LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ Cougar Label) - Doug Keith writes quiet revelations, stories wound effortlessly around accomplished guitar playing and a gentle, graveled voice. 'Here's to Outliving Me' (in-stores now through The Cougar Label) introduces Keith's many sides to listeners over the course of 11 songs. They are snapshots that at moments are stripped powerfully bare with just Keith and his guitar, and at others soar with lush harmonies, sliding guitars and warm, sepia-toned backdrops.
By the time he was 15, Keith was writing songs and playing local bars in his hometown of Syracuse. Schooled in the picking style of blues legend Elizabeth Cotten and the guitar prowess of Jimi Hendrix, Keith's songs are a testament to simplicity and craft. 'Hendrix and Cotten are so different but so similar to me,' Keith says. 'They both played in a way where they could have no other accompanying instruments and it sounded perfect. Of all that I learned, that was the main thing that stuck with me.'
For 'Here's to Outliving Me', Keith worked with engineer Jim Bentley (Jennifer O'Connor's Over the Mountain, Across the Valley, and Back to the Stars), allowing room for experimentation. 'I was planning on recording a mellow record with a bass player and drummer, but as the process started to go I couldn't stop tweaking the songs,' Keith admits. 'Jim would encourage it and we'd come up with good ideas that we could run with.' Singers Jennifer O'Connor and Amy Bezunartea accompany on 'The Companion of an Angel,' an aching declaration of love, exquisitely backed by their unison vocals. Also appearing on the record is bassist Calvin Bennett, drummer Noel Rose and pianist Lindsay Sullivan.
The songs were predominantly written when Keith moved from Brooklyn to the west side of Manhattan to live with his now wife. Keith says, 'I didn't even know what cobblestones were before I moved over there. I love them though. Seeing the Hudson everyday has an effect. I think all that imagery found its way into the songs.'
Doug Keith also plays in NYC trio Up the Empire and has released records in the past under The First Person to See an Elephant. For Here's to Outliving Me, Keith drops the moniker to record under his own name, seamlessly fusing his roots in traditional blues guitar with his innate ability to tell quiet, beautiful stories.
Doug Keith will be touring throughout the winter and spring of '09 in support of Here's to Outliving Me. Dates to be announced soon.
'A fantastic solo debut from this New York singer-songwriter who conjures the spirit of Dylan, Young, and Waits-the former, for example, at the height of his sneering Hawks-backed era on 'Salty Woman.' 'Take the Hammer Down, Dear' shares the earthiness of Richard Buckner's finest work. The songs are almost uniformly beautiful and heartrending, with backing tracks whose crisp acoustics, tinkling pianos, piercing organ, and percussive heartbeat channel the finest work of the icons Keith convincingly recalls.' - PURGE / Pittsburgh
'...from the first notes of 'The Companion of an Angel' from his upcoming release 'Here's To Outliving Me' I was hooked. As a nice bonus Jennifer O'Connor is featured on a number of tracks including 'Companion...' Its theme of an undying love for an angel-like woman is one I can relate to.' - songs: Illinois
'Doug Keith's lyrics create imagery like the classic country/folk storytellers and there's a lot of delicate interplay between Doug's vocals, his guitar work and the work of his band mates.' - Brooklyn Rocks
