The resume of Josh O'Keefe suggests an artist whose dream has paid off and appears to have a career chugging along nicely. However a blank page is presented when you land in a town who knows nothing of you and ten paying customers decide to take a punt. At this point you may question where the last decade has gone or more likely knuckle down and dig deep into the resolve that has accumulated the sum of that resume. From a tentative start where he surveyed the scene and searched for the biting point of his musical clutch, Josh O'Keefe suddenly clicked into gear and proceeded over the course of two sets spanning an hour and a half to show what the resume tells.
Despite heading west from his UK home nearly a decade ago to seek the musical nirvana of dusty roads leading out of Tennessee and collecting some impressive notches on the way, Josh O'Keefe came to my attention first in the recent lockdown when appearing on one of the twice weekly virtual Green Note streams. At the same time his name was noted on the Black Deer Festival line up; sadly an event that had to be postponed twice. A little sampling on the streaming services and it was good to go when a show was announced at the Kitchen Garden as part of a current tour of the homeland.
Whether by instinct or design, Josh O'Keefe puts the associations and connotations of his act right in the middle of the page, almost courting journalistic writing that fluctuates between lazy and informed. The attire, demeanour, playing style, vocals and spin on words places him on an axis between the the most favourite American troubadour of the thirties famed for his dustbowl ballads and the heir heralded in the revival of the early sixties. No names required, just check out the pics, videos and music of Josh O'Keefe to see.
From an old time mic and unplugged guitar feeding old school into the amplification, those making a safe bet were treated to a a host of tunes from the latest record, 2020's BLOOMIN'; a few others you can find online; a traditional old standard and a new song signalling a healthy future. The last titled 'Hello Peeping Tom' appeared a little slower to the other material heard, but had a high degree of tensility in the lightly strummed chords. 'Wayfaring Stranger' needs no further introduction; 'Build a Wall' opened the show and the proudly announced 'I Won't let You Down' was one of two songs where wife Cora Carpenter, a North Carolina native, joined on harmony vocals.
A key component of Josh O'Keefe's musical artistry is the harmonica, of which he had many to choose from a converted bible carrier. This was in continual use throughout the show, most profound on 'Runaway Train'. You can't be a travelling old time troubadour without one of those songs. A political perspective of a certain leaning also defines his act, another gimme from a socially conscience and morally astute songwriter. 'McAlpine's Fusiliers' took this down to a personal level with a family tale of the Irish rebuilding post-war London. On a wider scale, 'Thoughts and Prayers' moves the songwriting right into the heart of his adopted land's key issue of the day and takes its inspiration from the Florida high school shootings.
The last track was one of several lifted from the recent album. These included 'We're All the Same', 'Soldier' (a song based on Afghanistan, but taking a different twist at the moment) and 'Son of the Working Class'. Perhaps the most entertaining song from this album, and on the night, was 'Talkin' Neighbour From Hell'. An introduction citing the legendary Ramblin' Jack Elliot as an inspiration on many fronts leading to a proclamation of the talking head blues genre made famous by Woody Guthrie in the thirties and forties. A take very much at the core of how Josh O'Keefe wants to develop music now approaching a century on.
At this point, the multi-identity Josh O'Keefe was right in the zone winning over a Birmingham audience that had a heart of their number with a zero on the end. Troubadours are known for their passing through identity and it is the fleeting presence of the here and now that drives the craft. For one night only, a young person with Irish heritage from Derby now based in Tennessee, and all roads out, showed how you can capture the past and refine it for a new generation. At the end of the deserved encore, that blank page was full and those present knew a lot more about Josh O'Keefe.