FRESH LEFTOVERS

From slide to fingerstyle, Catfish Keith's modern technical virtuosity makes old-time country blues simmer with new flavors.

- JIMMY LESLIE

THE ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE highlight at this past April’s NAMM Show was a stellar showcase by Santa Cruz Guitar Company signature artist Catfish Keith and his dynamic approach to primal blues. It was somewhat surreal to watch him coax sky-high harmonics from a low-tuned, parlor-sized instrument as his feet kept a heartbeat on his “stomping board,” all while he belted out guttural vocals from the Marriott stage. Here was a rural roots artist from Iowa performing to a primarily rock crowd in the shadows of Disneyland, re-imagining tunes such as “Stomp That Thing,” which according the liner notes from Keith’s latest album, Still I Long to Roam (Fish Tail Records), was first laid down by Memphis guitar pioneer Frank Stokes nearly a century ago. Killer musicianship is timeless, and Catfish Keith’s technical virtuosity had all the player junkies hooked.

Catfish has copious licks in his bag of tricks. He’s a slide ace who makes a resonator sing, as well as a deft fingerstylist who knows the tradition inside and out. What’s so cool about Keith is how he furthers traditions by breaking new ground in an old-time context. The aforementioned harmonics might first bring to mind traditional greats such as Lenny Breau, Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel. But as Catfish explains later, his original inspiration goes all the way back to Harpo Marx, and the way he conjures “skank harmonics” is more akin to the squeals of Billy Gibbons, Eddie Van Halen and Zakk Wylde. His understanding of the guitar idiom is encyclopedic. You’d be hard pressed to find a player that knows more about music from the way back to the right now.