Fly Fishing & Country Music With Olivia Wolf

It’s clear from listening to her music that Olivia Wolf pays close attention to the outside world. There’s a river mentioned in the first line of her debut album’s first song, and within minutes, she’s singing about hummingbirds, whippoorwills, and bluebird feathers. A crocodile, a rattlesnake, and a black widow also appear.

The Nashville-based singer and songwriter grew up in Northern California and answered the call of the wild at an early age.

“From when I was a kid, I’ve always loved the outdoors,” Wolf says. “I was not so good at school, but summer camp is where I really thrived.”

She credits her grandfather with fostering her appreciation for nature and acknowledges the significant role he played in shaping her musical direction. She recalls that some of her favorite memories from her youth are tied to the times she accompanied him as they explored California’s diverse regions filled with countless scenic wonders. As an adult, she feels increasingly drawn to water, especially the cold-running rivers of western Montana, where she finds satisfaction and solace in fly fishing.

“I grew up living in San Francisco, but we would leave the city pretty much every weekend and for the whole summer,” she says. “I spent a lot of time with my grandpa doing Ride and Tie events, which is two people and one horse, and they switch off riding and running for 15 miles through the woods. This was outside of Tahoe and Auburn and down in Santa Cruz. We would camp out, and I would help with the horses.”

If that sounds idyllic, Wolf agrees. So is her lasting memory of catching and grilling crayfish in the Tahoe National Forest area.

“It was the most delicious thing I’d ever had,” she says. “As I look back on it, that’s the feeling I’m chasing. At a certain point in life, you chase the beautiful things from your childhood.”

The same “grandpa” who opened her eyes to nature has profoundly influenced her—and many others—in terms of music. He was the venture capitalist and philanthropist Warren Hellman, also known for founding the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival held annually in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. He initiated the festival in 2001 as the Strictly Bluegrass Festival but changed the name as it evolved from traditional to more eclectic. He passed away in 2011. Once his granddaughter was old enough to appreciate its significance, her musical course was redirected.

“People weren’t listening to bluegrass in San Francisco, and he found all these bands,” she says. “The minute I heard Doc Watson doing ‘Sitting on Top of the World,’ I was sold. I was like, ‘I’m in, this is the kind of music I love.’ I feel like Appalachian music and bluegrass are clearly connected to the land because that’s a place where you had to be connected to the land. Also, I think people back in the day dealt with a lot more difficulties. Life and death were a lot more present, and now we’re a little more disconnected from it in some ways.”

She describes her music as a blend of folk, country, and rock, which feels appropriate. “Silver Rounds” embodies hard edges, both lyrically and musically—and spiritually as well—stemming from a brutal life experience.

Fishing was one of many things that Wolf and her fiancé, Robert Spotswood, loved doing together. He died in an ATV accident just two weeks before their planned wedding seven years ago. To say it was tragic, heartbreaking, devastating, and life-changing doesn’t even touch the surface of the range of emotions that Wolf has endured since. She channels her feelings very directly on the new album, and she says fly fishing is a rewarding diversion that has helped her to cope as she moves forward.

She owns a company, Bobby Mayfly (named in his honor), that produces effective, eco-friendly strike indicators made from sheep’s wool. She drew inspiration from anglers in New Zealand and sources the wool from her mother’s flock of sheep.

“What I love about the wool is that when it falls off, it just disintegrates, and also you can see more clearly when a fish is biting,” Wolf says. “Sometimes with the bobbers, they’re not as sensitive, but this works really well.”

Wolf had one of her most incredible fishing experiences ever during the filming of a promotional video for the product in Montana. While shooting action footage on the Blackfoot River near Missoula, she unexpectedly had quick, back-to-back encounters with bull trout so hefty she thought at first she’d gotten snagged on fallen trees.

“I had my line down, and I thought I’d caught a log, and then it slipped out into the river, and I could see that it was this huge bull trout, like 28 or 29 inches,” she says. “So, I became incredibly nervous, but I was laser-focused and let him run when he wanted to run and brought him in when he could be brought in and just was real patient and landed him. We were elated and were thinking, ‘How do you beat that?’“

And then, just like that, she did.

“A couple of minutes later, I hooked into what I thought was another log, and it turned out to be a 32-inch bull trout,” she says. “It was just amazing, and it felt very heaven-sent.”

Fly fishing has become somewhat of an obsession for her—especially this time of year in Montana, when temperatures are warming up and the fish are eager to bite. Two other areas she enjoys are the Lower Sacramento River in California and the White River in Arkansas, which is much closer to her current home in a rural community southwest of Nashville.

She says the physicality of the sport appeals to her, and so does the mental acuity it requires.

“You’re casting all day long, not just sitting in a boat,” she says, “and it’s kind of like hunting because you have to outsmart the fish.”

There’s another reward, too.

“Everything I do is catch and release, but I also love the adrenaline I get from it,” Wolf says. “It’s similar to the feeling I get from going on stage and performing for people.”

Editor’s Note: Be sure to check out a companion article where we dive into Olivia Wolf’s debut album, “Silver Rounds.”