PHOTO: JIMMY FONTAINE | The path to success for most successful people in the entertainment business—or any business for that matter—is rarely a straight one.
Life is full of unexpected twists and turns, but it’s all about keeping one’s cool and choosing directions that make sense, even if there is a bit of risk involved. Jim Keller knows he didn’t just wake up one morning to become the longtime manager for Philip Glass who is one of America’s most celebrated composers and a Kennedy Center Honors recipient who was presented with the U.S. National Medal of the Arts by President Obama. It was a certain sequence of events that got Jim there.
Keller, of course, is a musician. You’ve all heard Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny” blasting from car radios and being played by bar bands, and so has Jim Keller; and he loves it! Except, in his case, he happens to be co-writer and performer of that song and was in Tommy Tutone! After releasing that power pop classic, Keller continued to make music under his own name, on and off through the years, but now he is back with a brand new album produced by the great Mitchell Froom. The record is called By No Means and features Keller’s direct, infectious music that can cut so sweetly you don’t even recognize that you’ve been wounded.
Join me and Jim on this episode of Radar as we talk about the twists, turns, and many lives of his career, seeing the music industry from both sides of the stage, and the production and splendid songwriting that went into his new album, By No Means.
Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Sharp Notes each Saturday evening at 6pm and TVD Radar on Sundays at 5AM on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.
