The Pour House

Larry Keel is described by some reviewers as the most powerful, innovative and all-out exhilarating acoustic flatpicking guitarist performing today. Keel has absorbed the best lessons from his Bluegrass family upbringing, both sides deeply steeped in the rich mountain music culture and heritage of Southwest Virginia. From there, he has always integrated that solid musical grounding and natural-born talent with his own incomparable approach to flatpicking the guitar and composing original music. He’s also got a knack for choosing interesting and appealing material from all realms of music with guts, whether it’s a tune written by a fellow song-writer/musician friend, or a tasty cover from any number of genres all over the map. The combination is pretty irresistible, and has earned Keel the highest respect and billing among the top acoustic musicians alive, and some now gone: Tony Rice, Chris Thile,Vassar Clements, Sam Bush, Del McCoury, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Peter Rowan, and Darol Anger to name a few. And his fierce, high-spirited energy also appeals to young rockers, jammers and alt country pickers and fans who are equally drawn to Keel’s deep rumbling voice, his earthy and imaginative song-writing, and his down-home-gritty-good-time charm. Keel regularly collaborates with JamBand and Rock giants Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Jorma Kaukonen, David Nelson, Little Feat, Rebirth Brass Band, Dirty Dozen Brass, Railroad Earth, members of String Cheese Incident and Leftover Salmon, amongst others.

Joining the award-winning Flatpickin legend to make up Natural Bridge are the vastly talented Mark Schimick on mandolin and vocals, Larry’s life-long picker pal (and fishing phenom) Will Lee on soulful, blues-grass style 5-string banjo and penetrating lead vocals, and wife Jenny Keel with her impeccable timing and solid, yet imaginative bass lines as well as tenor vocal harmonies. Keel has a variety of formats swirling around the calendar each year; look out for Larry Keel solo, Keels duo, Keller and the Keels, the Keel Brothers, Keel with Danny Barnes and Drew Emmitt, Keel and Adam Aijala or Jeff Austin (YMSB), an occasional Keel trio, and many other special guests added to the mix.

Throughout his career, Keel has released 14 albums and is featured on 10 others. The most recent release, March 2012, is CLASSIC, the 3rd album recorded by Keel and his powerhouse ensemble, Natural Bridge. The project is filled with originals written variously by Keel, the band members or by musician/song-writer friends. Keel recently launched a new event concept and website, Fishin and Pickin, which combines 2 unique but thoroughly complementary pleasures: the satisfying thrill of sports fishing, and the energizing intensity of live music. The musician fisherman or even the fishin music-lover will find up-to-date, useful and amazingly entertaining music tips, tablature, show calendars and links to like-minded acts and artists, plus new music downloads. Larry’s also been involved in the development of Fishin N Pickn Workshops and Camps, hosted on live water properties, that teach pickin musicians how to advance their ‘chops’ on their instruments, and having the chance to catch some big fish in the process. Bass and Grass has been taking place in Georgia each year in the fall, always with a fantastic roster of musician-instructors, and outstanding bass fishing! Similarly, Keel hosts Trout and Tunes in May each year, featuring fishing styles and mountain-music study and entertainment all set in the misty mountains of West Virginia.

For Keel the musical mission is always clear: to let technical skill, honest emotion and fearlessness connect the playing and singing to audiences, to entertain and to thoroughly enjoy the experience of creating and sharing in music.

From Wiki:
Supersuckers was formed in November 1988 as The Black Supersuckers in Tucson, Arizona. The original line-up was Eddie Spaghetti on bass guitar, Dan “Thunder” Bolton and Rontrose Heathman on guitars, Dancing Eagle on drums, and Eric Martin as the lead singer. In 1989, they moved to Seattle, Washington. Here, Martin left the band. The song “Marie” was allegedly dedicated to Martin’s mother after his death. The remaining members decided to continue as a four piece with Spaghetti taking over the vocalist role. They recorded numerous singles for various small labels before being signed to Sub Pop. A sampling of these are collected on the 1992 release The Songs All Sound the Same. Their first album with Sub Pop, The Smoke of Hell, was released in 1992.

In 1995, guitarist Heathman temporarily left the band. He was replaced by Rick Sims, formerly of the band the Didjits (and later the Gaza Strippers), for the recording of their third album, The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers, and the subsequent tour. Heathman returned for the recording of their fourth album, Must’ve Been High, which, as their first alternative country album, was a major turning point for the band. Their fifth and final album with Sub-Pop was their greatest hits release, 1999′s How the Supersuckers Became the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World. In the same year, they released their fifth studio album, The Evil Powers of Rock ‘N’ Roll. In 2001, the band formed its own record label, Mid-Fi Recordings. In addition to numerous singles and several live recordings, the band released its sixth studio album, Motherfuckers Be Trippin’ on this label. Dancing Eagle then left the group and was replaced by Mike “Murderburger” Musburger, who was in turn later replaced by Scott “Scottzilla” Churilla. Their most recent studio release is Get It Together in 2008. On tour, the Supersuckers always close their show with a “fake encore”, where the band and the audience go through a 15 second pretend exit and stage entrance.

Recent years have found The Supersuckers in disarray as both their long time manager Chris Neal and Rontrose Heathman (left in August 2009) left the band for undisclosed reasons.[1] The band officially announced a hiatus, during which Spaghetti continued to tour and record solo. He eventually abandoned Supersucker’s own Mid-Fi Records label and signed with Bloodshot Records in November 2010.[2] His new solo album, Sundowner, was released on February 15, 2011. Shortly after the albums release, Supersuckers regrouped and began touring with Thin Lizzy in Europe. This was followed by a tour of bars and clubs throughout North America with co-headliners Nashville Pussy. The band are currently working on their next album, although no title or release date have been set.