An Exclusive Interview with Keith Stone!
An Exclusive Interview with Keith Stone! by Richard Lhommedieu on Mixcloud
KEITH STONE IS A NEW ORLEANS GUITARIST/SINGER AND SONG WRITER WHOSE GUITAR VERSATILITY COMBINED WITH HIS SOULFUL BLUESY VOICE QUICKLY REVEAL HIS NEW ORLEANS ROOTS.
Since his birth in uptown New Orleans in 1965 he’s been saturated with the sounds of the land from Satchmo to Dr. John. His upcoming solo release “The Prodigal Returns” is a tribute to the musical heritage of his home town. The project plays like Mama’s gumbo on a Friday night and features a cut with special guest Dr. John. The remaining 9 originals feature some of Louisiana’s finest including Bruce “Sunpie”Barnes, Joe Crown, singer Elaine Foster, Louisiana Music Hall of Famer Nelson Blanchard, and Bassist/Producer David Hyde. Due to be released inNovember of 2015, it is certain to become a hit among New Orleans music enthusiast.
Stone began playing guitar and hanging out with New Orleans street musicians when he was 16 and at 18 he played his first paying gig with the “Slu Foot Blues Band”opening for Rufus Thomas at the B.B. King Home Coming Festival in Indianola, MS. He would spend the next five years playing clubs in and around the French Quarter with a variety of blues bands. In the spring of 1990 Stone began a five year journey with Willie Lockett & the Blues Krewe. As the youngest member of the eight piece show band, Stone grew leaps and bounds under the tutelage of the bands senior members whose resume’s included the who’s who of the music industry.
During this time Stone shared the stage with New Orleans music royalty such as, Irma Thomas, Ernie K-Doe, Dr. John, Walter Washington, George Porter, JR., and Davell Crawford. From 1990 -1994 the band performed and opened for artist like Ray Charles, Gladys Night, Ricky Skaggs, and Albert Collins. They were featured in OffBeat Magazines’ November 1992 issue and in a review of an uptown performance Stone and fellow guitarist Michael Sklar were called “two ace guitar pickers” by writer Scott Aiges. By the fall of 1990 the band began featuring guitar legend Wayne Bennett, who became a close friend and mentor of Stone’s. On Saturday, April 25, 1992 Stone played his first New Orleans Jazz Fest with Willie Lockett & the Blues Krewe featuring Wayne Bennett. Stone would play the next two Jazz Fest before leaving for South Carolina in August of 94 following a conversion experience that would end years of drug addiction.
In 1998 Stone became an ordained Christian music Pastor for a large church in Lexington, SC. But when Katrina hit in 2005, he and his wife Cindi used their influence to send food and supplies to the metro area and in 2007 they sold all their possessions and returned to New Orleans to begin a non-profit organization that recruited thousands of volunteers and raised millions of dollars for Katrina relief and recovery. In 2008 he began sitting-in around town with old friends and in 2011, as a minister, Stone officiated the funeral of New Orleans Iconic personality, Coco Robicheaux. Today his new project “Brother Stone and the Prophets of Blue” is gaining respect among local musicians.
