Remembering Ben Keith: 1937 - 2010

Ben "Long-grain" Keith: 1937 - 2010 

Ben Keith, Neil Young's long time band mate and dear friend, would have celebrated his 75th birthday this week. 

Ben Keith (March 6, 1937 – July 26, 2010), was a multi-talented musician who Neil Young first met in Nashville in February 1971 when Neil was recording the multi-platinum LP Harvest who passed away unexpectedly in 2010. 

Bridge Benefit Concert 2008 Photo by Craig Abaya  Upon learning of Ben's passing, Neil Young issued the following statement:

On the full moon, the Thunder moon, the world lost one of the greatest musicians of all time. Ben was 73 years old the night he died on Broken Arrow Ranch in California, his happy home for the last years of his life. Ben played with Patsy Cline, Faron Young, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Ian Tyson and many other music greats. A great American, the quiet giant, he moved gently through the world, with kindness and grace.

My wife Pegi was lucky to share his last performance a few weeks back in San Francisco, where Ben was playing in her band, supporting her and lending his spirit to her every word as she sang her songs for us.

Of course, in Nashville Ben Keith is legendary, one of the last of the original country greats, the man behind the song. No one will ever fill his shoes. He has countless friends and admirers. They all miss him as much as I do. I will miss him every time I look to my side, remembering him, my brother and fellow traveler.

Thankfully, Ben's masterful playing can be seen and heard in two Johnathon Demme pictures: 'Heart of Gold' and 'Trunk Show,' as well as countless great recordings over the last 50 years. We are so fortunate to have these as memories and lasting documents of his greatness and grace. He started out on a homemade steel guitar he fashioned himself from a piece of wood and left over parts. He loved his music and his life and cherished his many friends and soul mates.

He leaves behind his wonderful daughter Heidi, and his grandchildren who he loved so much, DJ, Rachel, James, Meredith, Aubrey, Fletcher and Caroline.

May he rest in Peace.

Neil Young

Legend has it that Neil asked bassist Tim Drummond if he knew any pedal-steel players in town. Tim contacted Ben, who lived in town and off he went to the studio: "I didn't know who anyone was, so I asked, who's that guy over there?" and was told "that's Neil Young". 

"They were already recording [Harvest] at the time," Keith said in the 2005 concert movie Heart of Gold. "I set up my steel and kind of snuck in there and started playing and we did five songs before we ever stopped and introduced ourselves." Neil Young often referred to Ben Keith as "Brother Ben".

  Ben Keith with Faron Young and band  (via Rock Town Hall) 

Keith's career dated back to playing on Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces." 

 

Rick Rosas & Ben Keith @ Cutting Room, NYC, NY 07-19-2007
Photo by Johnny Marr 
Photo gallery by Tony Stack on Rock Steady Studios of Neil Young in Denver, CO on 4/27/09  Keith is also known as the producer of Jewel's debut album Pieces of You, which sold more than ten million units. From Jewel remembers producer Ben Keith | tennessean.com | The Tennessean:

For Jewel, though, Keith will always be the man who helmed her breakthrough, Pieces Of You, an album that sold more than 10 million copies. "I was signed to Atlantic Records, completely ignorant about the music business," Jewel said. "I met with maybe 50 different producers, and a lot of them wanted to change what I did. Ben was the first who made me feel comfortable with who and what I was.

He had the mentality of, 'Let the musician be the musician,' and he believed in me when I didn't know how to believe in myself." "He was a champion of the song and the songwriter, no matter what," she said. "He was a defender, and he helped give me confidence. He wanted to pay homage to the song, with no over-singing and no over-playing. He produced that album, and so we both hit the frickin' goldmine. We were dark horses that beat the odds."

 Ben Keith as "Grandpa" in Greendale as filmed by Neil Young - 2002 (Eric Johnson as "Jed", center) 

Also, see Tribute to Ben Keith | NYA.

 

Grant Boatright and Neil with photo of Ben Keith 

photo: Zeke Young

 

More on Ben Keith: 1937 - 2010.

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The Mynah Birds Single Set for Record Store Day

Neil Young Vinyl Shopping - April 16, 2011
Plan9 Music, Richmond, Virginia
Photo by Emaleigh Franzak

Neil Young showed his support of Vinyl & Independent Record Stores last year, doing some shopping at Plan9 Music, in Richmond, Virginia on 2011 Record Store Day.

Record Store Day is April 21st this year and The Mynah Birds have a special release: "It's My Time" b/w "Go On and Cry". The Mynah Birds were a short-lived mid-'60s group with Neil Young and Rick James. In 1965, they recorded tracks for Motown that never saw an official release -- until now have only been released in the Archives and Hipo-Select Motown boxsets. (Thanks Glorious Noise for correction!)


Rick James

Funk legend Rick James, the flashy Motown Records artist was best known for his 1981 hit 'Super Freak'.

While much is known about James' "Super Freak" period, relatively little is known about the period during the 1960's when he formed a band known as the Mynah Birds with Neil Young, Goldie McJohn (later of Steppenwolf) and Bruce Palmer (later of Buffalo Springfield). The name of the band Mynah Birds was apparently a takeoff of the well known folk-rock band The Byrds.

In an interview with Neil Young in MOJO Magazine in 1995, Neil was asked about a 1965 Mynah Birds album being recorded which never was released.

YOUNG: "Yeah, there are tapes of me and The Mynah Birds also. After I arrived in Toronto I tried to keep my band going and then tried to work with several others. But it just never worked out for me there. I could never get anything going in Toronto, never even got one gig with a band. I just couldn't break into that scene. So I moved instead towards acoustic music and immediately became very introspective and musically-inward. That's the beginning of that whole side of my music."

More on The Super Freak and The Loner: Rick James and Neil Young.

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Photographer Henry Diltz: Rock’s Living History | Rock Cellar Magazine

Buffalo Springfield
Photo by Henry Diltz
(Click photo to enlarge)

A very extensive interview with legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz in Rock Cellar Magazine by Jeff Cazanov.

Rock Cellar Magazine: Lore has it the first photo you actually sold was of the Buffalo Springfield? In front of a mural?

Henry Diltz: Yes – a club called The Psychic Eye in Redondo Beach.

In ’66, our last tour across the country, I get this camera, start photographing my friends, and then one day Stephen Stills– he’d been a fan of ours since ’63 when we played The Village Gate in New York, a jazz club. He would come down to see us. He was a young kid, like 19. So we were old friends by the time ’67 came around and I was here.

So in Laurel Canyon one day, I heard music coming out of a house while I was walking by. I knew the person who lived there and I knocked on the door, and Stephen was in there playing. He said, “hey, Henry, later today we’re going down to this folk club to do a soundcheck, do you want to come along?”

I said yeah ‘cause I wanted to photograph people on the beach for my slide show. I hadn’t made the connection yet to being a music photographer. I just wanted photos to excite my friends, anything trippy.

That one day when I went with Stephen down to the Redondo Beach sound check, they were in there rehearsing– Neil Young, Stephen Stills, and I’m out on the beach photographing and when I walk back to the club there’s a big mural on the back wall, a painted, pink mural that I thought would look great in the slide show.

So I’m shooting the mural and out the back door comes the group, done with their sound check. So I said, “hey you guys, just stand there a minute,” because I wanted to show the scale. You couldn’t tell how big this thing was. I still didn’t think, Eureka! I’m gonna be a music photographer!

The funny thing was that they did an interview with Teen Set Magazine and they needed a picture. They said, “Our friend Henry took some.” So I get a call: “Henry, we hear you have a picture of the Buffalo Springfield, we’ll pay you $100 to run it.”

More of interview with legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz and photo gallery in Rock Cellar Magazine by Jeff Cazanov.

(Thanks Scott & RW!)

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The Monkees Davy Jones and Neil Young

The Monkees Davy Jones passed away last week. He was 66.

Jones was a singer in The Monkees, a pop-rock group formed expressly for a television show.

Interestingly, Neil Young performed on a number of The Monkees tracks, including "You And I" (above on YouTube).

Neil Young played on the following Monkees sessions in 1968:

• Carlise Wheeling Version 4 (5/3) (No audio survived)
• You and I, That's What It's Like Loving You (unrel.), Smile (5/10)
• As We Go Along (5/30)
• You and I (6/19) "Double blistering guitar solo"
• You and I (6/21)
  

And, Stephen Still was once on the short list for being a member of The Monkees. Imagine that...

(Thanks Andrew Sandoval for research and Harold for links!)

Also, see other musicians influenced by Neil Young.

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