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Jim Keller – By No Means (Continental Song City)

With a career that stretches back to the founding of the band Tommy Tutone in 1978, a stint in the 1990’s being publisher and manager for Philip Glass and a current band that features Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo, Jackson Browne’s bassist Bob Glaub and John Hiatt’s drummer Michael Urbano, you know that Jim Keller is the real deal. Add to that his songwriting collaborator is former Levon Helm and current Lumineers bassist Byron Isaacs. He goes on to prove his credentials with his fourth solo album filled with 11 tracks that will soothe your soul. He says of his deep, worldly wise voice that if he didn’t have that voice then the songs wouldn’t be the same and that he no longer tries to sound like other singers like he did in his youth. Those deep, smooth vocal tones hit you immediately on the opener, Easy Rider and it’s a case of easy rider, easy on the ear. The Americana filled Laying On The Tracks has a JJ Cale feel to it, it’s so smooth and laid back and the deep Southern Soul Blues of I Don’t Want To Fight takes us to an almost spiritual plain. We get Latin tinges on Mistakes, most likely down to Hidalgo’s influence but there’s still the JJ Cale vibe. In fact, it’s like Jim is JJ’s urban brother. This is sweet, smooth, sublime uncomplicated brilliance. There’s something about a song where you immediately fall into synch with it and Find My Shadow is one of those songs. Whether it’s the beat, the rhythm, the lyric or the key I don’t know but I was singing along within seconds. He has that skill to find your button and press it.

Maria Come Home has Jim way down there in the vocal range. He sounds like the morning after a heavy night. Slow and deliberate it verges on dark, soul wrenching Country and Latin. David Olney, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits are surely influences on him. Those deep tones continue on Don’t Get Me Started and bass guitar is also prominent. This is an old guy song, listen to the lyric and you’ll get what I mean. Musically, we get hypnotic Canned Heat rhythms with added fiddle and the only extended solo from Hidalgo. Jim has a talent for uncomplicated songs that have an older feel yet also come across as ultra-contemporary. Take Pretending for example. This is delivered as an old style 50s slow Rock N Roll ballad but you are able to take anything from it that you wish. It’s all done in Jim’s inimitable style and continues an album where there are no big solos and it’s all about the songs. Jim flirts with Country, Rock N Roll and general Americana and Love On The Line edges towards Country and the great American songwriters. Wild Love has moody Southern rocking Soul sounds with Vonda Shepard on backing vocal and the final track, Done Walking The Line, signs off on an album where there is nothing that will drag him out of his laid-back form. Suitably twangy guitar, a flip side to Johnny Cash’s Walk The Line and a little pastiche on the lyrics of Blue Suede Shoes say enough about Jim Keller to make you want more.

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Achieving success in the music industry isn’t easy under the best circumstances. Carving out a successful niche over the course of 40 years is immeasurably difficult.

For singer, songwriter, guitarist, manager and publisher Jim Keller, the key to survival was born out of desperation, the result of a willingness to learn from his experiences and an ability to adapt.

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Founding Tommy Tutone guitarist/songwriter Jim Keller recently released a new solo album called By No Means, a collection of 11 well-crafted tunes rich with wry, dark humor and featuring stripped-down instrumentation.

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It’s been seven years since Jim Keller, co-founder of power-pop band Tommy Tutone and co-writer of the 1982 Top 5 hit “867-5309/Jenny,” released a solo album. But he hasn’t been slacking. He somehow found the time to manage the career of composer Philip Glass and also front regular jam sessions—before COVID-19, anyway—with a rotating cast of 25 or more musicians in Brooklyn.

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Who wrote “867-5309 (Jenny, Jenny)?” Hint: it wasn’t Tommy Tutone. Jim Keller was co-founder of Tommy Tutone with Tommy Heath. Jim was the primary songwriter, and lead guitarist.

We’ve been fans of Jim’s solo work since his first release, “Sunshine In My Pocket.” Now, his fourth album is out called “By No Means,” and our love for Jim’s songs just keeps growing. And the title of the new record? Have a listen and find out more.

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“867-5309.”

Just by reading those seven digits, the tune is in your head. The 1981 song by San Francisco band Tommy Tutone is legendarily catchy, making its title arguably the most well-known phone number in the United States. The song remains well-loved enough to have been a joke on “Family Guy” 40 years after its release, and not for the first time.

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Like taking a ride on PCH with the top down, that’s how you might describe Jim Keller’s latest album. Although he has worn many hats over his long, varied career, Keller now focuses on his own personal style of singing and songwriting and recently released a new album called By No Means. 

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When you study music for any amount of time, you realize that it’s not just “rock stars” that contribute to making music that’s recognizable. Jim Keller may not have the name recognition of Mick Jagger, but as a co-writer of “867-5309,” he has put his stamp on music. By phone, he discussed how the pandemic has affected creative process, the making of his latest album By No Means, and the importance of the right producer. Beneath the interview, Americana Highways is also exclusively premiering Jim Keller’s video today for “Laying on the Tracks.”

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The impressive By No Means is only Keller’s fourth album since his 2009 debut and first in seven years. At just over a half hour with only two tracks breaking three minutes, it’s short too. Regardless, each tune takes just enough time unwinding with a subtle J.J. Cale/Mark Knopfler lope that perfectly frames these melodic slices of swampy folk/rock. It’s an understated, almost hypnotic and at times mildly driving disc featuring rhythms that bubble and boil. Legendary bassist Bob Glaub’s sturdy bottom end intertwines with Michael Urbano’s shuffling drums as Keller’s deep voice talk/sings of travelling through life on “Easy Rider” (Don’t matter where I’m going/Don’t matter where I go) and digs a thumping soulful hole with the ominous music yet humorous lyrics of “Don’t Get Me Started” (The whole damn world is going insane/So don’t get me started).

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If fans lost track of Jim Keller after his days in Tommy Tutone, for whom he co-wrote the immortal ’80s hit “867-5309/Jenny,” they’ve missed out on a string of effortlessly engaging solo records released over the last dozen years. His latest, By No Means, comes out this week, and Keller thinks he can corral those New Wave fans from back in the day with the easygoing slices of life found on this latest collection.

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Jim Keller bops his way into The Marinade! Keller has lived a fascinating creative life. As a member of the 80s band Tommy Tutone he co-wrote the #1 hit “867-5309/Jenny.” Keller went on manage legendary composer Philip Glass’s career and publishing company all the while making his own gorgeous solo records.

We talk about the making of his new record, balancing creativity and business, and much more.

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Together with American Songwriter, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Keller over Zoom video! 

Jim Keller has shared “Find My Shadow,” a brand new song and video from his upcoming album By No Means (February 12). While each song on the new album features Los Lobos frontman David Hidalgo on guitar, this new offering is particularly special for the legend’s work accentuating Keller’s rich bass notes on vocal duties. The pair are joined on “Find My Shadow,” and throughout the new album, by the top-notch rhythm section of Michael Urbano (Todd Rundgren, John Hiatt) and Bob Glaub (Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon), as well as by producer Mitchell Froom (Randy Newman, Crowded House) – who also hosted the recording sessions in his Los Angeles home studio as seen in the accompanying “Find My Shadow” visual. Keller adds: “what I love about the song is the melody is upbeat and happy, like a Roger Miller tune, but the lyrics are really about being lost.”

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“[Keller] has a knack for making seemingly simple lines like those sink a little deeper, especially when you add them all up in connection with the world-weary gravitas of his rumbling voice…Keller’s songwriting, wry and understated, yet always gently stirring, holds center court.”

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The new single from By No Means is “Mistakes,” a dark and smoky number about guilt — “one of my favorite song topics,” says Jim, adding it’s “A never-ending flow of material coming from that river.”

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Maybe the band Tommy Tutone was a one-hit wonder, but for a time in the early 80s, this song, written by band founder Jim Keller, was inescapable. 

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Video Premiere in New Sounds’ Weekly Music Roundup, which features Jim and “Easy Rider” as the lead story.

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