Bill Keith (musician)

Bill Keith
Birth name	William Bradford Keith
Born	December 20, 1939 (1939-12-20)
Origin	Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Genres	Bluegrass, Country
Occupations	Bluegrass artist
Instruments	Banjo, steel guitar
Years active	1960s – present
Notable instruments
Banjo

Bill Keith (b. December 20, 1939) is 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."

Professional career

William Bradford Keith was born in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1963 he became a member of Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. Keith's recordings and performances during these nine months with Monroe permanently altered banjo playing, and his style has become an important part of the playing styles of many banjoists. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys, he joined "Jim Kweskin Jug Band" playing plectrum banjo. He began playing the steel guitar and soon after 1968, found himself working together with Ian and Sylvia and Jonathan Edwards. In the 1970s Keith recorded for Rounder Records. Over the years he has performed with several other musicians, such as Clarence White and David Grisman in Muleskinner, Tony Trischka, Jim Rooney and Jim Collier. Today, Keith style is still regarded as modern or progressive in the context of bluegrass banjo playing.

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 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 Pegs". Known today simply as Keith Pegs, they remain the state of the art, and Bill Keith continues to manufacture and market them personally as the primary product of his own company, the Beacon Banjo Company.

References

• Tony Trischka, Pete Wernick, Masters of the 5-String Banjo, Oak Publications, (1988)

External links

• Bill Keith's website
• Youtube Banjo workshop. [1]
• Alternate link to Banjo workshop
• another bio