In discussing American music of any kind, there are a few innovators whose names always arise - Duke Ellington, Bob Dylan, Earl Scruggs, Chuck Berry. There're obviously others as well, but a complete list would take an entire day to compile. But never amongst these gentleman is the name of Bill Keith. Of course, the banjo doesn't have the luster about it that the instrument once did, but that doesn't make the contributions of this Bostonian any less important.

Beginning in the early '60s, Keith played with Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys and basically redefined the way in which banjo was to be played in the genre over the span of less than a year. These innovations would basically lay the ground work for what would later be referred to as new grass. Of course, these musics are all still tied to country and folk music from the '20s and '30s, but with a defiantly modern tinge to it all.

In mentioning new grass, it's worth noting that the players present on Keith's most lauded disc Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass, were members of the New Grass Revival amongst other bands. And while that band had a decidedly rock and roll tone to it - leading off albums with Jerry Lee Lewis songs and the like - they weren't the only group to do that.

Muleskinner may have been the closest a bluegrass band ever got to playing rock music. The racket the group raised rivaled some of the countrified tunes that the Dead churned out towards the latter part of the '60s. But of course, Muleskinner's banjo player was Bill Keith.

That band, for the most part, has been lost to time - and Keith may have gone that same route if not for his rather lucrative and ingenious banjo hardware business. While that should have been enough to ensure that his name wasn't relegated to a list of dudes that played with Bill Monroe, that's kinda what happened. Of course, Keith still performs, but his scant catalog of recordings has probably exacerbated his lack of renown.

Based solely on the tracks selected for inclusion here, it seems as if the disc should have had some sort of appeal for open minded hippies. The lead off track is a Stones song. The standard "Detour" is included and just a track before that, there's a version of Ellington's "Caravan." The banjo here sounds all the more slinky as it winds its way through the memorable melody that makes up the jazz standard. Of course, bluegrass is hillbilly jazz and the inclusion of that Ellington song isn't really surprising. But the reception - or lack thereof - of Keith's work doesn't approach success of the luminaries that appear on this disc. Tony Rice, David Grisman and Vassar Clements all contribute. And even if Bela Fleck doesn't appear on this album, he seems to have become the public face of new grass banjo.

There's no such thing as fair or unfair. Music is a crap shoot just like any other business. It's just too bad when a talent is relegated to the sidelines.