Jim Keaveny – ‘Out Of Time’ – out in November

Jim Keaveny was raised in Bismarck, North Dakota on the Missouri River. In second grade, he began his first instrument, the piano. Recognizing his propensity for music, his teacher, Mrs. Jean Buck, chose him to represent her students at a University of Mary annual recital. By eighth grade, Jim’s mother insisted he quit piano or sports, until his declining grades improved. He chose to quit piano because of the strictness of his teacher. Says Jim of this time in his life, “I always hated school. One teacher even suggested they seatbelt me to my desk.”

By his junior year of high school, Jim had discovered a new instrument, the guitar, and started his first band, The Rogues, with childhood friends Chris Braun and Mike Dwyer. It was at this time he wrote his first songs.

In 1991, after only a part of a semester at the University of North Dakota, Jim decided to educate himself on the road. At age 19, he spent a year and a half hitchhiking and hopping freight trains around the country. He played a lot of guitar and had also picked up the harmonica. Many songs were written in these early years and Jim found his voice as a songwriter.

Of this time, Jim reminisces, “These were the best years of my life. I met some of my best friends and felt I was finding myself – with like minds, the guitar, the traveling, and the poetry.”

Reuniting with The Rogues, Jim played with the band for a couple more years in Eugene, Oregon, before moving to Austin, Texas in 1996. It was there he started his solo career and released four albums: These Old Things (2000), The Great Historical Bum (2002), A Boot Stomping (2005), and Music Man (2009). He also played in a few local bands, including The Fence Cutters.

Over the years, Jim has worked a colourful variety of jobs including fisherman, dishwasher, cook, tree planter, firefighter, janitor, graveyard maintenance man, and brewer. He’s also spent about two years earning a living busking on streets in the US and Europe. In 2005 he was a Kerrville New Folk Finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

In the fall of 2009, following the release of his fourth CD, Music Man, Jim moved to Terlingua, a small town in the far west of Texas, where he married Anna Oakley, a fiddle player. Together, they’ve spent the last 5 years building an off-the-grid house on 10 acres of land. They also formed a band with Pablo Menudo called the Rocky Top Alien Breeding Experiment focusing on traditional Irish tunes and old-timey music. Jim also used this medium for his own material.

Jim’s new album, Out of Time, was recorded at Frogville Studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is his most dynamic record to date, bringing in musicians from Austin, Texas and the Santa Fe/Albuquerque region.

He currently performs in central and West Texas, and tours regularly throughout the States and Europe. He describes himself as a country/folk singer.

Acclaim for Jim Keaveny’s Music Man (2009)

“… combines the wit of Townes, the urgency of Guthrie and the ability to paint images in the listeners mind of Dylan into a package that is uniquely his own. It blazes a path for many new folk singers to follow …” The Alternate Root