Jim Keaveny's lates effort 'Music Man' is a slice of American folk music that is not to be missed. It combines the wit of Townes, the urgency of Guthrie and the ability to paint images in the listener's mind of Dylan into a package that is uniquely his own. It blazes the path for many new folk singers to follow. - Reb Landers (www.thealternateroot.com)______________________________________The Rapt Magazine Reviews Music Man - August 13, 2009It’s easy and often tempting to apply the Folk genre label to any song played on an acoustic guitar and sung in a somewhat rustic manner; it’s easy to offhandedly label the singers of such music “singer-songwriters.” The utmost Folk purists will refuse to grant the Folk classification to any music that has not survived at least a couple generations of bona fide oral dissemination and transmutation: if a song hasn’t been picked up and sung by other (non-commercial!) singers in a folksong’s natural context of occurrence—these days a coffeehouse or a bonfire gathering perhaps—then it isn’t folk. This is why during the early 1960s, when Bob Dylan was singing what would seem his most earnest folksongs, he refused to acquiesce to the Folk label; he called it “contemporary” music, for the songs had had barely enough time for oral dissemination. By such a standard, the songs on Jim Keaveny’s fourth full-length album Music Man cannot be considered true folksongs. I do not doubt, however, that some of these songs might someday prove themselves worthy of the folksong label, for they speak plainly but profoundly of the human condition while adhering to traditional folksong changes and melodies.Upon first listen to the first few tracks of Music Man, the music might seem tiredly unoriginal and lacking any extraordinary insight. But as the album unfolds and the songs build upon each other, you realize that the songs that at first seemed to be misfires (I think primarily of the title track, which essentially declares nothing other than that the singer is indeed a music man) are merely the folksinger’s ethos—to again provide a Dylan quote, “Anything worth thinking about is worth singing”—at work. A folksinger writes about any subject under the sun, and so some songs will be heavier than others, some lighter. To the folksinger, both are equally valid.Keaveny’s songs are pervaded by an air of restless movement. In “Goin’ to Arizona” he builds a wary yet romantic expectation of the imminent trip to Arizona (surely only the most recent trip of many recently undertaken) by recounting the recent pasts of two men making the trip with him; the effect of recounting Bobby’s (“my brother and an angel”) and David’s (“a conman from Milano, Italy”) tales is to give their next trip, the next chapter in their multifarious stories, an anything-could-happen air of romance. What would such a collection of songs be without some type of social commentary? “Most Americans, they don’t get around\u002FJust maybe over to the very next big town\u002FToo far in debt or afraid or just not curious enough to cross that line\u002FTo another world and to another time,” he sings in “Livin’ In A Dream,” a song about the willful blindness (“Everybody’s a pawn of a bigger game”) of most of the world’s inhabitants to the “Snakes up top inventin’ more lies\u002FEach government growin’ more ‘n’ more centralized.” These words come in the “talking blues” format that listeners of Woody Guthrie, Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt will be familiar with, and if not for the contemporary references to the Iraq War, this song would be indistinguishable from any of the talking blues songs of any of the aforementioned folksingers.To give every song the depth of discussion it deserves would obviously take too long. Suffice it to say that Music Man is rich and diverse, deeply personal yet expansively encompassing, rough yet elegant. Whether the choicest songs here are accidental brilliance or painstaking song craft could not matter less: the end result (which, of course, really is no end at all) will undoubtedly delight and inspire singers and listeners alike.By Evan Butts - The Rapt Magazine _____________________________________Dutch Americana website, Altcountry.nl, gave Jim Keaveny's new CD, Music Man, 5 Stars!**English translation is below!**Alles bevalt me aan Jim Keaveny en zijn cd Music Man (eigen beheer). Allereerst die prachtige hoesfoto, waarop hij zelfzeker, maar ook met enige distantie, in de lens van de camera kijkt. Lijkt verdorie wel een portret van een outlaw uit de jaren zeventig. Dan zijn beknopte levensverhaal. Hij heeft een uitgesproken hekel aan school en laat zijn opleiding voor wat het is en verlaat North Dakota om anderhalf jaar liftend en als hobo op goederentreinen door Amerika te zwerven. Dat is al vaker een goede leerschool gebleken voor singer-songwriters. Na een tijd in Eugene, Oregon, allerlei baantjes te hebben genomen, zwerft hij ook nog een tijd door Europa, met name Spanje. In 1996 arriveert hij in Austin, Texas, en dat blijkt een plek waar hij goed kan aarden. Music Man is zijn vierde cd. Op zijn MySpace-pagina staan quotes van altcountry.nl en andere sites en een aanbeveling van Michael Hurley, die notabene in een hostel in Amsterdam met de muziek van Keaveny in aanraking kwam. De eigenzinnige artiest Hurley is vooral onder de indruk van de zwerflust die uit de muziek spreekt. Een nummer met de titel Goin’ To Arizona gaat bijvoorbeeld ook over Italië en Hawaii. De met een fraaie hese stem zingende Keaveny moet het niet hebben van technische vaardigheden. Zijn manier van zingen is nogal amateuristisch, maar daarmee past hij wel tussen ware grootheden als Townes Van Zandt en Bob Dylan. Het titelnummer begint met roffelende drums en een piano en als het geheel in een versnelling geraakt, dreigt de boel bijna te ontsporen. Heerlijk gewoon. Lonely Old Railroad Blues is ook zo’n werkje in eigen stijl met die aparte manier van zingen en simpele drums. Mountain Mama heeft een gekke, snelle beat en lange uithalen op de mondharmonica. In I’m So Lonely piept Keaveny, zingen kun je het nauwelijks noemen, maar in tegenstelling tot wat je zou mogen verwachten is het geen moment depressief. De afsluiter Happy Man, met weer zo’n lekker bonkend ritme, zegt genoeg over Jim Keaveny. Verre van magistraal in de meest letterlijke betekenis van het woord, maar wel simpelweg magisch. Verkrijgbaar bij CD Baby. English Translation of above review:I like everything about Jim Keaveny’s cd Music Man (private distribution). First of all that gorgeous cover shot, on which he looks into the lens of the camerawith self‐assurance but also with some distance. Nearly looks like an outlaw portrait from the Seventies. Then his brief life story.He really detests school and drops out and leaves North Dakota to spend 18 months getting rides and just being a hobo travelling through America. That has been a good school for singer‐songwriters for a long time already. After a whole list of small jobs in Eugene, Oregon, he travels through Europe, especially in Spain. He arrives inAustin, Texas in 1996 and that proves to be a place where he can live quite happily.Music Man is his fourth cd. On his Myspace page are quotes from altcountry.nl and other sites and a recommendation by Michael Hurly, who came into contact with Keaveny’s music at an Amsterdam hostel of all places. The intractable artist Hurly is especially impressed by the wander lust which is apparent in the music.A number titled Goin’ to Arizona for instance also speaks of Italy an Hawaii. Keaveny, whose singing voice is quite beautifully husky, is not one for any technical skills. His way of singing is pretty amateurish, but in so doing, he does fit in with masters such as Townes Van Zandt and Bob Dylan. The title song starts off with rolling drums and a piano and when it all goes into overdrive, it sounds as if it could all explode. Gorgeous!Lonely Old Railroad Blues is another piece in totally his own style with that rather strangeway of singing and very simple drums. Mountain Mama has a crazy fast beat and long hauls on the harp. In I’m So Lonely Keaveny squeaks, you can hardly call it singing, but contrary to what you would expect, it’s never depressing, not for a single moment. The closer Happy Man, another song with a great beating rhythm, says it all about Keaveny.It’s a long way from masterful in the literal sense of the word, but it is simply magical.__________________________________The album is also one of the recommended albums of the year 2009 in Belgium...