Danny O’Keefe – A Great American Folk Singer-Songwriter

Victor Rouă0 comment

Danny O’Keefe is a great American folk and folk rock singer-songwriter whose commending musical career spans over 50 years. He can play on guitar and piano and is also a vocalist. He started his musical career during the mid-1960s on the Minnesota coffeehouse circuit. He was part of a psychedelic rock group known as the Calliope in 1968. The respective band consisted of four members. As part of the Calliope, Danny O’Keefe recorded and released only one studio album titled Steamed which was released through Buddah Records prior to parting ways. He then focused on a successful solo career.

The talented and technical American guitarist and singer-songwriter Danny O’Keefe performing live in 1981. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

American musician Danny O’Keefe in 1972. This photograph was taken out of a trade ad for the artist’s 1972 studio album titled O’Keefe. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

He is best known for the 1972 single hit Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues which peaked at number 9 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also experienced moderate success in the Canadian and Australian charts. He is also known for the song The Road which was covered by Jackson Browne on his fifth studio album entitled Running on Empty (1977). In point of fact, Danny O’Keefe was covered by quite an impressive list of artists, namely Gary Stewart, Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, John Denver, Donny Hathaway, Leo Sayer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Judy Collins, Leon Russell, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jimmy Buffett, Alison Krauss (the queen of bluegrass music), Ben Harper, Cab Calloway, Mark-Almond, Andy Williams, and Dwight Yoakam. He was also covered in Italy by singer-songwriter Rosalino Cellamare (known under his stage name Ron).

Both of his most popular songs (more specifically Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues and The Road) are part of his 1972 studio album simply and efficiently titled O’Keefe. The sound of the aforementioned LP is a mixture of pop, rock, folk, and folk rock. The studio album O’Keefe is a timeless musical masterpiece which aged just like wine. One song on it, namely Shooting Star, has certain lyrics which reference the rather mysterious, esoteric, and beautiful Urantia Book (a spiritual book which influenced other rock, jazz, and jazz fusion musicians throughout the passage of time, such as, but not limited to, the guitar virtuoso Steve Vai or the bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius). Danny O’Keefe’s music has also been featured in several film and television soundtracks.

His solo discography consists of the following albums (released in the chronological order of their release):

  1. Introducing Danny O’Keefe (1966)
  2. Danny O’Keefe (1970)
  3. O’Keefe (1972)
  4. Breezy Stories (1973)
  5. So Long Harry Truman (1975)
  6. American Roulette (1977)
  7. The Seattle Tapes (1977)
  8. The Seattle Tapes Vol. II (1978)
  9. The Global Blues (1979)
  10. The Day to Day (1984)
  11. Redux (1989)
  12. Runnin’ from the Devil (1999)
  13. Don’t Ask (with Bill Braun) (2003)
  14. In Time (2008)
  15. Light Leaves the West (2015)
  16. Home (2017)
  17. Looking Glass & The Dreamers (2020)
  18. Circular Turns (2023)

Below you can listen to some of my favourite songs from his solo discography embedded via YouTube. Thank you very much for your time, attention, and readership! It means a lot to me! All the best, take care, stay safe, and rock on! 🙂 🤘

P.S. I discovered his music while researching for artists who were inspired by the Urantia Book in September, 2026.

Documentation sources and external links:

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