Dave Keyes – Two Trains
This showcase gets off to a nice vintage blues/rock boil. The typical classic riff & drive of “Blues Ain’t Looking For You,” always works with the right voice & band. And native New Yorker & 40-year veteran of the blues, Dave Keyes has the right voice & band. Rooted in a Fabulous Thunderbirds/early J. Geils Band patch, Keyes crafts his vintage charge with silver musical bullets firing from his barrelhouse piano on “Boogie Till The Cows Come Home.” Sounds like a novelty song title, but don’t be fooled, this percolates & lets off lots of satisfying steam.
In some spots on this song, I’d have to say the backing musicians are somewhat mixed low since I know they’re there & cooking, but I can’t distinguish much. Otherwise, the piano dominates, the beat is punchy, the backup singers are sharp & the groove is excellent. There are 10 distinguished dips into vintage melodic upbeat blues on the tracks of Two Trains (Dropped Oct. 24/MoMojo Records/39:52) produced by David (piano/Hammond B-3/ vocals) in, of all places, the “blues capitals” of Teaneck, Union City, & Tenafly, NJ. My old hunting grounds. Sloatsburg, NY, also.
The entire showcase is based on Dave’s coming back to his roots. The music he grew up with, the styles he respected & was influenced by. There’s blues, boogie, country blues, urban blues, gospel & some funky stuff. A dose of Ray Charles mixed with Leon Russell spice. But Mr. Keyes has a distinguished mahogany of a voice — just the right amount of sweetness & sediment. The arrangements are tenderized. One listen to “A Long Way From Right Right Now,” (yes, 2 “rights”) would support that opinion.
A bit more outlandish is the pure rocker “What Just Happened.” Simple, creepy good, spirited & laid out with lots of entertaining value. I played this a few times, I must confess. I like things that you don’t hear every day & are creative. This one is excellently captured. It has the atmosphere, the mood & it rocks. Sounding a bit like Levon Helm of The Band is “Trust In Love and Fate,” which warms the musical endeavor nicely.
Highlights – “Blues Ain’t Looking For You,” “Boogie Till The Cows Come Home,” “Two Trains,” “I’m Alright,” “A Long Way From Right Right Now,” “What Just Happened,” & “Trust In Love and Fate.”
Musicians – Bernard Purdie (drums), Frank Pagano (drums/bgv), John Putnam (guitar/pedal steel), Jeff Anderson & Mike Merritt (bass guitars), Rob Paparozzi (harmonica), Hasan Bakr (percussion), Chris Bergson (slide guitar), Alexis P. Suter & Vicki Bell (bgv), & Woody Mann (guitar/vocal).
CD image courtesy of Joseph Rosen. Color image courtesy of Dave’s Bandcamp. CD @ Bandcamp & https://www.davekeyes.com/
