Consumer Guide Album

Danny O'Keefe: Danny O'Keefe [Cotillion, 1970]
Though he thinks too much about smog and winos, O'Keefe sings the blues like a good old boy and takes his "mama" with him when he leaves town--in short, handles standard new-troubadourisms with some originality. And every once in a while he writes a potential standard like "Sweet Rollin'" (femme fatale) or "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" (a rounder's tragedy). But producer Ahmet Ertegun stifles "Saturday Morning" in Shoals soul, arranges "Steel Guitar" sans steel guitar, and indulges all of his boy's most misguided pretensions. B−