A Little About Keith!

Although born and raised in the Ozark hills of Missouri I couldn't resist the charm of Austin, Texas, and settled here in 1989. I'm convinced my love for Bluegrass began when my parents used to let me lay next to them while they listened to the Grand Old Opry in the 1950s and '60s. I still remember that bright red power light on the old AM radio. Of course as most of us growing up in the '70s, I learned to hate anything resembling Bluegrass until I attended the University of Missouri at Rolla where I witnessed one of those rare musical events. It happened to be Red, White and Bluegrass opening for John Hartford and playing before a crowd of 3-5,000 students who just went berserk over the music. Although I grew up within 30 miles of the Dillard's hometown of Salem, Missouri, the Rolla show really hooked me on Bluegrass and the Dillards in particular. Assignments in the United States Air Force took me to places like Biloxi, Mississippi; Fort Meade, Maryland; the Philippines; Colorado Springs; Los Angeles; Crete, Greece; and finally back to wonderful Austin, Texas, in 1989. But, no matter where I was I always brought as much Bluegrass music as I could with me while still enjoying all the local native music. You might be surprised that Bouzouki music in Greece is just about as much fun to listen and dance to as Bluegrass. In fact, when we first got to Austin we frequented the Colorado Street Cafe, which on certain nights of the week had some great Celtic jam sessions with some wonderful local Bouzouki, pipe, guitar and fiddle players coming out. Even to this day, you can find these very intimate jam sessions all over Austin during various nights of the week. I might add here that if you haven't experienced Contra dancing, you must! Austin has some great Contra dances on many nights during the month but especially every Wednesday evening at the Hancock Recreation Center near Red River and 41st Street. An unbelievably fun event!