Jim Keller

22 Rock City Road,Woodstock NY 12498

27 October, 2022

Description

"Listening to Jim Keller makes feel like I have big plans and all my hair" - Tom Waits "As guitarist and chief songwriter for Tommy Tutone, Jim Keller’s halfway responsible for the most iconic seven digits of the Eighties: “867-5309.” For the last three decades though, he’s also been a notable music industry mystic – representing management and publishing concerns for heady acts like Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar. Along the way he’s left a trail of solo records. February’s By No Means, riding the guitar verve of David Hidalgo, inhabits Bob Dylan/Lou Reed territory with smokily poetic lyricism. Keller buddies up with ATX blue chippers Jonas Wilson, Sam Pankey, David Boyle, and Falcon Valdez for a free, intimate affair." - Kevin Curtin A composer, musician, producer, and manager, Jim Keller is a bit of a musical jackknife - a statesman of those intoxicatingly simple yet covertly multidimensional tunes that speak to something both nostalgic and recurrent. Keller first got attention years ago when, as part of San Francisco group Tommy Tutone, he co-wrote and performed “867-5309” (“Jenny Jenny”), a classic power pop tune that made 80’s radio so listenable. After migrating to New York, he jumped the fence, running Philip Glass’s publishing company and taking over management of Glass’s career as director of Dunvagen Music. Remaining a cult figure in the music business, Keller’s gigs at New York’s Lakeside Lounge and The Rockwood Music Hall are legendary. If the best players in town weren’t on stage with him, they were in the audience, singing along, playing along, making the sort of noise that would get you locked up in a lesser town. In 2005, Keller returned to recording and performing. With a voice aged by time, whiskey and promises, he’s got the sound of someone who could have been Tom Petty’s therapist. He’s made four solo albums to date: Sunshine In My Pocket (2005), Soul Candy (2011), Heaven Can Wait (2014), and By No Means (2021).