ATTENTION: THIS SHOW (Casbah Durham Dec 17th)HAS BEEN CANCELLED due to The Keels being snowed in in Virginia; however, we did want to post the article as an archive for you all to enjoy!
Bluegrass at the Casbah with Keel
THE HERALD-SUN, DURHAM, N.C. | DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN | Thu, Dec 16, 6:56 PM
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE
Dec. 16–Longtime flatpicking guitar playing bluegrassman Larry Keel thinks just about any song could be turned into a bluegrass song.
“I believe whether a Miles Davis song or a reggae song, the bluegrass sort of creeps in there. Though your hardcore purists might say no,” said Keel in a phone interview from his home in Lexington, Va., on the side of a mountain.
Tonight he’ll be at Casbah in Durham with his band Natural Bridge, which features his wife Jenny Keel on upright bass and Mark Schimick on mandolin. Larry Keel and Natural Bridge is named for the, well, the natural bridge that’s a wonder of nature and tourist stop in southwestern Virginia. Keel lived in the community of Natural Bridge for 15 years before moving to Lexington. The group’s last record was “Backwoods.”
Over the course of Keel’s career, he’s played with several groups — Magraw Gap, the Larry Keel Experience, the Keel Brothers and Keller & the Keels.
Keller & the Keels is composed of Larry and Jenny Keel with Keller Williams . Their latest, out this year, is “Thief.” It’s filled with covers of songs that seem a natural segue to their Americana sound — like the Grateful Dead’s “Mountains of the Moon” — to songs you didn’t know could be bluegrass, like “Pepper” by the Butthole Surfers, “Bath of Fire” by Presidents of the USA and “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse.
Larry Keel said that the song choices were Williams’.
“I’m just glad to be a part of it, to put it out there to kids who might not normally hear it,” Keel said. In recent years new bluegrass bands have veered from playing only traditional tunes.
“I sort of look at it as bluegrass has to change to keep it growing. I see younger groups trying to turn their age groups on to bluegrass by playing songs they know in a bluegrass fashion, and therefore preserving bluegrass,” he said.
Keel plays a little bit of all of it — traditional, originals and covers.
“With my style of traditional bluegrass, I do a lot of writing and always try to write something new from something that inspires me — people I meet, all the places I go to,” he said. Fishing, too, is part of the experience.
“It’s a very Zen-like activity, very magical. You’re concentrating on one focused-type thing, and music is like that,” Keel said.
Keel said that as he grows older, he definitely takes his music very seriously, but not too serious.
“I try to keep an audience happy,” he said. “It’s nice to uplift them when they come out to a show, and I get back that good energy.”
Keel has his own youtube channel,http://www.youtube.com/user/Larrykeelmusic. Keel will be back in North Carolina again for a New Year’s Eve show in Charlotte with Keller & the Keels.
Dreamspider's Blog 
………………………….Courtesy of Joe Hilliard http://www.goldminepickers.com…The Indiana-based bluegrass band Goldmine Pickers will open for Larry Keel and Natural Bridge in a Friday Nov. 21 show at the V Club 741 6th Ave. Huntington…………………….November 20 2008 12 00 AM..DAVE LAVENDER..The Herald-Dispatch..Fiddler Sean Hoffman had been casually playing music with a couple of guys up in Northern Indiana in between four- and five-month stints at sea with the Merchant Marines..I was traveling all over the world driving ocean-going ships and I came back and they had a name and a bass player Hoffman said by phone..Uh-oh that sounds dangerously like a band..Just a couple of weeks after getting back Hoffman and the boys who named themselves The Goldmine Pickers were out traipsing across the county for three-and-a-half weeks playing shows with such well-known national-act bluegrassers as Del McCoury..That was four years ago and with two good CDs under its belt The Goldmine Pickers are still out throwing down its original grass-brushed folk tunes in everything from saloons and pubs to elementary schools and churches..This weekend The Goldmine Pickers roll through the Mountain State..The band opens for Larry Keel and Natural Bridge on Friday night at The V Club 741 6th Ave. and The Purple Fiddle in Thomas W.Va. on Sunday..Hoffman whose self-described duties in the band include fiddle vocals and bad jokes is joined in The Goldmine Pickers by Jay Lapp mandolin guitar and vocals Lukas Simpson guitar mandolin vocals bouzouki and harmonica and Brian Cook upright bass guitar and vocals..Hoffman said the band which played the Appalachian Uprising a couple of years ago got the hook-up for the Huntington gig through Steve Adamski who books the Uprising..He said theyre excited to be on the bill with Keel who always does a two-night stand each year at the Uprising..Weve been really happy to be getting on these bills with people who are real experienced Hoffman said. …………………………………………….Courtesy of Joe Hilliard http://www.goldminepickers.com…The Indiana-based bluegrass band Goldmine Pickers will open for Larry Keel and Natural Bridge in a Friday Nov.