Early Dawg”, released in 1980 by Sugar Hill Records (SH 3713), features four short instrumentals recorded live in 1966, with David Grisman on mandolin, Bill Keith on banjo and Artie Rose on guitar.
2 tracks are early compositions by David Grisman: “Sugar Hill Ramble” and “Opus 57”, influenced by Django Reinhardt. A more elaborate version of “Little Sadie” includes a “baroque” exploration of Jesse McReynolds’ cross-picking mandolin style, and a first-ever banjo interpretation of Duke Ellington’s “Caravan”.

A high-definition version of 30 tracks, including 10 with Bill Keith, was released in 2022 by Acoustic Disc (David Grisman’s independent Record label).

David Grisman – Early Dawg Deluxe
https://acousticdisc.com/product/early-dawg-deluxe-david-grisman-download/

5 – Auld Lang Syne – 2:25
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRFxSxzV6A
10 – Opus 57 – 2:44
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=h21xabbh8IU
11- Opus 38 – 1:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gZLyGFVk-g
12- Little Sadie – 1:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bkfRbKP9fM
13 – Out of joint – 2:24
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H-rCYhR9h3M
14 – Sugar Hill Ramble – 2:16
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AK5jXqYw3BA
15 – Caravan – 3:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ9gLlr0_hY

In 1966, Bill Keith took part (with fiddler Tater Tate) as a session musician in the recording of two tracks for a Gloria Belle EP.

By 1969, Bill had been playing pedal steel guitar for two or three years.

Bill and Jim Rooney were scheduled to play a concert at New York’s Washington Square Church. Jim Rooney recalls: “We thought it would be fun to do a split concert – half bluegrass and folk and half country. Bill suggested that Eric Weissberg join us”. On the afternoon of the concert, fiddler Richard Greene, who plays in New York in a rock band called Seatrain, joins this “circumstantial band” for the concert.

https://www.jimrooneyproductions.com/sweet-moments-with-the-blue-velvet-band-1969/

Later, the band is offered the opportunity to sign with Warner Brothers Records for an album: “The Blue Velvet Band is born”.
The Blue Velvet Band album Released in 1969 for Seven Arts Records WS 1802
Jim Rooney (Guitar, Vocals) ; Eric Weissberg (Guitar, Vocals) ;Richard Greene (Fiddle) ;Bill Keith (Banjo, Steel Guitar, Vocals).

At the end of 1968, Bill Keith played on two songs from the Bee Gees’ “Odessa” album (Marley Purt Drive and Give Your Best).

From 1971 to 1973, Bill played banjo and pedal steel guitar with folk-rock singer Jonathan Edwards, with whom he recorded three albums: Jonathan Edwards (1971); Honky-Tonk Stardust Cowboy (1972); Have a Good Time for Me (1973)

In 1969, Bill Keith played pedal steel as a guest on “The Great American Eagle Tragedy”. This was the last album by “Earth Opera”, a psychedelic folk-rock band formed by two of Bill’s fellows: David Grisman and Peter Rowan (after his tenure with Bill Monroe: 1964-67).

In 1969, Bill Keith played pedal steel as a guest on “The Great American Eagle Tragedy”. This was the last album by “Earth Opera”, a psychedelic folk-rock band formed by two of Bill’s fellows: David Grisman and Peter Rowan (after his tenure with Bill Monroe: 1964-67).

In early ’72 an ad hoc group of Woodstock friends and neighbors recorded “Mud Acres: Music Among Friends” (released by Rounder Records).

Jim Rooney writes : “Artie Traum came up with the idea of recording the music we played when we got together at each other’s houses. A bunch of us went up and spent a weekend at a little 4-track studio north of Albany. It was Happy and Artie, Bill Keith and me, John Herald, Maria Muldaur, Eric Kaz, Tony Brown, and Lee Berg. Over the course of two or three days and nights we recorded fifteen or twenty songs and had a wonderful time doing it”.
(Jim Rooney, In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey, University of Illinois Press, 2014)

Bill Keith plays on 8 of the 13 tracks on the album. “Out Of Joint” is a challenging all-banjo instrumental composed by himself (previouly recorded with David Grisman, but non released at the time).