"Doug Keith's debut LP, Here's To Outliving Me, is familiar but fresh. The New York native's songs are rooted comfortably in traditional folk and Americana, without being mawkish or treading into tired territory. This is largely because Keith's voice is so richly textured, backed by sweet harmonies and beautifully layered instrumentation.
Keith is a modern-day troubadour. He sings of the usual topics: women, heartbreak, death, and longing. But thanks to a welcome trace of roughness in his voice, he comes off as a well-weathered and sage source of advice and storytelling." - NPR.org, January 28, 2009
“A soulful collection of self penned songs fill this album with a hazy vibe of good
times and melancholy. Doug Keith obviously has a way with a tune and an ear for a
ramshackle chorus. There are moments of great beauty ‘There Are Days’ boasts a
lyrical almost gossamer guitar solo that precedes a stirring mixed voice chorus that
just hits the spot. You know… that spot……the one where Neil sings the chorus to
Old Man and the others join in……..that spot. This is a great album. Buy it and
cherish it. Then play it to someone else.” - Americana UK (9 out of 10)
“A fantastic solo debut from this New York singer-songwriter who conjures the spirit
of Dylan, Young, and Waits–the former, for example, at the height of his sneering
Hawks-backed era on “Salty Woman.” “Take the Hammer Down, Dear” shares the
earthiness of Richard Buckner’s finest work. The songs are almost uniformly
beautiful and heartrending, with backing tracks whose crisp acoustics, tinkling
pianos, piercing organ, and percussive heartbeat channel the finest work of the
icons Keith convincingly recalls.” - PURGe (3 in 2008’s Top 20, 2008)
“…from the first notes of “The Companion of an Angel” from his upcoming release
“Here’s To Outliving Me” I was hooked. As a nice bonus Jennifer O’Connor is
featured on a number of tracks including “Companion…” Its theme of an undying
love for an angel-like woman is one I can relate to.” – songs: Illinois
“Doug Keith’s lyrics create imagery like the classic country/folk storytellers and
there’s a lot of delicate interplay between Doug’s vocals, his guitar work and the
work of his band mates.” - Brooklyn Rocks
“Eleven endearing indie pop songs… Ear pleasing melodies, warm acoustics and
occasional moments of shoegazing simplicity.” – Hear/Say magazine
“We will watch Doug Keith and his future work very closely because he will be
huge.” - Rootstime (Belgium)
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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
Thanks for the friendship.. Hope you enjoy the music and message behind it. My mission in life is to fight Human Trafficking. understanding the individual pain of others is sometimes to painful for an other individual to touch and that is frightening ...what i mean is that someone whose life is not traumatized and brutalized as a regular sequence of every day events unconsciously seeks the camouflage and shelter of apathy and banality from the reality of such devastating anguish and terror ...but the spirit of young people who are used as sex slaves in the systematized global industry of human trafficking is now reaching out to the human fellowship in hope and desperation and through technology ...it is scary when humanity turns a blind eye to this horror ...its like ignoring genocide whilst it is happening ...what i am asking is that if you hear the cry of these young people who are existing in an environment of torture and brutality each and every day that you then please do not turn away from them ...please reach deeply into your heart and soul and please in 2009 join a movement or become a part of an event that challenges modern slavery in the 21st century ...
Hi, Great to have you as a friend!! Best wishes, Mike (Brett Huckfield's promo team). PS Please check out Brett's debut release 'Here Again' (available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster etc.) Hope you enjoy the music!!
up this week...new live videos from WITHERED HAND, THOMAS TRUAX and GREG DODGSON AND THE GHOSTS...
download this months FREE SINGLE with a peel endorsed classic from NEW BAD THINGS and a brand new track from DUFUS...
plus an archive of session tracks, videos, gigs and A TONNE OF OTHER SHIT from MISTY'S BIG ADVENTURE, KHAYA, DAWN OF THE REPLICANTS, LORDS OF BASTARD and loads more...
Hi Doug, I received a copy of your latest album and I really enjoy it a lot: Here's To Outliving Me" is in fact a very fine album and I'm glad to have the chance to play it in my radio show of American roots based music here! All the best from Italy! Massimo Ferro
HEY DOUG! Hope your music is swimming to the top! Keep doing what you do! I'd like to introduce my new music to you. www.myspace.com/whitton Check it out and hope you enjoy. I hope this message finds you well.
Just wanted you and all your fans to check out the Editor’s Blog on the website for Hear/Say™ (“America’s College Music Newspaper”) because you’re featured as one of this month’s top posts! http://www. hearsay. cc/blog/
I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT DAY! I AM HONORED TO HAVE YOU AS A FRIEND HERE ON MYSPACE.. I HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING THE TUNES.KEEP IN TOUCH MY FREIND. YOUR GOOD TIME BUDDY, KJ
