Catfish Keith (born February 9, 1962) is an American
acoustic blues
Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in ...
singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as an exponent of the
resonator guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar's sounding board (top). Resonator gui ...
. He has released several solo
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
s, including 2001's ''A Fist Full of Riffs''.
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' described him as "a solo revelation" who was "breaking new ground for blues. Twice a
Blues Music Award
The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy ...
nominee for 'Best Acoustic Blues Album', he has had ten number one independent radio chart hit albums.
Early life and career
Catfish Keith was born Keith Daniel Kozacik in
East Chicago
East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing ac ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
, and was first inspired by blues music he heard on the radio. These included songs by
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...
,
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade car ...
and
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post- war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicag ...
, although by the time he owned a guitar in his teenage years, he listened mostly to
Son House
Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902His date of birth is a matter of some debate. House alleged that he was middle-aged during World War I and that he was 79 in 1965, which would make his date of birth around 1886. However, all legal re ...
. He attended high school in Davenport, Iowa, before setting out across the United States and beyond learning to sing and play his brand of the blues. He traveled to the Caribbean, where his musical education benefited from hearing Joseph Spence.
His
stage name
A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...
originated from a diving partner in the
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geology, geologically and biogeography, biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Ric ...
who, having seen his efforts at swimming,
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
d him "Catfish-Swimmin'-Around," and "Catfish-Steel-Guitar-Man." Catfish Keith had his debut album, ''Catfish Blues'' (1984), released by
Kicking Mule Records
Kicking Mule Records was an American independent record label, founded in Berkeley, California in 1971 by guitarist Stefan Grossman and Eugene "ED" Denson, formerly co-owner of Takoma Records. The company's name comes from the country blues sexu ...
. He continued to tour constantly and picked up playing tips from watching
Jessie Mae Hemphill
Jessie Mae Hemphill (October 18, 1923 – July 22, 2006) was an American electric guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist specializing in the North Mississippi hill country blues traditions of her family and regional heritage.
Life and career
Hemp ...
Johnny Shines
John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Biography
Shines was born in the community of Frayser, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent most of ...
and
David "Honeyboy" Edwards
David "Honeyboy" Edwards (June 28, 1915 – August 29, 2011) was a Delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi.
Biography
Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi.
.
Keith married in 1988 and founded his own
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...
, Fish Tail Records. 1991's ''Pepper in My Shoe'' sparked global interest in his work, and he toured both Europe and the United States. He appeared on the cover pages of the publications ''Blues Life'', ''Blueprint'', ''Block'' and ''The Guardian'', and his follow-up effort, ''Jitterbug Swing'' was nominated for a
Blues Music Award
The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy ...
. Further acclaim was afforded by the British magazine, ''Blues Connection'', who named him "the new slide king of the National steel guitar."
''Cherry Ball'' (1993) saw ''
Dirty Linen
''Dirty Linen'' was a bi-monthly magazine of folk and world music based in Baltimore, Maryland. The magazine ceased publication in the spring of 2010. The magazine offered extensive reviews of folk music recordings, videos, books, and concer ...
s James Jensen state "Catfish will give you goose bumps and leave you howling for more!" A further Blues Music Award nomination was generated by the release of ''Fresh Catfish'' in 1995.
After ''Twist It Babe!'', his next release was ''Pony Run'' (1999). ''Sweet Pea'' (2005) was praised by ''
Living Blues
''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van ...
'' who opined "the guitar playing is surely the main attraction here, and "Blotted Out My Mind" alone earns Catfish comparison to Frank Hovington,
Elizabeth Cotten
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten ( Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside down. This p ...
, and other virtuoso six-stringers."
In 2008, Keith was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame.
He is an endorser of
National Reso-Phonic Guitars
National Reso-Phonic Guitars is a manufacturer of resonator guitars and other resonator instruments including resonator mandolins, tenor instruments, and resonator ukuleles. Catfish Keith has issued an instructional DVD entitled ''Dynamic Country Blues Guitar''.
In 2019, his album, ''Reefer Hound: Viper Songs Revisited'', won acoustic album of the year honors at the Blues Blast Music Awards.
List of singer-songwriters
This is a list of singer-songwriters who write, compose, and perform their own musical material. The list is divided into two sections to differentiate between artists categorized as singer-songwriters and others who do not fall under the definiti ...