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 The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

playing (an integral element of

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as ''traditional music'', ''traditional folk music'', ''contemporary folk music'', ''vernacular music,'' or ...

) which would soon become known as melodic style, or "

Keith style The Keith style of playing the 5-string banjo emphasizes the melody of the song. Also known as the "Melodic" or "Chromatic style", it was first developed and popularized independently by Bobby Thompson and Bill Keith in the early 1960s. It is us ...

Professional career

Keith was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He attended

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

and graduated in 1961. In 1963 he became a member of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.Trischka, Tony, "Bill Keith", ''Banjo Song Book'', Oak Publications, 1977, 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. He began playing the steel guitar and soon after 1968, worked together with Ian and Sylvia and

Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards may refer to: Musicians *Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, pseudonym of bandleader Paul Weston and his wife, singer Jo Stafford *Jonathan Edwards (musician) (born 1946), American musician ** ''Jonathan Edwards'' (album), debut album ...

. In the 1970s, Keith recorded for

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

. Over the years he performed with several other musicians, such as Clarence White and

David Grisman David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic mu ...

in Muleskinner, Tony Trischka, Jim Rooney and Jim Collier. Today,

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.

Afterwards

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 Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-fin ...

had designed a set of cams which were added to the banjo to perform this task. 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 The Beacon Banjo Company of Woodstock, New York was founded in January 1964 by banjo player Bill Keith and his college friend Dan Bump to manufacture and market their new D-tuners, now commonly called ''Keith tuners''. With these tuners, banjo pla ...

, until his death. Beacon Banjo tuners continue their proud tradition, now in the hands of his son, Martin.

Discography

Solo and contributions

*1962 Bill Keith & Jim Rooney, ''Bluegrass Livin' on the Mountain'', Prestige Folklore FL 14002 *1976 Bill Keith, ''Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass'' (1976) Rounder - CD 0084, 1998 (feat. Tony Rice,

) *1978 Bill Keith and Jim Collier, Hexagone 883020 *1981 Tony Trischka, Bill Keith,

Bela Fleck Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara * Bela, Dang, in Nepal * Bela, Janakpur, ...

, ''Fiddle Tunes for Banjo'', Rounder 0124 CD 1999 *1984 Bill Keith, ''Banjoistics'' Rounder Select OG US - 148 *1993 Bill Keith, ''Beating Around The Bush'', Green Linnet.

With Bill Monroe

*1963 Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, ''Deca Session, 20 & 27 Mars 1963'' reed. CD 3/4, tracks 1 to 7 in : ''Bluegrass 1963 Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, ''July 1963: Two Days at Newport'', And More Bears AMD / ACDAA 25001(CD 2003) (feat. Del McCoury, guitar; Bill Keith, banjo; Billy Baker, fiddle; Ralph Rinzler, Bass, producer) *1963 Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, ''Live at Mechanic Hall'' Acoustic Disc, ACD-59 (CD 2004), (recorded 11 November 1963 by

; feat. Del McCoury, guitar; Bill Keith, banjo; Joe Stuart, fiddle; Bessie Lee Mauldin, Bass) *1991 Bill Monroe, ''Blue Grass – 1959–1969'', Bear Family Records, BCD 15529 (4CD) (feat. Del McCoury, guitar; Bill Keith, banjo; Kenny Baker, fiddle; Bessie Lee Mauldin, bass; Harry Silverstein, producer)

Bands

*1964 Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and Kentuckians, ''The Bluegrass'', Folkways Records – FA 2408 CD 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW40127 *1965 Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band, ''Jug Band Music'', Vanguard VRS-9163, VSD-79163 *1966 Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band, ''See Reverse Side For Title'', Vanguard VRS-9234, VSD-79234 *1967 Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band, ''Garden of Joy'', Reprise 6266 *1969 Blue Velvet Band, ''Sweet Moments With The Blue Velvet Band '' Warner Bros. - Seven Arts Records WS 1802 (Bill Keith: Pedal Steel Guitar, member of The Blue Velvet Band, with Richard Greene, Jim Rooney, Eric Weissberg). *1972 Mud Acres, ''Music Among Friends'' 1972, Rounder 3001 *1973 Muleskinner, ''A Pot pourri of Bluegrass Jam'', Warner Bros. records BS 2787 (feat. Peter Rowan, Clarence White,

) *1973 '' Muleskinner Live: Original Television Soundtrack'', released in 1998, Sierra MSI-11059 *1975 Jim Rooney, ''One day at the Time'', Rounder Records, 3008 *1975–1976 Bill Keith & Jim Rooney, in '' Banjo Paris Session'' vol. 1 Pony/Musigrass; Cezame CEZ 1005 & vol 2 Cezame CEZ 1022 *1976 ''The

Rounder Record'' (1976) reed. CD 0069, 1986 (feat. Tony Rice) *1985 Peter Rowan ''The First Whippoorwill'', Sugar Hill, reed. CD 1990 SHCD 3749 *1995 Richard Greene, ''The Grass is Greener'', Rebel Records 1995 REB CD 1714

As session musician

* 1966 Gloria Belle, ''Today I Can Smile/Baby, You Gotta Be Mine'' single 45 RPM Redwing 16171 (sidemen: Bill Keith (banjo) and Clarence "Tater" Tate (fiddle)) * 1969 The

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

, ''

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'', Polydor Records (UK), Atco Records (US) * 1973

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...

''True Stories And Other Dreams'' Elektra EKS-75053 (sidemen: Bill Keith: Pedal Steel Guitar, with Eric Weissberg) * 1976 Marcel Dadi And Friends – ''Country Show'' Guitar World Records – GW 4 (US release) * 1976 Marcel Dadi – ''Dadi's Pickin' - Lights Up Nashville - Part Two'', Cezame – CEZ 1019 (US release, 1977: ''Nashville Memories'', Guitar World Records – GW 6) * 1977 Marcel Dadi – ''Travelin' Man'' Guitar World Records – GW 5 (US release) * 1977

Christian Seguret Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

( fr) With Bluegrass Friends: Bill Keith,

Mike Lilly Mike Lilly is an American comic book artist known for his work on books such as ''Annihilation: Conquest'', ''Quasar'', ''Vampirella'', ''Dick Grayson, Nightwing'', ''Batman'', ''Detective Comics'', ''Marvel Knights'', ''Punisher'', ''Catwoman'', ...

, Wendy Miller, Jean Marie Redon ( fr), Jean-Claude Druot, Denis Blanchard – ''Old Fashioned Love'', Cezame – CEZ 1035 (tracks: B3, B4)

References

Bibliography

*Tony Trischka, Pete Wernick, ''Masters of the 5-String Banjo'', Oak Publications, 1988, *Neil V. Rosenberg, Charles K. Wolfep ''The Music of Bill Monroe'', University of Illinois Press, 2007, p. 148-151, discography p. 168 sq. Bill Keith is identified as: "Bradford Keith". *"Bill Keith" in ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music, The Ultimate Guide to the Music'', ed. by The Country Music Foundation and Paul Kinsbury, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 276.

External links

Bill Keith's websiteBanjo workshop - Grey Fox 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, Bill 1939 births Musicians from Boston American country banjoists American bluegrass musicians 2015 deaths Steel guitarists American country guitarists Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Great Speckled Bird (band) members 20th-century American guitarists Muleskinner (band) members