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CK: Uh-huh. Yeah, well, yeah, everybody has their own method, but mostly it's, you know, in my
head and I just have to craft it.
BiTS: You've got a few gigs coming up in the States very shortly. Where are you going to?
CK: Oh, we're going to California our next trip. We're going out to Southern California. I'm playing
in Covina, which is in the LA area. And then after that, we're going to the NAMM Show, and that's
big. It's at the Anaheim Convention Centre. It's a huge music industry event and this time we're
going with the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. They've built my signature model guitar called the
Catfish Special and I’ve known those guys a long time and we always have fun hanging out at the
NAMM Show and you get to see all kinds of people.
BiTS: And there are
plans for coming back to
England at some stage, I
guess?
CK: Yeah, we'll come
back next autumn. We've
been coming October,
November time for many
years and we'll do that
again and probably have
about a month-long tour
in the UK and Ireland,
and maybe if any other
countries pop up
[chuckles].
BiTS: You constantly say
‘we’ when you're talking about touring. I guess Penny goes everywhere with you, does she?
CK: Yeah, we've been touring together since the beginning and so she's my manager and sound
engineer.
BiTS: She fiddles with the knobs, does she?
CK: She often runs sound, yes, and yeah, she’s the producer for the albums too, and really love
that we've been able to take it on the road.
BiTS: As you've already said, Keith, you've been at the game for a long time. What ambitions do
you still have?
CK: Well, I just want to keep making albums as long as I have the inspiration. This is my 22nd
album and when I look at the history of the players that I admire, people like Honeyboy Edwards
and Henry Townsend, they kept playing until they were in their late 90s, so really being 61, I'm
just kind of at a halfway point if I can keep my mind, body and soul together and keep touring,
and keep making the albums. But what I try to keep at the central part of it is just the music and
the inspiration – I always have 100 more songs that I want to record. I think that's kind of an
endless, endless spring of musical inspiration that doesn't stop, so that makes me feel good, and
that's what drives the whole thing.
BiTS: Just one final thing then before we go. Do you ever play with other musicians and have
you recorded stuff with, I mean, harp players and that sort of thing?