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Review Written by - John Muller - Blue Notes and Conversations 2023 / 2024

 

     Catfish Keith - "Wild Ox Moan" - 2024 Fish Tail Records-www.catfishkeith.com - Produced by Catfish Keith and Penny Cahill - Recorded and Mastered by Luke Tweedy at Flat Black Studios ,Iowa City , Iowa

       Catfish Keith - Vocals,guitars , uke and feet

 

       Many thanks to Catfish Keith and his wife , Penny Cahill,  President of Fish Tail Records , for sending  me the latest release , "Wild Ox Moon" , to review . Been a fan of Catfish Keith for many years now . This is another extraordinary release that is a guitar lover's paradise , filled with many surprises, intriguing sounds , and finger-picking goodness from start to finish . 

        Catfish Keith is a magician , a practitioner whose featured trick is sleight of hand , manipulating a mind-boggling array of guitars to produce voices , sounds , that are wildly captivating and certainly fascinating . To call Keith a sorcery of sound is an understatement. Using " Skank Harmonics" - related to the stuff that you hear on Van Halen,  ZZ Top , and Ozzy Osbourne songs , they use a pick , while Catfish Keith uses his thumb - and "Harp Harmonics" - his unique way of hitting the string , a harmonic , then bending it , which gives the notes a vocal quality and expands the voice of the guitar-Keith coaxes sounds out of his guitar that are otherworldly. He gives his fretwork a voice , speaking through moods and melodies. As Keith tells it,"Sometimes my voice will sing the harmony part and the guitar will do the melody part . I have a whole choir in mind when I make certain songs."

         His warm , strong vocal style is the perfect fit for the music , songs that Catfish Keith is thrilled to unearth and showcase , obscure artists and lesser known tracks , searching for those "hidden gems" . He doesn't consider himself a songwriter but more a " channel-er of music." His reinvented classics and all-new originals are highly enjoyable,  a great deal of fun , truly finger-picking nirvana.

         His specialized instruments include: the 2016 Santa Cruz Catfish Special , a Fraulini Loretta Parlor , a National Reso-Phonic "Exploding Palm" Baritone Tricone , a Ralph Brown Stella-style 12-string, and a 2010 Fraulini Fenizia 12-string . Check out the Pete Howlett Resolete prototype ukulele on the track, "SpinachFor Old Popeye."

         Four of the 15 tracks are originals ,and Catfish Keith pops out the unexpected on his reinterpretations of cuts from the Sons of the Pioneers, jazz singer Nancy Wilson,Vera Hall,Blind Lemon Jefferson, the Carter Family, Blind Joe Taggart, Rev. Edward Clayborn , Lil' Son Jackson, and Kitty,Daisy and Lewis , the fascinating UK family band. These are cool and usual gems that are given that uniquely magical "Catfish Mojo"!

          "Wild Ox Moan" is a brilliantly colorful kaleidoscope of ever changing instruments , vocal phrasings and unforgettable guitar sounds . After 50 years and some 22 recordings , Catfish Keith still gets the same excitement and fun out of the music . Fantastic collection that just gets better and better with every listen . Simply irresistible!

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