Physicist, singer

Wynwood Yard series for local talent debuts with Miamian.

For two years after he graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in physics, Keith Johns worked as a technician in a radio carbondating laboratory, running particle accelerators to separate isotopes of carbon to determine the ages of various samples, mostly charred wood and charcoal that might date back 40,000 years.

For Johns, there had always been something comforting in the quantifiable, the verifiable, the known. Every day in the lab, empirical, measurable evidence would provide Johns with an answer, the answer. In physics, there is only one correct answer to a question.

But it was at that lab that Johns gave in to the more conceptual, emotional notions rattling around in his brain, vestigial flickers of the Willie Nelson and Gordon Lightfoot songs Johns’ father played for his young son, echoes of the trumpet Johns played with his Palmetto High School ska band.

“I do think there are two sides of my personality that need expressing — the logical and concrete and the creative and the abstract,” he says. “I found that I was doing all logical and concrete and that led to this explosion of creative writing. I was a canary in a bird cage in a sense. I wrote pretty much all the lyrics to my latest album while I was sitting at this desk, at this labtech desk, doing other things, but desiring the creative outlet.”

The result was “Grateful Fool,” a beautifully rendered debut album of wistful, joyful, soulful indie-folk introspection that celebrates all that is illogical about the human capacity for love and dreams and sorrow. Released in October 2016, “Grateful Fool” was a followup to a 2014 EP, “Maps and Plans.”

Johns, 28, says “Grateful Fool” is about regaining a fresh appreciation for what each of us has in life.

On Friday, Johns will share music from the album, and perhaps some of the new songs he’s planning to release in 2018, when his monthly First Fridays folk series debuts at Wynwood Yard in Miami. His band includes guitarist Adam Robl, Shawn Sutta on keyboards, Eric England on upright and electric bass, and drummer Matt Davis. Also on the bill to kick off the series will be Roberta Burke and her band.

The series is a continuation of the collaboration between Johns and Wynwood Yard at Miami Folk in 2016 and the Sunset Bayou festival in November.

The Wynwood Yard is located at 56 NW 29th St., in Miami. For information, go to TheWynwoodYard.com. For more on Keith Johns, go to KeithJohns.co.

COURTESY Keith Johns will perform songs on Friday from his debut album “Grateful Fool” at Wynwood Yard in Miami.