John Keller Captive Audio

Captive Audio is the latest cd from John Keller, a local musician and record store owner here in Utica, NY (his Off-Center Records was featured in our Celebrating Record Store Day feature, http://www.noripcord.com/features/celebrating-record-store-day). It was locally recorded and produced and is not a high budget affair, but it includes his best collection of original songs yet, and deserves some attention outside of the Mohawk Valley, where he is already well known. 

In a way, Keller is a throwback to a different era, let’s call it the early 70s, when singer-songwriters reigned and natural, uncluttered musicianship was prized. There is no attempt to here to ‘modernize’ the sound with digital beats or even synth pads – no programming at all has gone on here as far as I can tell. The emphasis instead is on the songs, which are uniformly melodic and straightforward. It’s hard to pin down one stylistic influence, because like in his store, he has stewed together a mishmash of diverse elements, but if I had to pick a couple I might say the tunes will make you recall the Marshall Tucker Band (ok, that was easy - the flute on Come Nigh, Come Hither is a dead giveaway), maybe a touch of Jimmy Buffet (yeah, yeah, I know, the steel drum on Fourteen Days; honestly, I’m not being lazy, but the good time, sun-drenched feel of this song just begs the comparison), and a hodgepodge of Chapins, Lightfoots, and everybody else who picked up the acoustic guitar and started strumming in Dylan’s wake. But Keller’s sound is his own, and what he has done here is distill the various elements of his style down to the barest essentials and make them more accessible, which is what gives this cd more than just local appeal. 

Keller has a group of sympathetic musicians helping out, but his experience as a solo acoustic performer shows on the instrumental 8 A.M., the 12 bar blues Good Time Woman, and the acoustic demo of the leadoff track Captive Audio.  Part of me almost prefers the Captive demo, but his glimmering guitar break in the middle of the band version makes that one the winner. You’ll be humming along to a fairly good proportion of the songs on this disc, and if the tuneful delights of Captive Audio and Fourteen Days don’t register with you then check with your doctor, something might be wrong. If there is a distraction here, it’s that some of the performances are a bit ramshackle and not as tight as you’d like, and there is the odd lyrical cliché that can hang you up (ie, Love’s Hard Luck Highway). But these are minor complaints and overall this is just a simple, unassuming and pleasurable listen. Sure, it’s old school, but what’s so good about new school?  Drop him a line or an email and pick up his new cd, and ask him about some of the thousands upon thousands of new and used records in his store. I’m sure he’d be glad to pop a few of those in the mail too. You can reach him at [email protected] (or call at 315-738-7651). You can also check out some of his music at http://www.myspace.com/johnkellr