catfishkeith.com- String-Twanging Home of Catfish Keith

Catfish Journal
Issue #8, February 9, 2007

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Hello and welcome!  Hope life is good.  As winter plugs on we've been both home and away. Lily (left) is longer than ever...

The California Tour was a blast; we worked our way from the bottom to the top.  The tour started in San Diego, and ended up in the wilds of Humboldt County.  What a beautiful state. Beaches, palm trees, mountains, amazing redwoods...loads of sun and fun.  The locals said it was cold, they had to wear long sleeves!  

We returned to the NAMM show in Anaheim this year, and played all weekend for the great folks at National Reso-Phonic Guitars.  The weekend was jam packed  with music.  It was great to see the gang there.  Got to jam and hang out with fellow National endorsers Mike Dowling, Doug MacLeod, Bob Brozman, Dakota Dave Hull and saw a cavalcade of celebrities and old friends.  Peter Madcat Ruth, John Cephas, Happy & Jane & Adam Traum, Fred Sokolow, Harvey Reid, Rich DelGrosso, Ed & Kelly Gerhard, Laurence Juber, Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan and many others were there.  As usual, it was a "sensory overload" event, with over 80,000 people there over the weekend.  

Don & Hillary Young, Marie & McGregor Gaines and the staff from National were there, in fine fettle, and this year introduced quite a few innovations, including the El Trovador, the 14-Fret Style O, and guitars with frosted duco and antique brass finishes. I got to be part of a new documentary about Nationals, which may be aired on PBS and the BBC in the future.

On January 23rd, I heard from several fans that my music was played on "American Idol" which, I've been told, is the Number One rated TV show in the USA.  It was an instrumental segue about the music of Memphis.  Instrumental bits have also been heard on "Wife Swap," and NASCAR racing shows, as well as other unexpected places, such as shows on golf and other surprises.  One never knows...

WORLD TOUR

There are quite a few interesting tours coming up this year.  At the end of February, I'm performing a blues festival in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.  This spring were going to Europe to perform in Budapest, Hungary, Antwerp, Belgium and other exotic locales.  This summer I'll return to the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in my old Hometown of Davenport, Iowa, and I'll do a month-long blues in the schools residency sponsored by the MVBS in Rock Island, Illinois. This fall we'll return again to the United Kingdom for another big tour in October and November.  Looks like we'll return to France as well!  Check out my Tour Dates page for full details.

CATFISH DOWNLOADS

All of my music from my albums is now available to purchase for downloading on all of the major download sites, including ITunes, Napster, and over 40 other companies.  Of course, you can buy CDs the "old fashioned" way direct from this website, or from CD Baby or Amazon.

As always, I'm happy to help if you want to buy a new National, just email or call 319-338-3614 anytime. We have their amazing 2-CD-and-trading-cards Catalogues available. I'm still doing  lessons and workshops too, please do get in touch for more info.  


Hope to see you at the shows.  Please come say Howdy. Feel free to email or call, it’s always great to hear from you.

yours truly, Catfish Keith

• Fish Tail Newsletter #1, September 1998
• Fish Tail Newsletter #2, April 1999
• Fish Tail Newsletter #3, August 1999
• Fish Tail Newsletter #4, December 1999
• Fish Tail Newsletter #5, February 2000
• Fish Tail Newsletter #6, August 2001
• Fish Tail Newsletter #7, January 2003