- Concert Review
Keith James
‘Anthem’
Released 25th May 2018
Taken from the album
Captured
The Best of Keith James
You will be forgiven for perhaps not having heard of Keith James before now. He is fiercely independent and therefore his career has for many years, existed in a parallel universe, almost under wraps, esoteric and secretive. He has enjoyed very little radio exposure, he doesn’t easily fit into any music category, he has never signed a recording or publishing deal.
And yet, he has released some 13 albums, all self-produced and self-published, and he consistently performs upward of 100 shows annually to sell-out crowds. Now he even has a ‘Best Of’ album…
“Some of the most atmospheric and emotive music you will ever hear”
- The Independent
Born into a musical family in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Keith’s career was only going to go in one direction. A very accomplished sound man with a BBC Maida Vale background, he worked for more than a decade as a record producer (1991-2004), working on albums with many of this country’s profoundly talented musicians and writers.
“Musicians brave enough to make the music they really believe in. Keith James is one of these.” - Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2
Realising his definite preference for live performance and following a detailed study, 2001 witnessed Keith begin a UK wide tour of concerts based entirely on his love of the songwriter Nick Drake. As Nick’s music had never been heard live by today’s music audience (he died in 1974) these concerts soon became a huge success; over the course of 15 years, Keith has now played over 2000 of these shows; in the UK, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Italy and France, all of Nick’s colleges and almost every British acoustic music festival including Glastonbury.
“Meticulous dissection of Nick Drake’s idiosyncratic guitar techniques, handled with surgical precision” - Northern Sky
On from this, Keith has performed many different concerts over the past 10 years. Each one centres on studies and transcriptions of revered Poets and Writers and includes a significant amount of bio-doc material. The most notable of these are 2 CD Albums and 2 hugely successful tours featuring the Poetry of Lorca set to music – The Gypsy Ballads 1928 and Poet in New York 1930. Other important projects are a CD Album and concert tour featuring a collection of Poetry by Dylan Thomas and an ongoing busy schedule of bio-doc concerts spanning over 6 years performing interpretive versions of songs by Leonard Cohen…
“I have taken great care to visit each song on it’s own terms, stripped back to it’s central core and original, fragile sense of purpose by performing each song as near to the way it was originally written, exposing Cohen’s unprecedented sense of humanity” - Keith James
Over the past six years, Keith has performed an extensive tour of The Songs Of Leonard Cohen in theatres and arts centres across the UK, giving close to 400 performances to what has amounted to more than 100,000 people. Singing his bare and passionate interpretations of these masterfully written songs has proved to be the greatest honour of Keith’s 40 year career in music.
“Certainly the UK’s most celebrated and evocative interpreter of golden music”
- The Guardian
“Keith James has become a pillar of trust. A sublimely intimate and engaging voice”
- The Sunday Times
UK Tour Dates
23rd March THE SPRING ARTS CENTRE, Havant, Hampshire
24th March PAVILIONS, Teignmouth, Devon
14th April FOXLOWE ARTS CENTRE, Leek, Staffs
15th April THE PHOENIX THEATRE, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire
19th April KITCHEN GARDEN CAFE, Kings Heath, Birmingham
21st April WEST KIRBY ARTS CENTRE, Birkenhead, Wirral
24th April SOUTHWOLD ARTS CENTRE, Southwold, Suffolk
25th April ANTEROS ARTS FOUNDATION, Norwich
26th April DISS CORN HALL, Diss, Norfolk
27th April THE SLEAFORD PLAYHOUSE, Sleaford, Lincolnshire
28th April UNDER THE EDGE ARTS, Wotton, Gloucestershire
29th April ACAPELA VENUE & STUDIO, Pentyrch, Cardiff
4th May ELMSLIE HOUSE, Malvern, Worcestershire
6th May THE WHARF, Tavistock, Devon
11th May WOODEND CREATIVE, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
13th May GREYSTONES, Greystones Road, Sheffield
19th May ASHCROFT ARTS CENTRE, Fareham, Hampshire
20th May STRINGS BAR & VENUE, Newport, Isle of Wight
24th May ARC Stockton Arts Centre, Stockton on Tees
26th May THE MANOR HOUSE SEDGFIELD, County Durham
31st May South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, Berkshire
2nd June PAINSWICK CENTRE, Painswick, Gloucestershire
8th June TROWBRIDGE ARTS, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
9th June THE FLAVEL, Flavel Place, Dartmouth, Devon
21st September WINDSOR ARTS CENTRE, Windsor, Berkshire
26th September KITCHEN GARDEN CAFÉ, Birmingham
27th September THE STABLES, Milton Keynes, Bucks
29th September THE GLOBE AT HAY, Hay on Wye, Hereford
30th September LITCHFIELD ARTS CENTRE, Hampshire
1st October SWINDON POETRY FESTIVAL, Wiltshire
6th October WEST KIRBY ARTS CENTRE, Merseyside
10th October THE TOLBOOTH, Stirling, Scotland
11th October EDEN COURT, Inverness, Scotland
12th October THE LEMON TREE, 5 W N Street, Aberdeen, Scotland
13th October VOODOO ROOMS, Edinburgh, Scotland
18th October MILTON ROOMS, Malton, Yorkshire
19th October FESTIVAL HALL, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
20th October HERON THEATRE, Milnthorpe, Cumbria
21st October SALTBURN ARTS THEATRE. Saltburn, Yorkshire
25th October THE ATKINSON, Lord Street, Southport
26th October LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC HALL, Merseyside
27th October THE MANOR HOUSE, Sedgefield, Durham
28th October PHOENIX THEATRE, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire
30th October COLCHESTER ARTS CENTRE, Colchester, Essex
1st November NEW CUT ARTS CENTRE, Halesworth, Suffolk
4th November SEAGULL THEATRE, Lowestoft, Suffolk
6th November BARBICAN THEATRE, Plymouth, Devon
7th November FALMOUTH POLY, Cornwall
9th November ACORN THEATRE, Penzance, Cornwall
10th November PAVILIONS, Teignmouth, Devon
11th November THE WHARF, Tavistock, Devon
14th November RONDO THEATE, Bath, Somerset
15th November TORCH THEATRE, Milford Haven, Wales
17th November ST JAMES’ CHURCH, Weybridge, Surrey
21st November THE CHEESE AND GRAIN, Frome, Somerset
22nd November SHELLEY THEATRE, Bournemouth, Dorset
23rd November MALMESBURY ABBEY, Wiltshire
24th November ASHCROFT ARTS CENTRE, Fareham, Hampshire
1st December LOUTH TOWN HALL, Lincolnshire
6th December BELLERBY THEATRE, Guildford, Surrey
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