So this morning I checked the Roots Music Report and the band that jumped out was Keller and the Keels. I checked emusic and they had their new album Thief and then I had a duh moment when I read that the band was composed of Keller Williams and the Keels (Larry and wife Jenny). Now while I don’t have a Keller Williams in my collection I have heard some of his music on JamOn on XM and have liked it and was going to look him up! So I downloaded the album but didn’t get to put it on the mp3 player this AM. Consequently on my trip to North Jersey, I listened to Donna Ulisse, Guthrie Kennard and  got reacquainted with the music of Uncle Earl! I said yesterday, I will write at some point more about these artists and I will. But when I got home, I load Thief on the player and gave it a listen and really enjoyed it!
Thief is the second album by the trio of Keller Williams and the Keels. The first was Grass. This a different type of bluegrass album, it is an album of covers from a diverse group of musicians including Kris Kristofferson,  Cracker, Butthole Surfers,  Amy Whitehouse, Marcy’s Playground and the Raconteurs!  I don’t know whether not knowing these songs help enjoying the cover versions or not but it probably does because one of my least favorites is the song I know the best the cover of Whitehouse’s “Rehab”. The vocals are good and the  music is too. After doing some research, I found out the Larry Keel is a champion finger-picking guitar player and has ten solo projects under Larry Keel, The Larry Keel Experience and his latest band Larry Keel and the Natural Bridge.
My favorite tracks on Thief are the covers of Kristofferson’s “Don’t Cuss the Fiddle” and  “The Year 2003 minus 25”  Patterson Hood’s (Drive By Truckers) “Uncle Disney”, Cracker’s “Teen Angst”(probably my favorite) and Danny Barnes’  “Get It While You Can ” Overall it was a good listen and will stay on the mp3 player for a while!
Listening to the album made me interested to hear Larry Keel and the Natural Bridge. So I went to Rhapsody and listened to some of his two albums with Natural Bridge. Their self-titled 2005 release and their latest release “Backwoods” both of them sounded great and will get put on the player for more extensive listening. The band consists of: Larry Keel on guitar and vocals, Mark Schimick on mandolin, Jason Flournoy on banjo and wife Jenny on upright bass and vocals. I’ll  let you know more about the albums when I listen a little more! So overall it was an interesting day that ended on an up note with some great new bluegrass to listen to from both Keller and the Keels and Larry Keel and the Natural Bridge!!
Here’s Keller and the Keels doing “Get It While You Can”