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Bill Keith (musician)

For other people named William Keith, see William Keith (disambiguation).
Bill Keith
Bill Keith on stage at the 1985 Cambridge Folk Festival
Bill Keith on stage at the 1985 Cambridge Folk Festival
Background information
Birth nameWilliam Bradford Keith
Born(1939-12-20)December 20, 1939
Boston, Massachusetts, US
DiedOctober 23, 2015(2015-10-23) (aged 75)
Woodstock, New York, US
GenresBluegrass, Country
OccupationBluegrass artist
Instrument(s)Banjo, steel guitar
Years active1960s – 2015

William Bradford "Bill" Keith (December 20, 1939 – October 23, 2015) was a five-string banjoist who made a significant contribution to the stylistic development of the instrument. In the 1960s he introduced a variation on the popular "Scruggs style" of banjo playing (an integral element of bluegrass music) which would soon become known as melodic style, or "Keith style". He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Professional career

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Keith was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.[1] He attended Amherst College and graduated in 1961. In 1963 he became a member of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.[2]

Keith's recordings and performances during these nine months with Monroe permanently altered banjo playing, and his style became an important part of the playing styles of many banjoists. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys, he joined the Jim Kweskin Jug Band playing plectrum banjo.[1] He began playing the steel guitar and soon after 1968, worked together with Ian and Sylvia and Jonathan Edwards.[1]

In the 1970s, Keith recorded for Rounder Records. Over the years he performed with several other musicians, such as Clarence White and David Grisman in Muleskinner, Tony Trischka, Jim Rooney and Jim Collier.[1] Today, Keith style is still regarded as modern or progressive in the context of bluegrass banjo playing. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame at an awards ceremony in Raleigh, North Carolina on October 1, 2015, and delivered a heartfelt address on that occasion, just three weeks prior to his death from cancer at his home in Woodstock, New York on October 23, 2015, aged 75.[3]

Joe Boyd, who was producing the music for the movie Deliverance, offered Duelling Banjos to Bill, but as Bill was travelling in Europe and wanted to visit a girl in Ireland, he turned it down suggesting Eric Weissberg instead. [4]

Afterwards

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"Auld Lang Syne"
Bill Keith playing a banjo equipped with Keith Pegs
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Keith made a mechanical contribution to the banjo, as well. He designed a specialized type of banjo tuning peg that facilitates changing quickly from one open tuning to another, while playing. Earlier famed banjoist Earl Scruggs had designed a set of cams which were added to the banjo to perform this task.[citation needed]

Keith's invention made the extra hardware unnecessary, replacing two of the tuning machines already on the banjo — a more elegant solution. Scruggs himself became a partner in the venture for a while, and the product was known as "Scruggs-Keith Tuners". Known today simply as Keith Tuners, they remain the state of the art, and Bill Keith continued to manufacture and market them personally as the primary product of his own company, the Beacon Banjo Company, until his death. Beacon Banjo tuners continue their proud tradition, now in the hands of his son, Martin.[5]

Discography

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Solo and contributions

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With Bill Monroe

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Bands

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As sidemen or participant of an ephemeral group or compilation

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 700/1. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
  2. ^ Trischka, Tony, "Bill Keith", Banjo Song Book, Oak Publications, 1977, ISBN 978-0825601972
  3. ^ Friskics-Warren, Bill (October 26, 2015). "Bill Keith, Who Uncovered Banjo's Melodic Potential, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  4. ^ Boyd, Joe, White Bicycles – Making Music in the 1960s, Serpent's Tail, 2006. Page 238. ISBN 1-85242-910-0
  5. ^ "Beacon Banjo Company - Keith Banjo Tuners". Beaconbanjo.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  6. ^ "Red Allen (2), Frank Wakefield And The Kentuckians - Bluegrass". Discogs.com. 1964. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  7. ^ "The Folkways Years, 1964-1983". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved October 8, 2019.

Bibliography

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