`Prodigal Son` Comes Home

For a time, the life of an academian had its appeal for Oliver Buck (a.k.a. Oliver Zeltner `92), but in the end, it wasn`t enough. His university career after graduating from Hawken had been spotted with stints away from the classroom to play music. He`d gone to NYU for 2 years, but left for four years to play in a band. When he resumed courses to finish his undergraduate degree he was in Rhode Island and soon after graduating took yet another break to tour and engage what was really his true passion. After that hiatus, Buck went back to school at the University of Kansas, won the prestigious Self Graduate Doctoral Fellowship and met the crossroad that most reach in mapping out their life after college. For him though, it was the intersection of either going all out, throwing caution to the wind and becoming a full-time musician or choosing the safer route of becoming a college professor. He chose the former and left college to go to New York to record a demo with a friend`s upstart band Percival. Nothing much materialized during that pursuit, but it served as being the springboard for Buck`s solo career that a year ago brought him back to Cleveland after having been gone for 15 years. He recently celebrated the release of his second solo album, Prodigal Son, calling the title track and much of the new album of all original songs his \"declaration of independence.\" \"I felt like the Prodigal Son because I came home to Cleveland after 15 years away and in a lot of ways I felt like I didn`t live up to a lot expectations in terms of my professional development,\" he said. \"I had a Hawken education and almost had a Ph.D., so I felt like I went off the track at some point.\" That doesn`t mean he regrets anything though. Yes, he admits the life of a traveling musician is tough, especially with a wife and young son. He even admits that he questions his sanity on a weekly basis, but he can`t see his life any other way. \"The music is in my blood; it`s in my soul,\" he said. \"The songs keep coming to me and I feel like I`m doing this for some reason that I might not understand.\" Celebrating the release of the new album with Buck is Adam Rich `92, who plays bass with him, and drummer Ernie Richmann, son of Middle School teacher Pam Richmann. Collectively, they`re known as Oliver Buck and The New Madrids. Buck says what you can expect from him and his band is good music. He`s not looking for a revolution or renaissance in thinking or social activism. He`s simply out to spread some joy, but that doesn`t mean he doesn`t recognize the ultimate power that music can have. \"I think music is healing,\" he said. \"I hope that if you came to [one my shows] and if you had something laying on your mind...that you could listen to a few tunes, lose yourself in the music and when you left you`d feel better.\" Click here to find out more about Oliver Buck and The New Madrids.