Catfish Keith | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Keith Daniel Kozacik [1] |
Born | [1] East Chicago, Indiana, United States | February 9, 1962
Genres | Blues [2] |
Occupation(s) | Singer, guitarist, songwriter |
Instrument | Steel guitar |
Years active | 1980s–present |
Labels | Fish Tail Records, various |
Website | catfishkeith |
Catfish Keith (born February 9, 1962) [1] is an American acoustic blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as an exponent of the resonator guitar. He has released several solo albums, including 2001's A Fist Full of Riffs. [3]
The Guardian described him as "a solo revelation" who was "breaking new ground for blues. [2] Twice a Blues Music Award nominee for 'Best Acoustic Blues Album', he has had ten number one independent radio chart hit albums. [4]
Catfish Keith was born Keith Daniel Kozacik in East Chicago, Indiana, and was first inspired by blues music he heard on the radio. These included songs by Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, although by the time he owned a guitar in his teenage years, he listened mostly to Son House. He attended high school in Davenport, Iowa, before setting out across the United States and beyond learning to sing and play his brand of the blues. He traveled to the Caribbean, where his musical education benefited from hearing Joseph Spence. [2]
His stage name originated from a diving partner in the Virgin Islands who, having seen his efforts at swimming, nicknamed him "Catfish-Swimmin'-Around," and "Catfish-Steel-Guitar-Man." [5] Catfish Keith had his debut album, Catfish Blues (1984), released by Kicking Mule Records. He continued to tour constantly and picked up playing tips from watching Jessie Mae Hemphill, Henry Townsend, Johnny Shines and David "Honeyboy" Edwards. [2]
Keith married in 1988 and founded his own record label, Fish Tail Records. 1991's Pepper in My Shoe sparked global interest in his work, and he toured both Europe and the United States. He appeared on the cover pages of the publications Blues Life, Blueprint, Block and The Guardian, and his follow-up effort, Jitterbug Swing was nominated for a Blues Music Award. Further acclaim was afforded by the British magazine, Blues Connection, who named him "the new slide king of the National steel guitar." [2]
Cherry Ball (1993) saw Dirty Linen's James Jensen state "Catfish will give you goose bumps and leave you howling for more!" A further Blues Music Award nomination was generated by the release of Fresh Catfish in 1995. [2]
After Twist It Babe!, his next release was Pony Run (1999). [2] Sweet Pea (2005) was praised by Living Blues who opined "the guitar playing is surely the main attraction here, and "Blotted Out My Mind" alone earns Catfish comparison to Frank Hovington, Elizabeth Cotten, and other virtuoso six-stringers." [6]
In 2008, Keith was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame. [7] [8]
He is an endorser of National Reso-Phonic Guitars. [7] Catfish Keith has issued an instructional DVD entitled Dynamic Country Blues Guitar. [9] [10]
In 2019, his album, Reefer Hound: Viper Songs Revisited, won acoustic album of the year honors at the Blues Blast Music Awards. [11]
Year | Title | Record label |
---|---|---|
1984 | Catfish Blues | Kicking Mule Records |
1991 | Pepper in My Shoe | Orchard Records |
1992 | Jitterbug Swing | Orchard Records |
1993 | Cherry Ball | Fish Tail Records |
1995 | Fresh Catfish | Orchard Records |
1997 | Twist It Babe! | Orchard Records |
1999 | Pony Run | Orchard Records |
2001 | A Fist Full of Riffs | Solid Air Records |
2003 | Rolling Sea | Fish Tail Records |
2005 | Sweet Pea | Fish Tail Records |
2007 | If I Could Holler | Fish Tail Records |
2008 | Live at the Half Moon | CD Baby |
2011 | A True Friend is Hard To Hard – A Gospel Retrospective | CD Baby |
2011 | Put on a Buzz | CD Baby |
2013 | Honey Hole | Fish Tail Records |
2017 | Mississippi River Blues | Fish Tail Records |
2018 | Reefer Hound: Viper Songs Revisited | Fish Tail Records |
2019 | Catfish Crawl | Fish Tail Records |
2020 | Blues at Midnight | Fish Tail Records |
2024 | Shake Me Up | CD Baby |
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that reflect characteristics of the human singing voice. It typically involves playing the guitar in the traditional position with the use of a slide fitted on one of the guitarist's fingers. The slide may be a metal or glass tube, such as the neck of a bottle, giving rise to the term bottleneck guitar to describe this type of playing. The strings are typically plucked while the slide is moved over the strings to change the pitch. The guitar may also be placed on the player's lap and played with a hand-held bar.
Benjamin Charles Harper is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music, and he is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism. He has released twelve studio albums, mostly through Virgin Records, and has toured internationally.
John Dawson Winter III was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live performances, and slide guitar playing from the late 1960s into the early 2000s. He also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. After his time with Waters, Winter recorded several Grammy-nominated blues albums. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Its contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Gordon. The piano part has also been controversially credited to Rita Coolidge, Gordon's girlfriend at the time.
On the Beach is the fifth studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released by Reprise Records in July 1974. The album is the second of the so-called "Ditch Trilogy" of albums that Young recorded following the major success of 1972's Harvest, whereupon the scope of his success and acclaim became apparent; On the Beach was inspired by his feelings of retreat, alienation, and melancholy in response to this success.
Keller Williams is an American singer, songwriter and musician who combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, along with other assorted genres. He is often described as a 'one-man jam-band' due to his frequent use of live phrase looping with multiple instruments. Keller Williams was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia on February 4, 1970, and began playing the guitar in his early teens. He later matriculated at Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach where he received his degree in theater. After college, he moved to Colorado to advance his music career and expand his repertoire.
A Salty Dog is the third studio album by English rock band Procol Harum, released in 1969 by record labels Regal Zonophone and A&M.
Martin Stewart Simpson is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in Britain, Ireland, America and beyond. He builds a purposeful, often upbeat voice on a spare picking style.
Joseph Leonard Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his independent record label J&R Adventures, of which eleven have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart.
Marc Ford is an American blues-rock guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is a former guitarist of the rock and roll band The Black Crowes, the former lead guitarist of The Magpie Salute and the leader of his own bands: Burning Tree, Marc Ford & The Neptune Blues Club, Marc Ford & The Sinners, Fuzz Machine, and Jefferson Steelflex.
"Dust My Broom" is a blues song originally recorded as "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" by American blues artist Robert Johnson in 1936. It is a solo performance in the Delta blues-style with Johnson's vocal accompanied by his acoustic guitar. As with many of his songs, it is based on earlier blues songs, the earliest of which has been identified as "I Believe I'll Make a Change", recorded by the Sparks brothers as "Pinetop and Lindberg" in 1932. Johnson's guitar work features an early use of a boogie rhythm pattern, which is seen as a major innovation, as well as a repeating triplets figure.
John Primer is an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and guitarist who played behind Junior Wells in the house band at Theresa's Lounge and as a member of the bands of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim before launching an award-winning career as a front man, carrying forward the traditional Windy City sound into the 21st century.
Doug MacLeod is an American storytelling blues musician and was the voice for the Blues Showcase of Continental Airlines. Doug MacLeod is a multiple Blues Music Awards winner, including the 2024 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album Of The Year for his album Raw Blues 1 and 2023 the Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist Of The Year. Doug MacLeod is an international touring artist who writes and sings original songs that are based on his own life and experiences. Doug MacLeod most often performs on acoustic guitar, but he's also well-versed in electric styles and a respected songwriter and magazine columnist.
Bag of Bones is the ninth studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. It was released on 18 April 2012 in Japan by Victor Entertainment and on April 25 in Sweden by Gain Music Entertainment. Bag of Bones is the first Europe album to chart in UK Top 100 Albums since Prisoners in Paradise in 1991 and also entered in UK Top 40 Rock Albums at number 3.
Bill Johnson is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer-songwriter and music educator. After a long career as a sideman and guitarist in the 1990s, he began touring with The Bill Johnson Band. They released their second album, Live, in 2006, which led to Johnson being nominated for Best Guitarist at the Maple Blues Awards. He self-released his third solo album, Still Blue, in 2010, which was nominated for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2012. Johnson continues to tour and has hosted blues workshops throughout Canada.
I'm a Bluesman is an album by blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter. This was his first studio album with new material in twelve years, released by Virgin Records on June 25, 2004.
Michael Messer is an English singer, songwriter, slide guitarist, recording artist, producer, guitar designer/manufacturer. He is noteworthy for his ability to combine acoustic and electric National slide and lap steel guitar into his playing style. The American magazine Spirit listed Messer as one of the greatest slide guitarists alongside Duane Allman and Ry Cooder.
The Blues Is Alive and Well is the 18th studio album by American blues musician Buddy Guy. It was released on June 15, 2018, by RCA/Silvertone Records.