LITTLE ROCK — It turns out that John Paul Keith is not a tribute act to John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Keith Richards.
No, John Paul Keith is a real guy, who started life in Knoxville, Tenn., and has gradually moved west to Nashville and then to Memphis.
He has no plans, however, to plunge over the mighty Mississippi River for a move into Arkansas, although performing hereabouts is fine, it seems. He has found a home away from home at the White Water Tavern, where coowner Matt White describes Keith as “one of the best guitar players that I know,” and says he and his rhythm section are “a powerhouse [who] always turn the White Water into one big rock ’n’ roll dance party [with] songs in the vein of Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Merle Haggard and so many more of the greats. They are the real deal and a total blast.”
Keith is just as enthusiastic about his shows at the White Water: “It’s my favorite bar in the country, and believe me, I’ve seen a lot of ’em.”
An original member of the Viceroys, who had to switch names to the V-Roys because the first name was taken, Keith left the band as it was on the verge of a major label debut. Even as the youngest member of the group, Keith didn’t like the details of the deal and the direction the band might have taken. So he quit. He then moved to Nashville, where he started a couple of bands — The Nevers and Stateside — the latter of which changed its name to the Pink Hearts and went out on the road backing up Ryan Adams. Without Keith, of course, who had bailed out, to try his luck in first New York and then in Birmingham, Ala.
“I’ve been here [Memphis] a few years now, thanks to my sister, Jennie, who lives here and invited me to come here,” he says. “I had gotten frustrated with music and was ready to give up on it, but I met some guys and we began playing on Beale Street, which is not that easy to do. Before I knew it, I was playing more than I ever had.”
In 2009, Keith released his debut album, Spills and Thrills, which he followed with the Live at the Hi-Tone a year later. Last year, he released The Man That Time Forgot. His resume also includes a single he recorded for Travis Hill’s Little Rock label, Last Chance Records. Keith has begun work on a third album, but he doesn’t expect to release it until 2013. He’s doing the recording at Sam Phillips Recording Service, the place the legendary founder of Sun Records opened after he sold Sun.
“It’s run by Roland Janes, who played guitar with Jerry Lee Lewis and Billy Lee Riley and all those guys,” Keith says. “He’s 79 years old and he was an Arkansan who was one of Billy Lee’s Little Green Men, and I’ve never met anyone that golden. Anything he suggests that we do, it turns out he’s right.”
Keith, who is a singersongwriter and a guitarist, has a backing band called the One Four Fives, so named for the I-IV-V chord progression that serves as the backbone of most blues and rock ’n’ roll music.
“We started out playing bars in Memphis, just for the fun of it,” Keith says, “and before long, we had gotten pretty good at it, playing songs by Chuck Berry, Sun Records stuff and country songs, whatever we could wing it on. We consider ourselves a bar band, and it’s a badge of honor to be a good bar band. You can’t be too self-indulgent or too vain about your ‘art’ in a bar band.
“I think it’s an art to get people to have a good time.”
After Keith and the band leave Little Rock, they head east for 10 days and then to Europe for a month of shows. He finds music fans across the Atlantic to be really enthusiastic, especially in the Netherlands.
“They all speak English over there, some of them better than I do,” Keith says with a laugh.
John Paul Keith
Opening act: The Memphis Dawls
10 p.m. Friday, White Water Tavern, West Seventh and Thayer streets, Little Rock
Admission: $7
(501) 375-8400
Weekend, Pages 35 on 08/09/2012