Danny O'Keefe - Breezy Stories 1973

With "Breezy Stories" - and later "So Long Harry Truman" - O'Keefe put together unforgettable album sides that hold up today, shifting from dark rock and roll to country rock on each album.

"Angel Spread Your Wings" opens with O'Keefe's guitar work that says "this is different - have I been here before?" - and you are drawn into a joyful sexuality that was unlike anything else a band in 1973 put together. You move effortlessly on to "Magdelena", my all-time O'Keefe favorite, and savor the Hugh McCraken slide guitar and the Donny Hathaway backing vocals - and perhaps, the mysterious energy of Magdelena herself.

Side One finishes up with "Drive on, Driver," a literal driving, endless dirge of rock and roll. Indeed, all of Side One is untypical rock and roll for the time - or for any other. Which is perhaps why O'Keefe never "caught on" with the mainstream.

Side Two is O'Keefe's country rock side, as good as anything coming out of Nashville today. O'Keefe perhaps suffered from a country stigma in the early 70s, when country was "uncool" and few would admit to listening to it. His only hit, Good Time Charlie, was country-oriented, and I would guess potential fans were scared away from O'Keefe due ! to this.

O'Keefe was also a thinker, a rock and roll Leonard Cohen with a hard edge guitar. A unique and staunchly independent rock and roller.

O'Keefe's work needs to be resurrected, but as with the early 70s, I'm not exactly sure who would give him air time. Such a shame, but do buy "Breezy Stories" - and try to hunt down "So Long Harry Truman" while you're at it.




1. Angel Spread Your Wings
2. Magdalena
3. Junkman
4. Portrait in Black Velvet
5. She Said "Drive On, Driver"
6. Steppin' Out Tonight
7. If Ya Can't Boogie Woogie (You Sure Can't Rock and Roll)
8. Mad Ruth/The Babe
9. Catfish
10. Edge, The
11. Farewell to Storyville (Good Time Flat Blues)

Danny O'Keefe - vocals, guitar
David Bromberg- guitar, dobro
Reggie .Young, John Christopher, Hugh McCracken, Leo LeBlanc- guitar
Andy Statman - mandolin
Ken Kosek - fiddle
Bobby Wood - keyboards
Shane Keister - piano
Bobby Emmons - organ
Dominic Cortese - accordion
Hugh McDonald, Mike Leech, Gordon Edwards - bass
Richard Davis - acoustic bass
Bernard Purdie, Gene Chrisman, Steve Mosley- drums
Airto Moreira - tambourine, percussion
Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell - background vocals