Artist description It's not easy to describe Keith Greeninger's music. As an artist his writing and delivery have challenged the traditional descriptions of today's singer-songwriter movement. With a rich soulful voice and using deep laid back grooves Greeninger's songs paint vivid pictures for the listener.

Music Style singer/songwriter Americana

Musical Influences Bruce Cockburn, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Woody Guthrie,Jackson Browne

Similar Artists Jackson Browne, Van Morrisson, Neil Young, Lyle Lovett

Artist History In a darkened bedroom, with only the amber glow of the streetlights outside his window, a young boy went to sleep at night with a small transistor radio underneath his pillow. Tuning in to the current AM stations, he kept the volume low so no one would hear and quietly sang along with every song. Some were good, some were bad, but they all made an indelible imprint on his musical memory. He could remember lyrics after only one listen and the melodies came just as readily. With that transistor radio tucked under his pillow, Keith Greeninger discovered a passion. That's where it all began. Keith got his first guitar for his 13th birthday and wrote his first song that same night. It was an old classical guitar and his folks had also given him a few Mel Bay folk songbooks. With no formal training, he immediately learned the chords to Tom Dooley. By dinnertime, he was singing a made-up song about the sad demise of his grandfather -- never mind that his grandfather was still very much alive. For Keith, the guitar had provided the creative catalyst; suddenly all the dots were connected, and the words and music began to flow. Within five years, Keith found himself on the road to becoming a professional musician. His solo travels took him from California to Vermont, from Alaska to Nicaragua. All the while he was learning to craft simple, honest and heartfelt music. Every experience presented new opportunities for his music and his songwriting. Every encounter, every odd job, every new city or community all became an integral part of his bittersweet lyrics and acoustic mix of folk and rock. He steadily worked to combine his own personal vision with his strong faith in humanity, justice and the power of nature. In 1989, Keith joined with Kimball Hurd and Roger Feuer, two other talented San Francisco Bay Area musicians, to form City Folk. City Folk enjoyed immense popularity on the National Folk and Americana circuits. They performed at festivals, concert halls, and an uncountable number of watering holes from coast to coast. In a span of six years, City Folk recorded and released three albums and, in 1995, won KFOG's Best of the Bay music award. That year would also mark the end of City Folk and their final national tour. After taking time to build a home with his wife Susan in the Santa Cruz mountains and to celebrate the birth of the first of his two children, Keith set out on a solo career. He performed his own music and independently released his first solo album in 1997 on his own label, Wind River Music. Wind River Crossing is an album rich with fearless, timeless, compelling examples of classic songwriting presented with deep humanity and bravery, stunning artistry and soul. It is an intense and many-layered compilation of Keith's ballads to nature and the human condition, that has earned rave reviews from critics and fans alike and has gained Keith a whole new following. Following the release of Wind River Crossing, Keith had the opportunity to pursue another dream at a remote ski lodge in British Columbia. He had the wonderful and unique experience of putting together the Gathering at Island Lake Music Festival. The festival is a showcase of musical talents like Ian Tyson, Ferron, John Hammond and Martin Simpson sharing the stage with amazing Black Foot and Cree Indian musicians, dancers and artists. The festival, now in its sixth year, grows more popular and successful every summer and, as expected, Keith is always there. Keith submitted songs from Wind River Crossing to the 1997 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Songwriters Contest. Past winners make up an impressive list including Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle and Robert Earl Keen, Jr. That year, Keith's Mercy of the San Joaquin proved to be the best of the best and the Kerrville New Folk award provided a fitting tribute to Keith's unshakable commitment to his music. Never one to rest on his laurels, Keith continues to write new songs, polish his music and his performances, and build an audience that stretches from San Francisco to Boston, from Vancouver to Austin. Is it his deep, textured voice, his rich, engaging songwriting, or his deft yet unpretentious playing? With nothing more than a guitar in hand and a song with a story to tell, Keith can completely captivate an audience. His husky heart-felt vocals and aggressive acoustic guitar style offer more than the standard bill-of-fare for most folk singers and more musicality and sensitivity than today's average rock band. Keith's music takes hold of you, shakes you by the shoulders and leaves you humming a tune long after the last note has been sung. Keith has just put the finishing touches on his second album, Back to You, on which he is joined by local Santa Cruz favorites, Water. Sure to become a classic among his fans, Back to You contains songs both new and familiar and remains faithful to the basic elements that fuel all human beings: love, nature, family, friends and community. As craftsman, storyteller and musician, Keith paints intricate portraits of the human condition with a pallet full of memorable characters, good tunes and strong vocals. Keith Greeninger is that rare performer for whom people lean forward in their seats, eager to capture every note and word and, like that young boy, ready in a moment to sing along.

Group Members Keith Greeninger

Instruments Guitar, vocals, piano

Albums Wind River Crossing, Shadows on the Wall, Catch a Glimpse,

Press Reviews Reviews of Wind River Crossing Matthew Smith, FolkWeb Music Director Wind River Crossing is the debut solo CD by former City Folk member Keith Greeninger. Keith's beautifully rich voice and gorgeous guitar playing shine through on this CD. There is a full band on the album but it never overshadows Keith. The arrangments are tasteful - never too extravagant. A superlative debut! Kerrville Kronikle, 1999 It was 6:00pm on Sunday 30th May 1999 at the Quiet Valley Ranch in the West Texas Hill Country when the four-piece ensemble led by Keith Greeninger took the stage. One hour later - the verdict - I was helplessly addicted to the music I had just heard. Another of those memorable musical moments had been implanted in this heart - for as long as it dares to beat. It's amazing how a concert grand piano, accordion, double bass, acoustic guitars, resonator guitar and flute can invest what are already stunning tunes, about life, love (lost and won) and death, with such vibrancy. Come to think of it, Californian musicians have been the source of the most interesting music on my most recent visits to the Kerrville Folk Festival. Back in 192 it was Michael McNevin. 196 produced an introduction to Joel Rafael. At the threshold of the next millennium, Keith Greeninger, a 1997 Kerrville New Folk winner, did it......and how. Over the ensuing months I've played this 1997 album ad infinitum. Some folk around here would probably offer, "ad nauseam." Based on the foregoing act of repetition, Wind River Crossing has ascended to my personal, and rather select, Library of Recorded Fame. On a number of tracks there's a hint of Jackson Browne's music, principally from his fruitful, collaborative period with David Lindley. No copyist, Greeninger leavens his melodies with a dash of acoustic blues and a considerable measure of the rhythms from the land of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua et al. Vocally, where necessary, there's a throaty roughness to Greeninger's delivery or a heartrending ache that perfectly captures the often anguished situations painted by his words. Clocking in at just over 64 minutes duration, the only cover on this set is the Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia collaboration "Broke Down Palace." Among the supporting players enlisted by Greeninger are Flaco Jimenez (accordion), Pete "Coke" Escovedo (percussion) and Martin Simpson (guitar). In "Mercy of the San Joaquin" Maria and the unnamed narrator are fruit pickers in the fields of California's San Joaquin Valley who, unknown to their parents, partake in late night trysts. Their desperate plight is further magnified by the lovers' seemingly unattainable dream of making sufficient money to allow them to return to their homeland, Mexico. Elsewhere there's the delightful "Josephina," the thoughtful hymn to mother Earth "My Religion," and "Catch A Glimpse," a call to stop, untie and find a new way to ensure the survival of mankind on this planet. Quite frankly, all the way from the gentle opening title cut through to the eleven minute closer "North to Southeast," Wind River Crossing is a musical journey of truly epic and thoughtful proportions. Enrich your life today.

Location Aptos, California - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).