"And now for something completely different."

They continue to blow us away with their growth as writers, instrumentalists, singers, and great friends

to be around. This was recorded before their very first full length album, "Deep Waters" was released.
You'll get a sneak preview of some of their new beautiful writing and singing, and I highly recommend
you check it out: 

How can they get any better? Just keep watching.
I'm looking forward to seeing them again at Grey Fox in July.

So if you think I'm a little biased here, you're absolutely right. And I'm not the only one!

OK, rambling over..here:

Bluegrass Today: Fleck, Trischka and friends honor Bill Keith at Grey Fox Banjo Summit

I'm thrilled and honored, as a longtime Grey Fox video media volunteer,
to have captured the entire historic, emotional event celebrating my
good friend Bill Keith. I have footage from 4 camcorders and will be
gathering still photos and additional video from my fellow media crew
members. The entire coverage will eventually be available on the Grey
Fox website and YouTube channel. Please be patient while all the sources
are gathered. My sincere thanks to all those who envisioned this event
and made it a reality! 

Congratulations to my good friend!

 

A few days ago, Fred Bartenstein assembled some historic items for the Fincastle 50th anniversary.

It was the first multi-day bluegrass festival.

I'm proud to make them all available, thanks to several more contributors.

Fincastle 1965

After a two-month journey, I'm proud to finally announce the most involved, historic, and emotional event and video
I've ever attended and recorded and edited. It's a gathering of some greats* to celebrate the genius of my good friend, 
Bill Keith.

* Ryan Cavanaugh, Béla Fleck, Tony Trischka, Marc Horowitz, Mike Kropp, Mike Munford, Noam Pickelny, and Eric Weissberg

My sincere thanks to the great artists, Tom Lindtveit, Grey Fox Assistant Director Mary Burdette, Grey Fox Media Crew 
Chief Steve Ide, and Claire Armbruster, for envisioning and helping make this event and my video a reality.
And above all, my thanks to Bill Keith for being an inspiration to me for over four decades and a good friend for many years. 

 

Before the Grey Fox 2015 festival, a good friend (you know who you are!) told me this set was important to record.
So I planned on it, not knowing what to expect.
Well, before it was over, I could not imagine not having seen this incredible performance!

Here's just one example...

Thank you Fred, that was just as good a video that I've ever watched, I sat hear with tons of emotions running thru me, all kinds, Just Awesome, Thank you for this. Tony

Folks,

I'd like to share my tribute to the man I'm honored to call a dear friend.
May he rest in peace.

http://frobbi.org/billkeith/
 

Included are links to all my audio and video recordings of Bill.

Fred

Thanks to the generosity of banjoist Marc Horowitz (who was a significant participant in the
Grey Fox 2015 Keith Style Banjo Summit tribute*), I can proudly share with you Marc's
recording of Bill Keith, Jim Rooney, and David Grisman.

http://frobbi.org/audio/horowitz/gerdes1965/index.html

Here's Marc telling the story at the 2015 Grey Fox Keith Style Banjo Summit...
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3kLB4p_Fvc#t=26m13s

This recording is now the first seed in my new Marc Horowitz Collection: http://frobbi.org/horowitzcollection.html

I've also added links in my recordings page http://frobbi.org/picking.html  (From My Friends section) and in my
Bill Keith tribute http://frobbi.org/billkeith/index.html

Fred

* https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Z1DIehY0UCdl3JinvbeYjnigpN6wUEV

I'm honored and gratified that Eric has included links to my Bill Keith videos in recent weekly newsletters.

This week http://www.banjohangout.org/msg/547 includes one of my Grey Fox videos and one of the classes my Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association held with Bill as the presenter and performer along with Jim Rooney!

Thank you, Eric!

On October 24, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen gave a concert for the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association.
An emotional highlight was their tribute to Bill Keith, followed by HVBA President David Angell's thoughts
on Bill, who was a regular supporter of the association.

I'm so glad to announce the addition of The Ron Cody Collection to my recordings...

http://frobbi.org/codycollection.html

Ron has just begun to digitize some of his cassettes; and his collection debuts
with some of his informal recordings he made at his home with Bill Keith.

I've added a link to my recordings page http://frobbi.org/picking.html in the From My Friends section,
and to my Bill Keith tribute page: http://frobbi.org/billkeith

My sincere thanks to my good friend Ron, a gifted banjoist in his on right, for taking the time to digitize
these historical sessions, paying tribute to our dear departed friend Bill, and allowing me to share them
with so many folks who will appreciate them.

Fred

Folks,

I'm happy to announce that yet another generous contributor has given me his recordings
of Bill Keith to share with you.

So here is the Hans Holzherr Collection: http://frobbi.org/holzherrcollection.html

Hans is one of the people Bill thanked during his IBMA Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

A link to Hans' recordings has been added to my Keith tribute http://frobbi.org/billkeith
and my recordings page http://frobbi.org/picking.html

Fred

Just a reminder, please take some time to scroll through the list to see what's new or something you might have missed.

Current count=2,700 MP3s!​

They're all downloadable, too!

http://frobbi.org/picking.html

          Artwork by Greg Rich
 

I just "discovered" this 2010 impromptu clip of a jam after Byron Berline
did a concert for the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association.
I grabbed my ancient point-and-shoot camera and at least got this much
of my two friends playing "Kansas City Kitty"...

Hi Folks,

I've just put together still images from my video of the Grey Fox 2015 Keith Style Banjo Summit...

http://frobbi.org/slides/keithsummit/

The original videos are at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Z1DIehY0UCdl3JinvbeYjnigpN6wUEV

I have to again thank so many involved in the historic, emotional event...

Additional Video - Steve Ide; Still Photography - Darwin Davidson,  Jim McGuire,
Phil Zimmerman, Jon Herron, Wendy Cody; Sound - Cobra Sound;
Thanks To Banjoists - Bill Keith, Ryan Cavanaugh, Co-Hosts Béla Fleck & Tony Trischka,
Marc Horowitz, Mike Kropp, Mike Munford, Noam Pickelny, Eric Weissberg;
Creekside Stage Emcee - Kate McNally;
Coordinated by - Tom Lindtveit, Mary Burdette, Claire Armbruster  

The great photos from my fellow Grey Fox media volunteers were recently made available on
the Grey Fox website at...

http://greyfox.zenfolio.com/2015/keith

Thanks, as always to all by volunteer friends, and especially Media Crew Chief Steve Ide for
the daunting task of culling and assembling all of this year's images at...

http://greyfox.zenfolio.com/2015

My tribute site is at http://frobbi.org/billkeith/

All my best for the holiday season,
Fred
 

Hi Folks,

Recently Happy Traum posted my photo of him and and Eric Weissberg at Grey Fox 2015 before the Keith Style Banjo Summit..

Well, today, since the pre-Christmas scramble has quieted down, I was finally able to take some time
and put together the few photos I took before recording the historical event.

http://frobbi.org/slides/prekeithsummit/

I hope you enjoy the bittersweet memories as much as I have.

I want to repeat my sincere thanks for all the generous and talented members of our extended bluegrass family
that made this historic and emotional tribute possible.

And my wishes to all for a blessed holiday season and a healthy and musical New Year.

Fred

Holiday Greetings,

I'm happy and proud (as usual) to kick off the new year with a new bluegrass collection from yet a
new generous contributor, Dennis Schut.

The Dennis Schut Collection:  http://frobbi.org/schutcollection.html

Dennis' collection starts off with his ever-increasing series videos, currently totaling about 180!

He's promised me he'll soon dust off his tapes and reel-to-reel recorder to begin making
his audio clips available. I'll hold him to that promise as a new year's resolution!

A link is also available in the From My Friends section of my Picking Page http://frobbi.org/picking.html

Thanks Dennis, and to all of you, enjoy the music with my best wishes for 2016.

Fred

Auld Lang Syne
Bill Keith & Jim Rooney, Gerdes Folk City, 1965
Recorded by Marc Horowitz

http://frobbi.org/audio/horowitz/gerdes1965/Auld%20Lange%20Syne.mp3

Banjo Newsletter editor Donald Nitchie started my new year off beautifully.
I'm thankful and honored that he used my photo of Bill Keith on the cover
of the January 2016 issue in Bill's memory. It's my favorite image of my friend
from his 2013 Grey Fox banjo workshop.



Donald also generously made two articles from that issue available to the public.
   Excerpt from Keith Biography by Bob Carlin  https://banjonews.com/2016-01/from_the_bill_keith_biography.html
   Callous Thumb: Remembering Bill Keith  https://banjonews.com/2016-01/callous_thumb_remembering_bill_keith.html
   
I've added all of the above to my tribute page... http://frobbi.org/billkeith/
 

Here's a group jam on the last day of the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association's Evolution of Bluegrass
class series for the Marist Center for Lifetime Study in 2012...

Andy Bing-dobro, Kalia Yeagle-fiddle, Rick Brodsky-bass, Joan Harrison-banjo,
Wayne Fugate-mandolin, Korey Brodsky-guitar, Bill Keith-banjo

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/lsp2dy4W698#t=20m10s

Happy Birthday Earl

New Bill Keith Photo

Kevin Lynch just sent me one he took in 1995 of Bill, Wynn Fay, and Jim Rooney.

I created an additional page in my Bill Keith Tribute for great contributions like this.

http://frobbi.org/billkeith/photos.html

Thanks Kevin!
Fred