Legendary Banjo Player Bill Keith Passes Away

Banjo player Bill Keith passed away at 75 last Friday, October 23rd, after complications due to cancer. He died in his home in Bearsville, N.Y.

Keith is widely considered a pioneer of banjo playing: his three-finger picking (“Keith-style picking”), inspired by Earl Scruggs, continues to be heavily influential for bluegrass players of all ages. A Boston native, he began banjo playing as a teenager, becoming more serious while a student at Amherst College. He enjoyed a brief stint with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1963 before devoting more time to session work and playing with a handful of other bands in the Boston area, eventually moving to Woodstock, NY in the ’70s.

He also played a big role in the Beacon Banjo Company, founding the company with friend and fellow player Dan Bump.

Upon Keith’s passing, his family shared the following statement:

“Dear music friends far and wide,

We are much saddened to have to announce that Bill Keith left us in the early hours of October 23. Wherever he is now, I know that he has only one regret: that his diminished energy made him postpone, one day too many, the message of infinite gratitude that he very much wanted to post on this forum to all of you.

Your joyful sharings, photos, support, musings, memories, and above all, devotion to music warmed every one of his days, and he never ceased to wonder at the fact that his modest self could inspire so much cheerful devotion.

Bill’s music will live through you all – and as Bill wanted, the Beacon Banjo tuners will also continue their proud tradition, now in the hands of his son Martin.

On his behalf, we thank you all with all our heart.

Claire, Charles and Martin Keith”

Keith was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame at the 2015 IBMA Awards earlier this month. Watch a video of him talking banjo below.