ROOTS ROCKER JOHN PAUL KEITH DOUBLES UP WITH NEW SOLO LP, PLUS PROJECT FROM AMERICANA COMBO MOTEL MIRRORS
It’s been five long years since Memphis roots rocker John Paul Keith released a new album, and for good reason. “I got divorced in the middle of making my last record. It took me five years to get anything out because I was pretty much a mess that whole time,” says Keith, with a rueful chuckle. “I was having a midlife crisis and I had to write my way out of it.”
This latest chapter is just another twist in Keith’s roller coaster career. A Knoxville native, he earned a pair of ill-fated major-label deals (once as a member of the Viceroys, then later leading the Nevers) before he turned 23. He then slogged it out for a decade, bouncing between bands in New York City, Nashville and Birmingham. Keith eventually quit music in frustration after a series of shady managers, bad business deals and professional dead ends soured him.
In 2005, he moved to Memphis, intent on giving up music. Instead he rediscovered his muse. Launching a solo career, he released a trio of exquisite and widely acclaimed records on the Mississippi label Big Legal Mess: 2009’s “Spills and Thrills,” 2011’s “The Man That Time Forgot,” 2013’s “Memphis Circa 3AM” — as well as a live record and an EP as Motel Mirrors, a collaboration with fellow Memphis artist Amy LaVere.
But for the last half decade, Keith — while still being a reliably active and popular live performer — has been unusually quiet on the recorded front. That changes next week as Keith puts out a pair of platters: a solo LP titled “Heart Shaped Shadow,” and a full-length with Motel