to a trauma center in 1985. Opens David's own fundraising page for the North Memorial Health Foundation, hosted on JustGiving.
Give to AirCare → The Robert D. Field – Magaw 14,000 Lifeguard ScholarshipNamed for the AirCare crew member who cared for David in the helicopter in 1985. It supports students training as nurse anesthetists at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, where Bob now teaches. Opens the university's giving page for the scholarship.
Support Bob's scholarship →Each link goes to the organization's own page. Nothing is collected on this site.