TOP TEN SONGWRITER OLSON RELEASES ALBUM

Sarah Olson, the Los Angeles-based singer songwriter whose short album reached the top ten of the iTunes â folk chart this winter, has released her first full album, "Maybe I Can Change."

"I wanted it to be something that people could do everything to; laugh to, cry to, but most of all, relate to," said Olson, president of Roadtrip Publishing, a California music publishing company.

Olson's live, four-song record, "Acoustic Sessions in LA" debuted on iTunes â in the top ten of the folk chart in December, along with Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens' albums. "Maybe I Can Change" includes three of the four songs from the short record.

"I think it's honest, and it's timeless," said Veteran Producer Jeff Silverman, of Palette Productions, who co-produced the album.

He said Olson's music reaches people because it's real.

"Sometimes people get so accomplished, like they've done it a thousand times, that what comes out is predictable. They don’t get the emotion. They don't get the rawness."

With Olson, he said: "It just comes out. And that, to me, is the charm." Silverman has been a staff writer and producer for Motown, and has produced artists such as Rick Springfield, Shari Belafonte and B.J. Thomas.

Olson recorded the songs in Palette studios in Los Angeles and Nashville. She has booked live radio shows on KRFC of Fort Collins, CO, to air September 23 and 25. Both will be broadcast via the web.

Her songs are receiving radio play in Colorado, San Francisco, and overseas in Britain.

Panartist, a London-based music distribution company, signed her in November, and is representing the release of her music digitally.

This fall, she begins the first leg of a college tour, traveling to six cities to meet with college activity directors from across the country. The National Association for Campus Activities links artists with representatives of colleges booking talent for their campuses.

Olson will be performing at the Little Rock Convention Center for school representatives on Oct. 13, 2006. She has also booked five shows from December through February, including performances at colleges in Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Her CD "Maybe I Can Change" is available on iTunes â and can be purchased or downloaded through her website www.saraholsonmusic.com