Many spills precede John Paul Keith's music thrills

John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives: (left to right) Kevin Cubbins, John Paul Keith, Mark Stuart, John Argroves).

When singer, songwriter and guitarist John Paul Keith arrived in Memphis in 2005, he was ready to quit music. At the ripe old age of 29, Keith had decided he'd had enough.

You could hardly blame him. Less than a decade in the music business and he'd already left one group just as they were on the cusp of national success, signed a major label deal only to see the resulting album shelved, and watched another band he'd built run off with a different singer.

John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives: (left to right) Kevin Cubbins, John Paul Keith, Mark Stuart, John Argroves).

Fortunately, Keith didn't give up. In fact, he found sustenance in the Memphis music scene and decided to stick it out. Tonight, his fast-rising roots-rock band, The One Four Fives, celebrates the release of its debut album, Spills and Thrills, with a show at the Hi-Tone Café.

The 33-year old Keith first emerged in the mid-'90s out of Knoxville's tiny music scene, which was flourishing with major labels courting bands like the Judybats, Superdrag and the Viceroys -- the latter group formed by Keith with fellow singer-songwriter Scott Miller. The Viceroys (who later changed their name to the V-Roys) were a loose, fearless country pop outfit whose wild sets often took long detours into a succession of Roger Miller rarities. They were heralded among the new wave of alt-country bands.

The group was soon courted by Nashville maverick Steve Earle to sign to his label, E-Squared. It was at this point that Keith, barely out of his teens, and feeling uneasy with the changing musical direction of the band, made the rather bold decision to quit the group. "I had a lot of people mad at me when I left. But I was just like 20, and Scott was 28, and that's a big difference at that age. I guess I was just very young."

After leaving the band, Keith moved to Nashville in 1996 where he teamed up with a couple of Knoxville ex-pats, and former members of the Judybats, and formed a mod/garage-styled group called the Nevers. Within months, the band had signed a deal with Seymour Stein's newly revived major label imprint, Sire Records.

The group headed to New York with noted producer Andy Paley -- of the Paley Brothers and Brian Wilson fame -- and engineer Joe Blarney (The Clash, Keith Richards) to record their debut. Despite the rather promising trappings, it was, as Keith notes, an ill-fated experience. "I was very upset with how the record came out. It was one of those things where you defer to your elders," he says. "I kept thinking maybe it'll get better in the mix. Then I thought maybe it'll get better in mastering. It was more my fault than anyone else's, 'cause during the recording process I didn't go with my gut."

The Nevers debut was shelved by the label (Keith is still horrified at the memory of the record, and jokes that even his wife hasn't been allowed to hear it).

Keith kept plugging away in Music City, forming a new band, Stateside, who cut an album of their own and began recording with rising alt-country star Ryan Adams.

The band was preparing to back Adams on his breakthrough world tour behind the album Gold in 2001. Adds Keith, "And I said, we'll do the tour if we can open some of the shows. (Adams' management) said we couldn't, so I decided I'm not going. But the rest of my band did," says Keith laughing. "I sorta felt like Charlie Brown with his football."

After moving to Alabama and, briefly, to New York City, Keith -- worn down by his successive professional disappointments -- decided to try Memphis on the recommendation of his sister.

When he arrived, Keith says he had no intention of playing again. "I figured as far as my music career was concerned, I didn't have the talent or the brains or the looks; whatever you needed, I didn't have it. And I didn't have any more money to dump into recordings. But, before long, I had to start taking gigs, just to make the 60 bucks a night."

Through a connection with blues harmonica player Billy Gibson, Keith began playing on Beale Street. "Like a lot of people who consider themselves blues purists, at first, I was pretty elitist about Beale Street. But I went down there and had a ball. I loved it," says Keith. "It made me really fall in love with the guitar again."

That same spirit led Keith to form the One Four Fives with a pair of Midtown musicians -- drummer John Argroves and bassist Mark Stuart -- who owned the defunct Taylor's Music store. Adding noted local engineer/guitarist Kevin Cubbins, and a rotating cast of multi-instrumentalists and keyboardists including Al Gamble, Adam Woodard and John "Rock Doc" Whittemore, the band developed a loyal following in town, with their epic multiset concerts, highlighted by a mix of roots-rock covers, Keith's twang-pop originals and his dazzling fretwork.

Recorded over the past year at Young Avenue Sound and Ardent Studio, the band's debut, Spills and Thrills, is a joyous, entertaining burst of music, that bears the musical and aesthetic influence of '70s British pub rock and roots-punk acts like Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe and Rockpile.

Spills and Thrills was tracked mostly live, including the vocals. "We were able to get away with that because the band is so good. But I believe you can tell that when you hear a record. Even if you're not a musician or a music nerd, subconsciously a listener can pick up on that. I think that's partly why records mattered more to people when everything was done live as opposed to now. It's like the difference between CGI and real stunts," says Keith laughing. "Actually, that's good comparison -- because this record is a stunt."

Stunt or not, the album is already paying dividends as Big Legal Mess -- the fledgling imprint of the famed Mississippi blues and roots label Fat Possum -- has just signed Keith with an eye toward releasing the One Four Fives' album nationally in March.

While he's happy to be back in the game, Keith says the past few years have taught him to value what's really important. "Actually, I learned the best lesson when I was playing on Beale Street," he says. "Which was that either you need to be having fun or the audience needs to be having fun; otherwise, why do it?"

To hear music by John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives, click here.

TONIGHT

See John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives perform tonight at the Hi-Tone Café, 1913 Poplar Avenue. There is a $5 charge.

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