Catfish Keith is an acoustic blues and blues singer, songwriter and bottleneck slide guitarist from East Chicago, Indiana. Born in 1962, he grows out of the country blues and American roots traditions, with a style built around foot-stomping Delta blues, resonator guitar and solo performance.

Early life and influences

Keith first hears blues music as a child while living in “The Harbor,” a working-class steel mill town. He takes up guitar as a teenager and is drawn towards deep Delta blues after being influenced by Son House. After high school in Davenport, Iowa, he begins travelling as a solo performer of American roots music.

His time in the Caribbean also shapes his music: in the Virgin Islands he works briefly on a sailboat and absorbs island sounds including jazz, calypso, reggae and the music of Joseph Spence. His nickname comes from a West Indian lobster-diving partner who calls him “Catfish-Swimmin’-Around” and “Catfish-Steel-Guitar-Man.”

Recording career

Keith records his first album, Catfish Blues, in 1984 on Kicking Mule. The solo debut reaches number one on independent worldwide radio charts and establishes him as a new presence in acoustic blues. He goes on to make fourteen solo albums, including Put on a Buzz on Fish Tail.

He has fourteen number one independent radio chart-topping albums to his credit and is described as a long-time solo performer of American roots music. His playing combines Delta vamps, Piedmont fingerpicking, ballads and slide guitar, and he is known for using the resonator guitar as a central part of his sound.

Recognition and live work

Keith is a two-time W. C. Handy Blues Award nominee for Best Acoustic Blues Album and is inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2008. He tours the USA, UK and Europe frequently, heads major music festivals, and has shared bills with John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor, Taj Mahal, Leo Kottke, Jessie Mae Hemphill and Johnny Shines, among others.

He is also a major endorser for National Reso-Phonic Guitars, and his music appears on top-rated television shows in the USA and abroad.

Teaching and later work

Alongside performing, Keith works as an educator, giving guitar workshops, master classes and blues-in-the-schools sessions around the world. He is presented as both a keeper of older acoustic blues traditions and an active touring artist within contemporary roots music.