After leaving the Bluegrass Boys, Bill Keith joined the Jim Kweskin Jug Band for four years (1964-1968), where he played rhythm on a plectrum banjo.
Bill Keith participated in the recording of 3 albums : Jug Band Music in 1965, See Reverse Side For Title in 1966 and Garden Of Joy in 1967.
Fiddler Richard Greene, who was a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys from February 1966 to March 1967, then joined The Jim Kweskin Jug Band and took part in the recording of Garden Of Joy .
During this period, Bill Keith also took part in jam sessions at festivals, where he also performed with his colleague Jim Rooney. We have live recordings made at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 and 1965.
At the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Bill did a jam session with ”The Kentucky Colonels”. Their live album: “Long Journey Home” (Vanguard-77004) contains 4 tracks with Bill, including the first known version of “Nola” and “Auld Lang Syne” (with the Keith’s D-tuners).
At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Bill played with the Kweskin Jug Band on Saturday, July 24. On another stage, he played with Jim Rooney an instrumental version of Little Sadie, recorded on the album: Folk Music At Newport – Part 1, (Vanguard-770072).
According to Jim Rooney, “in the early sixties Bill Keith concentrated on developing a unique and personal style of banjo picking. (…) Bill has some friends who live in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Loring and June Hall. On Saturday nights the Halls have an open house (…) usually June brings out her fiddle. This is no small task, but is more than worth the effort as you listen to June play tune after tune – all remembered from earlier days in Nova Scotia – and all played with wonderful clarity and spirit. This is where Bill learned The Devil’s Dream and where he first became interested in adapting the fiddle style to the banjo. This style became Bill’s trademark: the “melodic” banjo style, also known as the “Keith” style”. (Rooney, Solomon, 1964)
In September 1962, at the first Philadelphia Folk Festival, Bill Keith won the morning banjo contest with this tune. Bill and Jim played again in the evening concert: ”I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”, a traditional tune first recorded by the Carter Family in 1928 and subsequently covered by many bluegrass bands. These two pieces of music were recorded live and released by Prestige International in April 1963 on the album Philadelphia Folk Festival Volume 2
Between late 1962 and early 1963, Bill Keith & Jim Rooney recorded a full album with mandolinist Joe Val, again for Prestige International: “Livin’ On The Mountain”, released in the summer of 1963.
Shortly after the release of the album with Jim Rooney and Joe Val, Tom Morgan, a highly skilled bluegrass instrument luthier and bass player, got to Bill a chance to play with Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and Kentuckians in the Washington DC area and in Maryland.
After a Flat and Scruggs concert in Baltimore, Bill Keith is introduced to Earl Scruggs, who invites him to Nashville to work on the tablature for his banjo method.
In Nashville, Earl Scruggs introduced Bill Keith to the ”father of bluegrass”, Bill Monroe and his fiddler, Kenny Baker. Bill Keith played Devil’s Dream for them and was asked to join Bill Monroe’s band, the Blue Grass Boys.
Between March and December 1963, Bill Keith becomes a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, under the nickname “Brad” Keith. Bill’s full name being “William Bradford Keith”, and as Bill Monroe didn’t want two “Bills” in the band, “Brad” was taken as “Bradford’s” nickname.
Early in this short tenure, Bill took part in two recording sessions for Decca, recording six instrumentals.
“Within two weeks of his joining the band, Bill only recording he would do with him. Monroe was fascinated by Keith’s style (…) It was typical of Monroe to record Bill so early. He liked to throw a person in the water to see if he could swim. Keith played better than he ever had in his life.” (Schmidt, Rooney, 1979 :156)
In the first session, dated March 20, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys recorded 3 fiddle tunes adapted for banjo by “Brad” (Bill) Keith, co-signed by Bill Monroe: “Salt Creek”, “The Devil’s Dream” and “Sailor’s Hornpipe”.
On the second Decca session, dated March 27, Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys record three more instrumentals, composed by Bill Monroe alone: “Pike County Breakdown”, “Shenandoah Valley Breakdown” and “Santa Claus”.
During his tenure with Bill Monroe, “Brad” Keith played in numerous concerts. Some were recorded, such as “Two days at Newport”, recorded in July 1963, released in 2003.
David Grisman recorded a concert at Mechanies Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts (recorded in November 1963, released in 2004); featuring: Del McCoury: Guitar, Bill Keith: banjo, Joe Stuart: fiddle, Bessie Lee Mauldin: Bass
After leaving the Bluegrass Boys, Bill Keith occasionally played with them: During Peter Rowan’s tenure, at the Jordan Hall, Boston, October 31, 1964; featuring: Benjamin “tex” Logan: fiddle, Peter Rowan: guitar, Bill Keith: banjo, Everett Alan Lilly: bass.
Many recordings by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys are now available online (of varying quality), including some with Bill Keith. Such as (among others): Bean Blossom, Indiana, Brown County Jamboree, september 1963, Del McCoury: guitar, Bill Keith: banjo, Joe Stuart: fiddle, Jim Bessire: bass
In 1964, Bill Keith recorded 9 tracks in a session with Red Allen and Frank Wakefield, produced by David Grisman and Peter K. Siegel. Six were released by Folkways Records on Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and the Kentuckians, on their “Bluegrass” album FA 2408.
These tracks include the instrumental “New Camptown Races”, originally written and performed by Frank Wakefield in 1957 and later covered by Bill Keith and David Grisman together.
Livin’ on the montain, liner notes by Jim Rooney & Linda Solomon
Eric Von Schmidt, Jim Rooney ”Baby Let Me Follow You Down”, The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years University of Massachusetts Press Amherst, 1979
Neil V Rosenberg , Charles K Wolfe ”The Music of Bill Monroe” University of Illinois Press, 2007
William Bradford “Bill” Keith (December 20, 1939 – October 23, 2015) was a five-string banjoist who contributed significantly to the stylistic development of the instrument and, through his influence, to the emergence of progressive bluegrass. In the 1960s, he added to the “Scruggs style”, founder of bluegrass banjo, a technique that would soon become known as the “melodic style” or “Keith style”. After playing in the 1963 “Blue grass Boys” with the “father of bluegrass” Bill Monroe, he influenced major progressive bluegrass banjoists such as Alan Munde, Tony Trischka and Béla Fleck. He also played with flat-picking guitar masters such as Clarence White and Tony Rice, and mandolin masters such as David Grisman. Like the latter, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
The 2nd Courville-sur-Eure folk festival was held from July 8 to 10, 1977. Bluegrass headliners were the ”Bicentenial Bluegrass Band”: Bill Keith (banjo) and David Grisman’s quartet, with David Grisman (mandolin), Tony Rice (guitar), Darol Anger (fiddle) and Bill Amatneek (bass). For Celtic music, The Bothy Band and ex-Planxty Christy Moore with Dónal Lunny (also member of the Bothy Band), as well as Ogham (the Molard brothers). French-speaking artists include guitarist Michel Haumont, singers Jean Louis Vincent and Marc Robine, Marc Perronne, Gérard Dôle (cajun) and Swiss band Aristide Padygros. unfortunately, Zachary Richard cancelled at the last minute. Dancing in the evening, with the veillée québécoise and the Fest Noz.
