The
Fish Tail Newsletter was created to keep you up to date on the latest
happenings here and on the road.
In this issue we’ll tell you about :
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The Latest News from CATFISH KEITH - Issue
#1 - September 1, 1998
Click here for Issue
#2, April 8, 1999
Issue #3, August 12, 1999
Hey, Hey! All you good people...
The
Fish Tail Newsletter was created to keep you up to date on the latest
happenings here and on the road.
In this issue we’ll tell you about :
In early 1998, Catfish Keith’s sixth CD, Twist
It, Babe! hit Number One on independent blues radio
charts around the world, rising to the top in Anchorage, Alaska, Omaha,
Nebraska, and Barcelona,
Spain. In January, it came in at #18 on Living Blues magazine’s
Radio Charts, #20 in February. April
‘98’s Acoustic Guitar calls Catfish “One of the finest
guitarists of any genre. Keith’s great love and
delight in this music make Twist It, Babe! completely irresistible.”
Click here for more Twist It, Babe! reviews
A New Album
Catfish Keith is now in the studio with Radoslav
Lorkovic, recording some piano-guitar duets.
Radoslav is veteran piano and accordion player who has toured and recorded
with Greg Brown, Bo
Ramsey, Richard Shindell, Christina Olsen and many others. Originally
from Croatia, but raised in Iowa
City, Iowa, Rad is a virtuoso player with great joy and warmth in his
music and personality.
Mark Johnson of H.A.M. House Studio (who also did a great job
recording Twist It, Babe!) is our
esteemed engineer. Catfish has already laid down a handful of
solo tracks, including a new original
piece called “Pony Run.”
The yet-untitled album is Catfish’s seventh, and may be shopped around to major record labels.
Catfish Endorses National Reso-Phonic Guitars
Catfish Keith and National
Reso-Phonic Guitars have teamed up! Keith now endorses
National
Guitars, and is playing a beautiful blue Delphi model steel-bodied
resophonic guitar.
Catfish says, “The quality of sound and sheer artistry of these new
Nationals has just gotten better and better.
They sound just as good, and in many cases, better than the old Nationals
from the ‘20’s and ‘30’s. And for a working musician, it’s a new
guitar, with a lifetime of music in there! I’m in love...”
King Biscuit Blues Festival
Catfish will appear at the world famous King
Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas on Oct. 8-11,
1998. He will perform all four days at the National Reso-Phonic
Guitar storefront in Downtown Helena.
National is a major sponsor of the festival this year. King Biscuit
is considered one of the world’s
premier blues events, free to the public, in the heart of the Mississippi
Delta.
Homespun Video
Catfish is now recording an instructional guitar
video for Happy Traum’s Homespun Video. “The
Guitar of Catfish Keith” will feature several of Keith’s favorite songs
performed on both slide guitar and
fingerpicking guitar, with tips, tricks and secrets of playing country
blues, gospel and down-island
music, Catfish-style. Watch this space for info on release date
and how to order.
World Tours
Catfish will be headed back to England in
November for his 15th tour since 1992. He’ll be headlining
the prestigious International Guitar Festival in Wirral, near
Liverpool., appearing on the BBC, and
performing concert dates all over England and Scotland.
A California tour Sept. 9-13 will include dates in Santa Cruz,
Mendocino, and Covina (L.A. area).
Check out our Tour Dates page for updates!
On The Road
Highlight appearances of the last year or so include:
Merlefest '98 in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. This is the
acoustic string picker’s ultimate festival with
a cast of legendary musicians such as Doc Watson, Ricky Scaggs, Gillian
Welch, Jerry Douglas, David
Grisman Quintet, Sam Bush, Hot Rize, and fellow acoustic blues acts
Paul Rishell & Annie Raines, Roy
Book Binder, and Larry Johnson. More fun than you can shake a
stick at!
Dobrofest ‘97 in Trnava, Slovakia was an international potpourri
of slide and dobro styles with acts
from the USA and Europe, including Slovak bluegrass bands, Hungarian
blues bands, and headliners
with Catfish included Man of Steel Bob Brozman, Rob Ickes, Joe Craven,
Mary Flower, Curtis Burch
(former Newgrass Revival alum), and British wildman Bob Greenwood among
others. This is a
wonderful festival in the native country of John Dopyera, the man who
invented the resophonic guitar
(both Nationals & Dobros), and was filled with ceremony, tributes,
concerts, all-star jams and plenty of
dobrovitchka.
National Slide Guitar Festival ‘97 preceded Dobrofest and was
a real slide-and-steel-o-rama complete
with a slide competition, performances and workshops in the beautiful
hills of Brevard, NC. Brozman
teamed with Debashish and Shebashish Battachara, Hans Theesink, Corey
Harris, Steve James, Mary
Flower, Scott Ainsle, Joanna Connor, David Holt and Ellen MacIlwayne
all played in the first ever
celebration of slide.
Catfish
and Honeyboy
Catfish says: “One of the great pleasures of my life is getting to know some of the old time blues musicians. Honeyboy Edwards and I have played on alot of the same shows together, usually on festival or concert bills together by happenstance. Honeyboy came to Iowa City a few months ago to play a show in town, so I went to the show to just enjoy. He needed a ride down to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa to catch the Amtrack back to Chicago. So I went with my good buddy Wayne Tuttle, and we took Honey down to the station to catch the train to Chicago.
“When we drove into town, Honeyboy says, ‘Mount Plezz - I think I’ve been here before. Nice little, clean little town...Mount Plezz...’ The train was late as usual, so we just kinda kicked back at the empty old station house, waiting. ‘Hey, Honeyboy, can I see your guitar?’ ‘Sure, go ahead.’ So I took out his big Gretch guitar and played it a little. Honeyboy laughed and said, ‘Let me show you how that goes, Catfish.’
“And then he played his piercing wild runs and chords, all the time echoing off the hard concrete floor and high, arched ceiling. Me and Wayne were both smiling like cats, and Honeyboy Edwards was too. Those were very special times, and Honey always inspires me to want to ‘play it a long time.’
“A great book is the Autobiography of Honeyboy Edwards, The World Don’t Owe Me Nothin. It’s just like sitting with him and listening to him tell stories about Peetie Wheatstraw’s peccadilloes, and other true stories from one of the last real touring Mississippi delta bluesmen.”
Fish Tail Records
PO Box 2561
Iowa City, IA 52244-2561
USA
Contact: Penny L. Cahill,
Pres.
Phone/fax: (319) 338-3614
Toll Free: 1-888-4-CATFISH
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catfishkeith.com - The String-Twanging Internet Home of Fish Tail Recording Artist Catfish Keith