Sykes, Keith

He is a guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer born in Murray, Kentucky, and growing up in Memphis from the time he was eight.

He bought his first guitar from a pawn shop in Beale Street while he was in high school and when he graduated he left home and spent the next 2 years doing odd jobs and hitch-hiking his way until he reached New York City. Once there he got him self onto a College Coffee House Circuit national tour and in 1968 The Gentrys and the Lonesome Rhodes both recorded his songs.

Making his name recognised he cut his first solo album in 1970 and his second was released while over in Japan playing the lead in the film Summer Soldiers.

1973 saw him making the decision to move to Texas and from there to Florida where he met Jimmy Buffett, who recorded two of his songs and later the co-written “Volcano”, and toured with him as a member of his Coral Reefer Band.

Continuing to write for other artists and perform as a guitarist for other artists he returned to the studio to do his own recording in 1995. Around the same time he started to host a songwriter’s showcase back on Beale Street, Memphis, where he had decided to return to.

He built The Woodshed studio with his partner Kelcy Warren for Syren Records and here he produces his own work and that of many other artists.

Through the course of his career he has worked as a producer, songwriter and/or guitarist for acts that include Roseanne Cash, Guy Clark, Patty Loveless, John Prine and Jerry Jeff Walker to name a few.

He has at least ten albums to his credit, including 1-2-3, It Don’t Hurt to Flirt, Fun Rockin’, Advanced Medication for the Blues and Don’t Count Us Out, and has also been heard with other artists on releases such as Volcano by Jimmy Buffett, Street Language by Rodney Crowell and Jerry Jeff by Jerry Jeff Walker.

Sources:

Sykes, Keith

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