Phases and Stages

Peter Keane

Milton Street (Broken White) The art of understatement is arrived at through time and effort, and Austin's Peter Keane demonstrates an ease and skill with a guitar and a microphone that marks the best and most seasoned of performers. Backed by Charlie Larkey on upright bass and Richard White on drums, Keane has developed his folk roots into an adroit ensemble that would thrill any roomful of music fans. That said, Keane doesn't show off; there aren't even solos built in to every song -- not so you'd notice, anyway. Yet his deeply skillful picking brings each song -- half originals, the other half covers like Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Shuckin' Sugar," Bob Dylan's "I Wanna Be Your Lover," and Ramblin' Jack Elliot's "Candyman" -- to life. Finding that middle ground between paying heartfelt respect and making a song one's own, Keane does justice to the old standards and then some. There are no revelations, no shocking moments of insight into the past or future of blues or folk music, but that's what makes Milton Street so enjoyable.