Music Writer Brings Soul To South Jamesport

Some things can just be chalked up to a higher power.

So believes Robert Keller, whose professional moniker, Red Kelly, is well known in the musical arena. Keller, who lives in South Jamesport with his family, including wife Georgette  -- the president of the Jamesport-South Jamesport Civic Association and founder of the group -- has long had the siren song of music guiding his life's mission.

And it was an encounter with soul musician Sir Lattimore Brown, a singer who left the Mississippi Delta and headed to Memphis in the 1950s, where he cut over a dozen singles and performed was well known on the "chitlin' circuit" of the 1960s, that made a tremendous impact on Keller's life.

Believed to have died in the 1980s, Brown was, in fact, alive. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Brown lost his wife and his home and was living in a FEMA trailer for a time until he found himself destitute and in the hospital near death.

Keller, through his Red Kelly connectiions and colleagues, heard Brown's story and began a transformational journey down south to find him. What transpired is a story so amazing and uplifting that Keller is working on a movie that he hopes will be produced this summer.

"After my colleagues and I in the 'soul community' found him down and out, and living in a FEMA trailer, I felt that helping Sir Lattimore get back on his feet was the very least we could do. I believe all of us are all called upon to do the right thing, and respond to whatever it is that life puts in our path in a positive way. The fact that Mr. Brown was such a 'find,'  and a true American original, made the decision that much easier," Keller said.

When he first found Brown in the hospital, the soul singer was sick, facing severe health issues. Keller brought him to New York in 2010, where Brown was treated at a VA hospital -- and lived with his family for one extraordinary summer, during which Brown was able to perform his soul-stirring music to new audiences.

Brown performed at Red Kelly's annual Summer Soul event, and sang gospel with Postmaster Kevin Ford's group Jus B'Cuz at their first ever concert at the Keller said. "People are still talking about it."

And it was a friendship that touched Keller's heart forever. "This was a guy that began picking cotton in the Delta and was part of the story of American music. To actually know him, and know what a gem he was, was a gift," Keller said.

During the time they spent together, Brown reconnected with family that had long been lost to him, and was able to go home to New Orleans and meet his 29 great-grandchildren. When he died in 2011 at the age of 79 after being hit by a car, "he was surrounded by family. It's a touching thing," Keller said. Of their incredible meeting, Keller said, "I didn't do it, and he didn't, either. I  believe it was just God."

Brown, who was a spiritual man, spent time Ford, who brought him to his church, the First Baptist Church of Cutchogue, Keller said. "They really gathered around him and supported him," he said. "Kevin and his church lifted him up and made him feel at home. The whole North Fork really rallied around him."

Brown even attended Monday night dances, held at Greenport's in the summer -- and forged bonds with locals in both Riverhead and Southold.

As he moves forward with working on the film about Brown's life, Keller reflects on the lessons he learned from the soul singer. "He said if you move forward with faith in your heart, everything is possible. And he was right."

Sitting around their South Jamesport home, listening to Brown sing gospel songs from the 20s and 30s, Keller said even though  Brown had lived a life rife with hardship, having lost everything, including his wife, in Hurricane Katrina, and been beaten and robbed -- he still had a rich legacy to leave the world, talent to share. "He was a black man with a finger on what's important in life, but still, so many people walked by him."

During their journey, Keller brought Brown back to Memphis, where the soul performer was able to record again, in the same studio where legend Al Green had once recorded, working with the same producer who had teamed up with Brown in the 1960s. "How could this be possible?" Keller remembers thinking. 

As a young man, Keller collected old 45s. "When Katrina hit, I realized a lot of this could disappear," he said. Today, Keller continues his life's dream of finding lost soul singers and giving them back their voices, long silent. Close to home, Keller works with Long Island soul legend Henry Henderson and the Honey Holders, a performer who worked with Brown; the goal is to book him into a winery this summer, and one day, perhaps introduce some legendary soul singers into the lineup at the annual Riverhead Blues Festival.

"This is a black American art form that's rapidly disappearing," Keller said. "I want people to sit up and take notice before it's all gone."

Keller, a music writer and music historian said he chooses to write about R&B because he feels it's an often unappreciated treasure, never receiving ample recognition as the foundation of today's music. 

Under his professional name, Red Kelly has shared stories about obscure records and their creators on his blogs The B Side, The A Side, Soul Detective, Soul Sauce Archives, and  a Gospel music page called Holy Ghost. A few years ago, he created The Red Kelly Channel on YouTube.

"The truly amazing thing, though, has been the human connections I've made through all of this, and the whole new worlds that these scratchy old records have opened up before me," he said.