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Experienced – Larry Keel

Few people can get away with describing their music as an “experience.” But then again, few words come close to actually describing the music of Larry Keel. To see Larry Keel perform is to have just that: a unique, singular experience that cannot be duplicated.

On February 26th, Larry Keel will release his 15th self-produced album, aptly titled Experienced. This album is a portrait of an artist coming full circle into his unique style and voice, but this time embracing it with a deeper sense of comfort and wisdom.

Experienced is a guest-filled album, featuring some of the biggest names in bluegrass and Americana on 5 of its 7 tracks, including Sam Bush, Del McCoury, Jason Carter, Peter Rowan, Keller Williams, Mike Guggino of Steep Canyon Rangers, and Anders Beck of Greensky Bluegrass. But the songwriting and playing from Larry, Jenny Keel (bass), and Will Lee (banjo) are so strong that it never feels like a guest album. The guests each give their respective tracks a sense of color, but even with the blazing fiddle of Bush in the album’s opening instrumental Ripcord, there is never a moment where you forget this is Larry’s music.

Even with the aforementioned star-power featured on Experienced, the album MVP is undoubtedly banjoist Will Lee. Larry and Will played in the cutting edge newgrass band McGraw Gap from 1990-1996, and were winners of the prestigious Telluride band competition in 1995.

Experienced starts out with the aforementioned Lee-penned instrumental, Ripcord, that builds a sonic tension throughout the first half of the song, and then allows each instrument to release a flurry of hard-driving bluegrass runs that take off with drag-racing intensity. Most artists wouldn’t pick an instrumental to open their album, but most artists don’t have the ability to bring so much joy out of their instruments as Larry Keel, Will Lee, and Sam Bush.

The second track, Lil Miss, quickly reminds you who’s in charge, as Larry’s distinctive voice hits you like a California mudslide. This track is vintage Larry Keel as the trio uses harmonies, punchy rhythms, and solos that alternate between laid back and chaotic.

There are two defining tracks for this project. The first is Miles and Miles, which features Larry’s soul-brother Keller Williams. The song was the title track of Larry’s 1997 release, but it takes on deeper meaning today. I mentioned to Keel that the song feels like a younger version of himself wrote a letter to the man he is today. “It does feel like that,” says Larry. “The song is the story of a traveler’s life, and knowing how much Keller Williams and I have traveled in the 20-plus years we have known each other, it seemed only fitting. Full circle, I reckon!”

The second defining song is The Warrior, which is written from the viewpoint of a Native American fighter and perfectly features the haunting, legendary howls of Peter Rowan. The Warrior is a seeker of truth and knowledge, a man that isn’t afraid to walk this world in search for something greater and more meaningful than himself. It is easy to see Larry Keel as this warrior, as he has spent his career following the spirit of his own unique sound.

Fill ‘Em Up Again is fun bluegrass romp by Will Lee that features Del McCoury, Jason Carter, and Mike Guggino that reminds us that this band comes from the world of bluegrass music and can play it as well as anybody out there.

Larry is a unique artist in that he never settled as just being a guitar wizard, as so many young virtuosos do, but instead, he created his musical identity through his own personal vision. Many artists are capable of one or the other, but few accomplish both. Experienced is not just a celebration of this accomplishment but also a retrospective embrace of it. We hear many original and unique voices in this industry, but rarely do we encounter one so incredibly genuine.

In Miles and Miles, Larry sings, “My truthful heart will light the darkened path.”

It would be hard to find anyone singing a line more honest than that.

Keep up with The Larry Keel Experience:

Red Roots interview with Larry Keel

Fans that stayed up late enough at the first night of this month’s Red Wing Roots Festival at the Natural Chimneys of Mount Solon were lucky enough to see an energetic performance by Larry Keel and Natural Bridge.

Of course, any performance delivered by the Keels is a treat, but some may have picked up on extra emotion on stage that night. Friday’s show at Red Wing was Mark Schimick’s last public performance with Larry Keel and Natural Bridge. Long time mandolin player Mark Schimick, who poured a good 12 of the last 14 years into his playing with the Keels, is taking a new direction to work on his own projects such as the Josh Daniel and Mark Schimick Project and a solo CD. Schimick explains that the JD and MS Project is going to “reflect reggae, funk, soul and Motown on bluegrass instruments.”

Audience members could see how much Schimick was pouring into the performance, putting his all and a little bit extra into every song, while those in the audience who were aware it was his last gig were shouting “We love you Mark!” and “We’ll miss you!”

He delivered an especially crowd pleasing cover of Lynard Skynard’s Simple Man taking lead vocals.

The Keels fan base is a tight, sometimes feverish and very loyal group for sure. A show, especially one in Virginia, brings them out in droves, as was evidenced by the crowd at Red Wing. When Larry played Love, a personal favorite of mine, the crowd was as loud as ever. Following the encore, the audience refused to disperse shouting “One More, One More,” drowning out the announcer who was trying to explain the festival was on a hard midnight curfew, and had to stop amplified music. It took a thankful Larry, hands clenched over his heart in appreciation for the outpouring of love for the entire band, and for Mark’s last show, to convince the crowd that the show was over, and that they’d be out to chat and hang out after they cleared the stage.

Larry and Jenny Keel, along with Will Lee will continue their musical endeavors as The Larry Keel Experience.

Before the Friday set at Red Wing, I got a chance to sit down and talk to Larry, about the direction of the music, as well as their upcoming projects and endeavors.

Kirby: Music as a collaborative effort for you is a very integral part of what you do. I have seen you play with countless artists and played fantastically with all of them. Collaboration seems to be very important to you. Talk about that aspect of performing if you would.

Larry: Everybody and their bands create something they practice, and they work a tight thing together, so for me to be able to play with all the musicians I play with is really fresh. It’s neat to get everyone’s ideas and to be able to bend off of them and connect and create something special, that’s what it’s all about.

K: On your website, your old bands, as well as your current projects, are described as “Progressive String Bands.” Seeing you live several times recently, and hearing music from your 2012 record, Classic, your music just seems to get more innovative and different. Do you plan to move further and further in a progressive direction?

L: Well, I’ve been playing music with Jenny for 15 or 16 years now, and Will and I have been playing music for 30 years now, and so we’re all really comfortable. When we’re that comfortable it’s really easy to hit a groove and create something really different. We’re writing a lot of different music now, with a lot more effects and much heavier sounds, because as a live band we want to play at a rock and roll volume with all the freaky elements of it.

I just hear a lot of different music in my head now, and so does Will, who’s a great banjo player. It’s just really neat to see how music for us has transpired and we’re just trying to be really natural for where it’s going.

K: I recently saw you at a live show, and you guys went way out there, a very spacey, funky sort of effect. Can we expect more of this new sound in your new music?

L: Yeah, absolutely. We’re in the studio right now doing a lot of pre-production and recording for a release we’ll probably have out by late fall this year.

K: Is there anything else you can tell us about that project?

L: Well it’s very original and its going to have some very special guests. So look out for that.

K: Regarding your upcoming performance with Sam Bush at Lockn’ Music Festival: do you plan on doing more with Sam Bush?

L: I hope so, it’s like a dream come true. I’ve been a fan of his since I was a kid, and it’s great to be able to hook up like this. We’ve played together with different combinations but this is a lot more intimate and a lot more rowdy.

While there are new directions for both Schimick and the Keels, they part on good terms and haven’t ruled out getting together in the future from time to time. With new opportunities and collaborations for all, we can certainly look forward to what that future holds.

Jeff Austin staying busy

When we published a review of Yonder Mountain String Band’s show in Charlottesville, VA recently, we noted that mandolinist Jeff Austin was absent, owing to the recent birth of a daughter, Penelope.

So there was no surprise when we caught up with him for an interview a few days later, that she was the first thing on his mind. Jeff mentioned that it was good to be sleep-deprived, but for all the right reasons. New parents will understand exactly what he means.

But duty calls, and Austin is back on the road next week for a string of dates with Here & Now, before heading into the studio for his first solo project.

Here & Now finds Jeff with Larry and Jenny Keel (guitar and bass, respectively), and Danny Barnes on banjo. They have four more dates in early March before everyone starts touring in earnest with their own groups, and Austin says he can’t wait.

“I’m really excited to get out and play music with those guys. It’s an absolute blast. I feel so supported on every side.

Plus we all get along really well – we get in the vehicle and start laughing. Then I laugh for three more days when I get back.”

Those last few shows are…

March 5: Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
March 6: Miramar Theatre – Milwaukee, WI
March 7: City Winery (2 shows) – Chicago, IL
March 8: Bell’s Brewery – Kalamazoo, MI

To help promote this final swing, Here & Now is offering a free live show download recorded August 30 of last year at the Elk’s Lodge of Troy, OH. There are a total of 19 tracks, including this version of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Breakdown.

But it’s the upcoming solo project that really has Jeff’s creative juices flowing. He’ll be teaming up with Danny Barnes again on banjo, with Ross Martin on guitar and Eric Thorin on bass. With Jeff on mandolin, this will serve as the core band, with “some cool guest artists” joining in.

“I’m about to turn 40, and I didn’t always take really good care of myself. But with a lot of love from my amazing family, I see that living is so much better…

Not a lot of people get a shot of working as a musician. I am really grateful for that, and don’t want to waste any opportunities. Now I get to also do music of my own, that has a different identity as my music.

It will be a different kind of record. Some songs will be slower, some will have drums, and some may be more similar to what I do with Yonder. It will all be music I have co-written with friends.

Yonder will still be touring, but this is something that is really important to me.

Jeff heads in to work on this new project when the tour with Here & Now concludes. When he finishes that, it’s back on the road with YMSB, followed by a Spring tour with Barnes, Martin and Thorin supporting the solo record.

He explained how he met up with two of his new collaborators.

“Me and Eric have been playing music together since I moved to CO about 16 years ago. I heard Ross Martin playing with a jazz band in a club – they called it acid jazz – and he was shredding. Then I went to see a bluegrass band and Ross was in that band too.

o when Eric and I started talking about playing together more, I wondered whether Ross might want to be involved as well.”

Fortunately, he was and Austin began the discussions that have led to plans for the new record. There are also plans to film much of the recording process, so there is the possibility of a film to look forward to as well.

Keep an eye on Jeff Austin’s web site for more information about the solo album, and the tour starting in May.

Marcus Mumford with the McCourys

Bluegrass fans were able to experience some of the best traditional and not-so-traditional music September 6th & 7th as Mumford and Sons’ Gentlemen of the Road tour stopped in Guthrie, OK. While most casual music fans were excited to see Mumford as well as Alabama Shakes and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, others were just as excited to hear Del McCoury, Jeff Austin and Keller Williams.

Del McCoury and the Travelin’ McCourys played two different sets on a smaller downtown stage beginning with a Saturday night set for a couple hundred fans. Their set included his most familiar songs as requested by the crowed and featured the soloing of each musicisan. Especially memorable was bassist Alan Bartram’s vocals on Kentucky Waltz. They were joined during the encore by Mumford front man Marcus Mumford singing Angel Band with McCoury. Earlier they were joined by Jeff Austin on mandolin, Larry Keel on guitar and Danny Barnes on banjo.

Austin and his band Here and Now featuring Keel, Barnes and bassist Jenny Keel, had earlier provided a set of improvisinational bluegrass with traditional song mixed in. Austin, who also plays in Yonder Mountain String Band, said that this was the final stop on this band’s tour. They also played a Saturday afternoon set.

A late-night bluegrass jam at the DoubleStop Music Hall, owned by Guthrie resident and fiddler Byron Berline, featured Berline’s band who mixed traditional bluegrass songs with western swing as well as a couple of songs from Berline’s Flying Burrito Brothers days. They were joined by Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, who appeared to be everywhere in Guthrie, Mumford side man Ross Holmes on fiddle, as well as Bartram on bass. Bartram reprised his Kentucky Waltz performance causing Berline to joke that he “sang pretty good for a bass player.”

A highlight for the 200 people in Berline’s hall was Marcus Mumford taking the stage for the encore. Mumford borrowd a Martin guitar from Greg Burgess, of Berline’s band for an instrumental Whiskey Before Breakfast. Around 2:00 a.m., he then took the microphone for a casual yet emotional performance of Townes Van Zandt’s If I Needed You. He seemed genuinely appreciative of the opportunity to share the stage with talented musicians who have a firm grounding in traditional bluegrass.

Saturday, guitarist Keller Williams with Del McCoury’s band played the downtown stage as Del watched from the side, playing a set of songs that featured solos by Williams, Ronnie McCoury, Jason Carter on fiddle and Rob McCoury on banjo. It appeared that the McCoury’s enjoy playing with Williams as it provides them more opportunities to improvise than the traditional songs with Del McCoury.

While most of the tour’s attention focused on the main stage headliners, fans also had an opportunity to experience a blend of traditional and progressive bluegrass that doesn’t present itself too often.

Jeff Austin talks Here and Now

The summer is quickly coming to a close, but Jeff Austin still has time for one more tour. After playing 18 shows with Yonder Mountain String Band, Austin will team up with guitarist Larry Keel, bassist Jenny Keel and banjo player Danny Barnes under the headlining name of Jeff Austin & The Here and Now.

“I’m excited for a lot of open spaces with a group of musicians with a cool mindset,” said Austin, who plays mandolin. “Another thing is that we all have our own thing. Danny does what he does, the Keels do what they do, and I do what I do, so none of us have anything to lose and sometimes when you have that approach with music in front of a live audience, beautiful moments come from it. I’m really excited to see what happens. The songs are one thing and the structure is one thing, but those moments of freedom and the moments of openness … we all do solos in are other bands, but now we’re going to be together and we’ll be able to lean on each other. I can’t wait. I’m so psyched for it to happen.”

The 10-day tour kicks off Aug. 28 at Durty Nellie’s located in Palatine, IL.

Bluegrass Today interviewed Austin by phone from his Colorado home.

How did this tour come about?

I’ve known the Keels and Danny for quite a long time now. I would consider them to be some of my closest friends in the music world without question. They are people that I go to ask advice as far as music goes and as far as life goes. We’ve gone beyond just being people that play music together. We’re friends, we’re really close.

I was hired last year to do a set of music at the Northwest String Summit music festival out in Oregon, and they said, “We would love you to play a set of Garcia music or Grateful Dead Music” and I said, “That’s awesome.” They told me I could put together any band that I want and then I saw that Larry, Jenny and Danny we’re going to be at the festival, and I thought, “This is perfect.” We got together and we played that set of music and it just lit us up. We had so much fun and thought maybe more is going on here than just this set.

Fans that come out for this tour, what can they expect?

We’re up there to get after it. It’s going to be high energy and some good serious stuff. It’s going to be material they haven’t heard before or a lot of material that they may have heard from me doing projects. Larry and Danny are definitely going to play their stuff too but the emphasis is going to be on the music I’ve written with this idea in mind.

What are you looking forward to about playing with the Keels and Danny?

We speak the same rhythmic language – that’s really one of the big things. Certain people you’ll play with, the rhythm gets accented in different ways and attacked in different ways. For me, with these three folks, it’s natural. There’s a way I like to approach rhythm and a way I like to attack the pace of a song or the pace of a set and they’re on the same page. It’s really effortless. I get to redefine the job that I do. The band (YMSB) that I play with most of the time, I have one kind of job and in this, I really get to open that wide. It’s an exhilarating experience.

How will this experience be different than playing with Yonder?

Yonder is a four-headed piece that is a democracy to the bitter end. There’s a way the shows are set up so everybody gets accented. Where in this situation, I kind of get to make the call. I make the setlist. I use my physical voice in a way and change emotions throughout the set. It’s more of me getting to control the flow of where everything is going and to me, that’s fun. Yonder is a full-out democracy in every way, so it’s nice to play in a situation where you kind of get to call the shots: “I think this song would work great right here.” Sometimes, there are certain ways I want the show to go and I don’t always get to go that way. And I’ve got musicians at such a high level that want that to happen and understand that’s what is going to happen.

Does having these type of side projects keep things fresh for you?

It does. It allows me to stay in an open headspace going back into Yonder, and it also allows me to bring ideas back to Yonder. It’s nice for me because I have a lot of ideas and I have a lot of ways I like to see things go. It’s incredibly satisfying to have that happen.

Depending on how this mini-tour goes, is there the possibility of playing more shows together in 2014?

No doubt. We already kicked the idea around of doing more stuff. We know how fun it is and how well it goes. Our intention is to try to write and get some things on the page. I have ideas that I would love to run by Larry and see what he thinks. It’s definitely something that could lead to more touring.

On this tour, what kind of mandolin will you play?

My 1984 Nugget built in Nederland, Colorado. I love her. She’s very dear to me.

What makes her so dear to you?

I bought it from Drew Emmitt. I was actually there when Drew bought it from this other guy. So in 1999 or 1998 when Drew bought it from this other guy in Nederland, I was there the night he bought it. I loved the way it sounded then, and eight years later, Drew called me and sold it to me. He knew how crazy I was about the mandolin, so I was the first person he called. We were meant to be.

Tour information can be found on the Yonder Mountain web site.

Picking and fishing with Larry Keel

This post is a contribution from Diane Farineua, who will be providing interviews with artists she encounters as part of her research for The Festival Project. See her profile here.

One of the highlights at the Infamous Stringduster’s new weekend music event, The Festy Experience, was a Sunday appearance by Larry Keel and Natural Bridge. I took the occasion of a post-set media availability to catch up on picking and fishing with Larry and the band.

Their normal stage trio quickly became a quartet as they were joined by guitarist – and Larry’s brother – Gary Keel. When asked if they played together a lot, Larry responded “It’s rare. But when we do festivals in the area, he comes out and does some picking with us; it’s always so fun! ”

After their rousing set, the band spoke with members of the press and then settled in to just hang out for a little bit. “Everyone’s just here to want to hang out for a bit, which we don’t get to do much” said Mark Shimick. “The StringDusters will play a lot of traditional bluegrass festivals, where we play some jam band festivals, so we don’t get together that much so it’s nice to see them.”

The band is known to end up picking in the parking lot on occasion, which they enjoy, and Larry explained; “when I started going to festivals/fiddlers conventions, that’s what it was all about, before being a performer at them it was about all our friends getting together, making a big ol’ pot of soup or something, playing a bunch of music all night and then all day, then playing all night again. That’s where you get your chops down, where you learn to play. It’s very special.” Jenny agreed “That’s a great place to go when you’re just learning, listening and absorbing and getting in to the pulse of it all, watching others, the old-timers, new-timers and everything in between, and then slowly you start picking yourself, it’s a great way to absorb it and take it further, if you want to or just enjoy it for what it’s worth. “

The band has had a busy but fun year, listing some of their highlights “we’ve had a wonderful season this year, Telluride, Grand Targhee, Music on the Mountaintop, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco was really awesome too… French Broad, Watermelon Park.”

I couldn’t resist asking for a fishing update as well, “I have done as much of that as I’ve wanted to,” said Larry. “I did some out in Idaho, fly fishing. I fish every kind of way I can, I do a lot of bass fishing. I did some fishing in the Outer Banks this summer, some saltwater fishing I caught a lot of bass in Georgia. Every chance I get, I go!”

When asked what it was like to be on the road as a musical couple, Mark pointed out (and Larry agreed) “Jenny is the bedrock of the band. Seriously, she takes care of a lot of stuff to let Larry have his creativity, and she’ll let me know if I have something I need to do.”

“We wouldn’t want it any other way,” explained Jenny. “We knew, one way or another, we wanted to work together and be together, so here it is!”

When asked about the noticeable absence of a banjo in the group, Larry explained: “We had our banjo player for a while, he’s out in Colorado now, he’s restarted up his old band and we’re back to our trio that we’ve had for 10 years. That’s our core part of the band but we have a few very special guests we like to bring in to make it a quartet. Today it was Nate Leath on the fiddle. He’s as great fiddler player as there is, really. We have quite a few special guests we like to get out, like Will Lee on the 5 string banjo. He’s a master and a wonderful singer too. We sort of switch it up, have trios, have a banjo or a fiddle, we like to mix it up. And I think our audience likes that. It keeps it fresh for them and it keeps it fresh for us.”

When asked where their evening was headed, Larry smiled “I’m looking forward to picking with as many of these folks as I can, we don’t always get to hang out, so it’s sure nice when we do!”