Jimmy O'Keefe: Good Night Nobody

Jimmy O’Keefe Confronts Fear in Good Night Nobody

Baltimore’s Jimmy O’Keefe doesn’t shy away from some of the darker aspects of life. His new album, Good Night Nobody, invites listeners into a space where unspoken fears take shape. Across seven tracks, each song becomes a portrait of a different dread: the sting of broken promises (“Angels and Dust”), the wrath of a vengeful god (“Sunday School”), the ache of meaningless memories (“Estate Sale”), the sudden shock of tragedy (“Rather Be Alone”), beauty destroyed by violence (“Night Cult”), the slow unraveling of sanity (“King of the Dell”), and the fading of one’s own identity (“Ego Death”).

The title plays on the children’s bedtime staple Good Night Moon, but here the gentle ritual is replaced with a collection of warnings—modern fables echoing the fatalism of ancient Greek myths.

O’Keefe, formerly the frontman for Baltimore band Hollywood Blanks (2012–2019), entered the pandemic without a band but with a desire to create. With only an acoustic guitar, a looper pedal, and two days in the studio, he built Good Night Nobody layer by layer. “I came into the studio with an RC-600 and two days to record seven songs,” O’Keefe says. “What came out feels like an elegy for someone who forgot how to cry—so he just stacked his own voice until it sounded like grief.”

Half-joking, he calls the album “the depressed version of the Country Bear Jamboree.” The album makes listeners think and has messaging and stories many will be able to relate to.

Good Night Nobody is out now—take it for a spin.