1975 Bill Keith Country Bluegrass Musician

Description: Yes we combine shipping for most multiple item purchases.Add multiple items to your cart and the combined shipping total will automatically be calculated. 1975 Bill Keith Country Bluegrass Musician - 4-Page Vintage Article Original, Vintage Magazine ArticlePage Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each pageCondition: Good Bill Keith is what you might call anovernight legend. Back in 1962, Bill andguitarist Jim Rooney put out “Livin’ onthe Mountain,” a hard to find album thatbecame an underground bluegrass classicas soon as it hit the turntable. The mainreason for all the excitement was Bill’srevolutionary banjo playing. From out ofthe blue, here was someone who couldplay fiddle tunes note for note withoutbatting a fingerpick. The record featured“Keith-picking" versions of “Devil’sDream” and “Sailor’s Hornpipe” plus anabsolutely astounding break to “SaltyDog.” Banjoists from Maine to Maryland (itwas primarily a Northern phenomenon atfirst) began picking up on this new stylewhich not only enabled them to pick outexact melodies with ease, but also gavethem a set of licks and runs that wasentirely different from that of Scruggs’style.With an eye towards fairness, it shouldbe mentioned that Bobby Thompson haddeveloped his own version of this fiddletune style in 1957, several years beforeBill, and had recorded fragments of it onJim and Jesse’s 1958 recordings of“Border Ride” and “Dixie Hoedown.”However, Keith did work independentlyof Thompson and was the first one to giveit wide exposure, largely through hiswork with Bill Monroe.Born in October, 1939 in suburbanBoston, Bill’s earliest musical experiencecame in the form of piano lessons. Duringthis time he learned a lot about chord andscale theory, knowledge that would servehim well in later years. In fourth grade heswitched to tenor banjo, which held hisinterest until the folksong revival swepthim up in 1957. At that point he beganlistening to Pete Seeger on the Weaver’srecords and realized that the music he washearing was impossible to play on a fourstring banjo. So during his freshman yearof college at Amherst he invested $15.00in a five string and bought the PeteSeeger instruction book. “He said inthere, go out and buy some Earl Scruggsand Don Reno records, and so I did. Butmeanwhile, I couldn’t wait to get to theback of the book where the interestingstrums were. You know, the rhumba andthe flamenco.” After two weeks he gotover the initial dislike of Scruggs’ styleand set out to learn Scruggs’ breaks notefor note. “I thought he was a pretty goodmodel because he played with a kind oftaste that was really good, and a lot oftechnique that wasn’t played to show offthe technique per se. Since I had alreadyplayed the tenor banjo I didn’t worryabout my left hand as much and I payed alot of attention to the right. So that maybe another reason why Scruggs struck meas a good model.” In those early years ofplaying, Keith devised his own system oftablature and began to transcribe Earl’sbreaks exactly as they appeared onrecord. He also did a lot of listening toJim and Jesse’s banjo player, AllenShelton and Boston banjo great, DonStover. It was undoubtedly the combinedeffect of these three men which added theall important drive and bounce to Bill’smusic.Over the next few years Bill solidifiedhis playing by gigging at folk clubs andbars in the New England area with hisroommate, Jim Rooney, and by the endof 1960 he had begun to work on his owninnovative style. The first measure ofBobby Thompson’s break to “DixieHoedown,” a Don Reno lick in the chorusof “Banjo Signal,” and some lessons fromDon Stover provided the initial inspira-tion. But the most direct influence camefrom a local fiddler, June Hall. “Aneighbor’s wife played the fiddle and Iused to go down there Wednesday nightsand play banjo to her fiddle, and it justoccured to me that it should be possible.So I worked out “Devil’s Dream.” Thenfor a long time I didn’t put it to use in anyother tunes.” “Sailor’s Hornpipe”was thenext tune he worked up within themelodic style, and this, coupled with“Devil’s Dream,” comprised Keith andRooney’s “hit” instrumental medley. Itwas this medley that won for Bill thePhiladelphia Folk Festival banjo contestin September 1962. It’s interesting to note... 14847-AL-7512-34

Price: 12.48 USD

Location: Kingsport, Tennessee

End Time: 2025-01-05T19:42:23.000Z

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