I don’t know why it is that some artists go on to have Ben Folds’ career and some artists wind up forgotten (and, in Owsley’s case, dead).

Talent plays a role, certainly, but lord knows there are enough popular and untalented (or moderately talented) artists out there to suggest it’s more than that: Attitude, connections, just plain luck.

Obviously it’s a roll of the dice for anybody seeking to make a living in the arts, and the percentage who actually break through and land a recording contract is minuscule. And in that sense, Owsley was better off than most people who started down the same path he did.

But still, it saddens me to think that he made it far enough to have a very well-received debut album and to achieve some sort of profile in the industry (apparently he was a longtime guitarist for Amy Grant) but then just saw his career dry up.

Now I won’t be silly enough to assume that he killed himself because his second album tanked (I didn’t even realize he’d recorded a second album until I read the article about his death). But his career and death seem like an apt metaphor for the fickleness of fame.