| PRESS RELEASE |
SINGER/SONGWRITER DOUG KEITH (FROM THE NYC ROCK TRIO UP THE EMPIRE) TO RELEASE NEW SOLO FULL-LENGTH EFFORT “HERE’S TO OUTLIVING ME” ON JANUARY 13, 2009
KEITH GETS A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIEND, JENNIFER O’ CONNOR, WHO LENDS VOCALS ON FIVE TRACKS
Doug Keith writes quiet revelations, stories wound effortlessly around accomplished guitar playing and a gentle, graveled voice. Here's to Outliving Me (in-stores January 13th 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.”
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. - Lindsay Sullivan
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.
To stream Here’s To Outliving Me in its entirety go to:
http://www.pavementpr.com/artistpage/dougkeith.html
For more info on Doug Keith go to:
http://dougkeith.com
http://www.myspace.com/douglaskeith
For more info on The Cougar Label go to:
http://www.cougarlabel.com
For media and interview requests contact:
Tony Bonyata
Pavement PR
p: 262.903.7775
e: bonyata@wi.rr.com
http://www.pavementpr.com