catfishkeith.com- String-Twanging Home of Catfish Keith

Catfish Journal
Issue #14, May 22, 2009

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Hey You All..  I hope life is great.  Here at Fish Tail World Headquarters (a.k.a., the house), things are just humming along.  Tours and gigs are being planned and played, songs and albums being worked on and best of all, it's summertime.  

I planted a few thousand flowers and vegetables and our faithful hound, Lily (pictured left), is having an absolute ball with her ongoing canine projects.  She's an awe-inspiring athelete, making hair-raising frisbee snatches while flying through the air.  The neighborhood grackles live in absolute fear of Lily, and, from a safe distance, chatter and curse her. If birds ever forget and actually land in the yard, they could be doomed to a grizzly demise. Lily is a great sidekick and is the funniest dog we've ever had.

Fun shows coming right up include playing at The Washington, on Saturday, May 30th. It's one of the Midwest's coolest new showcase venues, in the old Mississippi River town of Burlington, Iowa. The Washington was an Elks Club back in the old days and owner David Hazell and the Hazell clan has turned it into a fantastic space.  Big congratulations to Dawn and David Hazell on the very recent birth of their daughter Daisy Grace.

Penny and I will be flying out to western Colorado for the Palisade Bluegrass & Roots Festival June 12-14.  I look forward to being on the bill with the Kruger Brothers, Mollie O'Brien, Danny Barnes, Cadillac Sky, April Verch and others.  We haven't been to Colorado in quite some time.  Festivals are fantastic, especially when I get to share the bill with such great artists.  We first saw the Kruger Brothers at the NAMM Show in Anaheim a couple of years ago. What a soulful, fleet-of-finger bunch of cats!

There will be many more fun shows to come, in the Midwest, around the USA, and our biggest-ever fall tour of the United Kingdom and Europe and next winter in Mexico, check out my Tour Dates page.

PLEASE BE MY FRIEND ON MYSPACE

My wonderful partner and wife Penny Cahill has instigated the creation of my new MySpace website, she's been working away on it. In just a couple of days, she has made a very impressive impact, and best of all, we've gotten reaquainted with many dear friends and heroes including Eric Clapton, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Steve Earle, Ravi Shankar and many others.  

I had put up a MySpace page years ago and did nothing with it; my only MySpace friend was that guy Tom. Now, one day Penny decided take the bull by the horns and is making MySpace a vital part of what we're doing.  Thanks again, Penny!

So, stop by and say hello, come and be my friend on my MySpace website. I'll write you back.

Here's more news:

CATFISH IS INDUCTED IN THE IOWA BLUES HALL OF FAME!

I was very surprised and honored to find out that I've been chosen to be an inductee for the 2008 Iowa Blues Hall of Fame.  The good folks of the Central Iowa Blues Society, with cooperation from all the Iowa blues societies, honor veteran blues musicians once a year.

To be considered for this, you have to have what I call "grizzled veteran" status; that is, to have been based in Iowa and gigging for 30 years or more.  I still feel like a kid at 47 years old, but blues music has been my passion and living since I was a teenager.  Man, that went quick.  Here's to the next 30 years...

The ceremony and celebration for the 2008 Iowa Blues Hall of Fame Awards was in September at Blues on Grand in Des Moines, Iowa.  Some other inductees include the super-talented hipster guitar wizard Dennis "Daddy-O" McMurrin, KCCK-FM blues DJ Bob DeForrest and more.  A big thanks goes to T-Bone and the gang at the Central Iowa Blues Society.  I am tickled!

Read full article from the Washington Evening Journal 10-1-08


NEW GUITAR FROM DAVID FLAMMANG

My favorite luthier and Iowa homey David Flammang has made me a new fabulous guitar.  This one is a Parlor guitar, and is beautiful!  It's got mahogany back and sides, a spruce top and a stunning sunburst finish with a fine rope binding and slotted headstock.  It's small size belies it's big, barking and deep, rich sound.  Look for it on tour.  Thanks again to David for another true handbuilt beauty!


THE WORLD TOUR NEVER ENDS...

Spring and Summer 2009 takes us to concerts and festivals around the USA, this time including a trip to Western Colorado for the Palisade Bluegrass & Roots Festival. Then next fall we'll return again to the United Kingdom for another giant tour in October and November. There are many plans and possibilities yet to come, check out my Tour Dates page for full details.


BUY YOUR CATFISH DOWNLOADS

Music from all of my albums is available to purchase for downloading on all of the major download sites, including ITunes, Napster, and over 40 other companies.  Of course, we encourage you to buy CDs the "old fashioned" way direct from me and Penny right here at this website, or from CD Baby or Amazon.  You can now also download MP3s of entire albums through CD Baby, and download MP3s of individual songs on my MySpace page.





CATFISH IS AN OFFICIAL NATIONAL RESO-PHONIC GUITAR DEALER

I've always championed the mighty National guitar. Loved the sound since Day One. I've been helping players for years to purchase these great guitars, and now I've been honored with Official Dealer status. Thanks to National founders Don Young and McGregor Gaines for everything over these many years. Also, big thanks to National Vice President Eric Smith, the lovely Robynne Torres, and the whole staff at National.

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. Look at my Why I Love National Guitars page to see what I have in stock and you can order any model and make custom orders too.


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