"YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE" (TASTEE-TONE RECORDS, DEC. 2020)

An album of original duets, with some of the biggest names in the Blues and Soul world stopping by to lend their voices. Hits #6 on the Living Blues Radio Chart, the gold standard for Blues and Soul airplay (Jan. 2021), and Dave Keller’s most intriguing album yet. It features Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker; Houston’s Queen of the Blues,Trudy Lynn; Keller’s mentor, Mississippi’s Johnny Rawls; Blues Music Award Winner Annika Chambers; and Juno Award Winner Dawn Tyler Watson.

Plus, names you will be excited to learn: deep Blues/Americana artist, Annie Mack; DC’s Queen of the Blues, Carly Harvey; Toussaint St. Negritude, a spoken word artist in the vein of Gil Scott-Heron; Brother Bob White, a 89-year-old Gospel treasure; Katie Henry, an up-and-comer from NJ; Chad Hollister, acoustic rocker from New England.

 

All backed by Keller’s road-tested band: Ira Friedman on keys, Jay Gleason on drums, and Alex Budney on bass. Plus, a killer horn section led by Mark Earley of Roomful of Blues renown. And special guests such as Chris Robertson (slide guitarist extraordinaire), and Memphis’ 18-year-old wunderkind Vince Allen (guitar), who also happens to be the grandson of Keller’s late songwriting mentor, Darryl Carter (“A Woman’s Gotta Have It”, “Blind, Crippled and Crazy”).

 

All money from album sales goes to groups working for Racial Justice and Equity.  This album exists thanks to generous donations of time from all the musicians, plus two of the finest studios in New England: Sugarhouse Soundworks and The Tank Recording Studio.  Studios from all corners of the country stepped up to help record the artists who lived further afield.  Mark Pucci Media and Todd Glazer Radio Promotions donated their services.  Paul Grosso, who has designed almost all of Keller’s recent album covers, donated his time.  And dozens of Keller’s fans chipped in to help cover additional costs.  So many people giving.

 

And what do you get?  Songs that range from hard Blues, to Stax Soul, to intimate piano-and-vocal ballads, intense Gospel, and more.  A lot of it is hard to classify.  Dave Keller and his friends are authentically themselves, giving of their spirits and their talents.  You can feel it.  And that is the highest compliment you can give any music.  Do you feel it?  Mission accomplished.

 

You Get What You Give.  It couldn’t be a more prescient name.  

Learn more about the artists on the album > 

 

 

THE STORY BEHIND "YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE"

On Saturday March 14, 2020, Dave Keller and his band were 1,200 miles from home, playing at Champy’s Fried Chicken, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a mere three days into their southern tour.  Things were going well.  The crowd loved their energy, and responded in kind: hollering and dancing and getting good and sweaty.  After all, these boys from Vermont were offering a musical prayer of thanksgiving here in the land where Soul music was born. 

 

The next day, the pandemic hit, and it hit hard.  The rest of the tour’s gigs evaporated.  Poof!  Gone. Dave and the band made it back safely to Vermont, but it quickly became clear that there would be no ‘return to normal’.  Keller wondered what he would do with his creative energy. Then May came along, and with it the murder of George Floyd.  The country seethed with anger and pain.  Keller marched in a few protests, but it didn’t feel like enough. 

 

You see, Keller ‘came up’ under some of the greatest Black musicians ever to grace a stage or a slab of vinyl.  Deep Soul singer Mighty Sam McClain.  Mystical guitarist Robert Ward.  Mississippi Soul/Blues master Johnny Rawls.  Fontella Bass of “Rescue Me” fame.  And having been given priceless gifts of wisdom from these mentors and others, Keller wanted to give back.

 

So in mid-June, Keller had a spark of an idea.  What if he recorded his newest originals with his own band plus a bunch of his musician friends, and donated the proceeds to groups working for Racial Justice and Equity?  He posted the idea to social media, and it blew up. 

 

Over the next few months, working with 25 different musicians, and close to a dozen studios, Keller crafted the album of his career. 
 

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ABOUT DAVE KELLER

Ever since legendary guitarist Ronnie Earl chose Dave Keller to sing on his 2010 album, Living In The Light, Keller has been on the rise, earning three Blues Music Award nominations for Best Soul/Blues Album, winning the International Blues Challenge 'Best Self-Released CD Award', and being chosen for Downbeat’s “Best Recordings of the Year.” His 2018 CD, Every Soul's a Star, released on esteemed soul/blues label Catfood Records, was produced by multiple-Grammy-winning legend Jim Gaines (Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller, Tower of Power, Luther Allison, etc.).  Gaines, the man responsible for some of the most revered albums in modern music, says, “I love Dave's vocals. Dave has a remarkable voice.” 
 

In February 2020, Keller released his first-ever live album, Live At The Killer Guitar Thriller!  (Tastee-Tone Records), which won the Tammie Award for Best Album of the Year. Based in Vermont, Keller has performed for audiences across the U.S., including major festivals such as the North Atlantic Blues Fest, Discover Jazz Fest, and PA Blues Fest and many of the finest clubs, including B.B. King's in Memphis and Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco.  In addition to his own recordings, Keller has co-written and recorded with legendary guitarist Ronnie Earl (2010's BMA-nominated Living In The Light).  
 

Other well-regarded performers have invited him onstage, including but not limited to: Otis Clay, Fontella Bass, John Nemeth, Sugaray Rayford, John Primer, Mike Welch, Mike Ledbetter, Southern Avenue, Big Jack Johnson, Terrence Simien, Anthony Geraci, Alexis P. Suter, Dawn Tyler Watson,  Dwight and Nicole, and Grammy-winning Native American singer/songwriter Joanne Shenandoah.
 

A bit of a late bloomer, Keller grew up in Massachusetts, loving music, but not picking up a guitar until age 16, and not singing in his first band until age 20. But blessed with mentors including deep soul singer Mighty Sam McClain, mystical soul guitarist Robert Ward, acoustic blues master Paul Rishell, and soul/blues man Johnny Rawls, Keller made up for the lost time.

Relocating to icy Vermont in 1993, Keller found fertile ground to grow his audience, and during the ensuing years has spread his name far and wide.  Famous for his live-wire shows, Keller can often be found fifty feet out in the crowd, teasing fiery licks from his trusty Stratocaster, and singing off-mike as the audience sings along.