Not to be confused with the smooth jazz guitarist of the same name, this Brian Keane is a young North Carolina-raised, Austin-based singer/songwriter whose debut album, I Ain't Even Lonely, mixes delicate ballads like the haunting, acoustic "It's Been a Long Day" (co-written by the late Townes Van Zandt) with good-timey roots rockers like the fiddle-driven "Angeline." Blues, country, and rockabilly influences flit through the songs, but Keane's primary mode is that of the standard early-'70s singer/songwriter: earnest, easygoing, perhaps (to use a loaded word from that era) a bit sensitive. On the other hand, Keane also covers Tom Waits' "Anywhere I Lay My Head" and follows it up with a snarky kiss-off called "Your Whining Will Be Gone," so he's no pushover. I Ain't Even Lonely is a little derivative, but pretty solid overall.
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