LARRY KEEL
Larry Keel and Natural Bridge is bringing a fresh and spontaneous new look, sound, and energy into the summer season! Larry Keel is one of the most powerful, innovative and all-out exhilarating Acoustic Americana flatpicker performing today. Keel has weathered the changing tides of traditional bluegrass, country, jam rock, roots reggae, and even the currently emerging indie-alt scene always honoring the pioneers that introduced Bluegrass and Mountain Music into popular culture. He is an ever evolving musical force that stands in ongoing defiance to all genre expectations. Don’t bother trying to pigeonhole the music of Larry Keel. He’s untamed and untamable! The mission is always clear: to let technical skill, honest emotion and fearlessness connect the playing and singing to audiences, to entertain and to thoroughly ENJOY the experience!
Keel has absorbed the best lessons from his Bluegrass family upbringing, both sides deeply steeped in the rich mountain music culture and heritage of Southwest Virginia. From there, he has always integrated that solid musical grounding and natural-born talent with his own incomparable approach to flatpicking the guitar and original music. The combination is pretty irresistible, and has earned Keel the highest respect and billing among the top acoustic musicians alive, and some now gone: Tony Rice, Vassar Clements, Sam Bush, Del McCoury, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Mike Marshall, and Darol Anger to name a few. And his fierce, high-spirited energy also appeals to young rockers, jammers and alt country pickers and fans who are equally drawn to Keel’s deep rumbling voice, his earthy and imaginative song-writing, and his down-home-gritty-good-time charm. Keel regularly collaborates with JamBand and Rock giants Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Jorma Kaukonen, David Nelson, Jim Lauderdale, members of String Cheese Incident and Leftover Salmon, amongst others.
Joining the award-winning Flatpickin legend to make up Natural Bridge are Mark Schimick on mandolin and vocals and wife Jenny Keel holding strong on upright bass and vocals. Jenny Keel has been playing bass with her husband and virtually all of his specialty projects for over 14 years, she is a player known for impeccable timing and solid, yet imaginative bass lines as well as adding tenor vocal harmonies.
Throughout his career, Keel has released 13 albums and is featured on 10 others. The most recent release, May 2010, is a second Keller and the Keel's album. This all-covers collection amusingly titled Thief includes songs originally written and recorded by as wildly diverse an assemblage as anyone’s ever likely to dream up, from Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" to Patterson Hood's "Uncle Disney". Keller and the Keels are on tour with each other at select shows throughout the summer and fall.
Keel recently launched a new website, "Fishin and Pickin", which combines 2 unique but thoroughly complementary pleasures: the satisfying thrill of sports fishing, and the energizing intensity of live music. The musician fisherman or even the fishin music-lover will find up-to-date, useful and amazingly entertaining music tips, tablature, show calendars and links to like-minded acts and artists, plus new music downloads. Larry's also been involved in the development of Pickn N Fishin Workshops and Camps, hosted on live water properties, that teach pickin musicians how to advance their ‘chops’ on their instruments, and having the chance to catch some big fish in the process. Stay tuned for more fishin and pickin news from Larry Keel!
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Scene from the DVD "BEAUTIFUL THING"
