Dave Keller – It’s Time To Shine
Tastee Tone Records
12 Tracks – 53 minutes
Vermont soul singer and guitarist, Dave Keller, returns for his tenth album with twelve original songs. This album marks 30 years since he released his first album in 1993. While he seems to fly under the radar of most blues enthusiasts, his 2012 album won the Best Self-Produced Album at the International Blues Challenge and three of his albums (2014, 2019, and 2021) were nominated for the Best Soul Blues Album at the Blues Music Awards.
Early on he gained great insight to performing his chosen genre as he was befriended by Mighty Sam McClain and later Robert Ward. Ronnie Earl invited Dave to sing and co-write some songs with him. More recently he has performed regularly with Johnny Rawls.
For this album, he decided he wanted to forgo the studio experience as it is expensive, causing bands to rush and accept some songs that are not really the way they want them to turn out. So, Dave decided to rent a remote mountain cabin and had his friend and engineer, Huck Bennert, bring a Subaru full of equipment to set up at the cabin. He then brought his band consisting of Ira Friedman on keyboards, Jay Gleason on drums and percussion, Alex Budney on bass, Mark Earley on tenor and baritone sax, Tom Palance on trumpet to the cabin to enjoy a more leisurely recording session and some enjoyable down time for fellowship. Annika Chambers -DesLauriers added some backing vocals to the new songs and the album was ready to go.
Keller quickly shows his vocal prowess on the opening track “Waiting for The Sunrise” as he notes he “missed the signals, I missed the signs…as you were making plans with another man”. His guitar rings out with a great organ backing through the song. The second song addresses the rise of racial violence in America as he questions “Are you just part of the crowd?” “What part of kindness don’t you understand? All this blindness is the “Truth of the Blues”. Again, Ira’s organ drives the offered message and Dave adds another excellent solo. He offers the telephone number “789-0133” to his lady to just call him if she needs him. The song leads off with Mark’s baritone sax and trumpet in a soulful turn and Annika providing backing vocals. Dave Keller pulls out the reverb on his guitar on “It’s Time to Shine”. He wonders about the condition of the world and suggests that is “Time for all of us to come out into the light and shine.” He offers the song as a rallying call for all people to stand up before it is too late.
On “I Wanna Go Back to Memphis”, he remembers the good times he had there with his woman. Annika again provides backing vocals. This song kicks off a run of songs related to love and relationships. Dave sings that “The First Time with You” “makes up for the last time with her” as he begins a new relationship and a remembrance of a now failed relationship. “Nothing Like Your Love” is a jubilant declaration to his lover with the horns and Ira’s organ again driving Dave’s joyous vocals.
Jay’s drums kick off a heavy beat on “Paint A New Life Together” as Dave asks her to “pull out the paint brush” and announces what colors they should use to change things to start their new life. On “Full Measure of Pleasure” Dave brags “other men have tried to keep you satisfied, but they failed. I have the cure for what ails you”. “Mayor of Memory” starts with a military sounding drum and a haunting guitar as he remembers “the good times that glittered in the past”. Ira’s organ again offers an interlude in the song.
” Something ‘Bout a Sad Song” offers a slow soulful cry with Dave stating, “all that sad hurt is taking a sad toll”. The album closes with a bouncy rhythm and surprise that it was “Hard to Believe” that “you were in love with me, the one for me, I was too blind to see”, thus closing his run of relationship stories.
Dave and the whole band deliver an upbeat and soulful performance throughout the album, which certainly would seem to be on track for consideration of a fourth Blues Music Award, if not finally winning the category. He also seems worthy of a nomination for his vocal performance.
