The B List: Remembering Ben Keith
We were saddened to find out that legendary musician/producer Ben Keith left this mortal coil on Monday at the age of 73. Keith is probably best known to our readers for his pedal steel work with Neil Young, but he’s also worked with The Band, Paul Butterfield, Patsy Cline, Warren Zevon and on and on.
For this week’s B List we wanted to pay tribute to Keith by dipping our toes into the YouTube vault for a few examples of his exemplary work…
1. Neil Young – Down By The River
We start with Ben Keith’s last appearance with Neil Young at the 2009 Bridge School Benefit.
READ ON for more clips featuring the work of Ben Keith…
2. Linda Ronstadt – High Sierra
Keith added pedal steel to this track from Ronstadt’s 1995 release, Feels Like Home.
3. Jewel – You Were Meant For Me
Ben produced Jewel’s debut album, which went on to sell over seven million copies in the U.S. You Were Meant For Me was one of the best-selling singles from the LP.
Check out this Beatles’ cover from Anne Murray’s 1974 album Highly Prized Possession featuring Keith on pedal steel.
5. Dave Rich – Sing Me Back Home
Country music legend Dave Rich recorded a version of Merle Haggard’s Sing Me Back Home in 1968 to which Ben added some soul-stirring pedal steel work.
6. Patsy Cline – I Fall To Pieces
One of Keith’s first big gigs was backing Patsy Cline on the studio version of her hit I Fall to Pieces.
7. Ben & Neil – This Old House
Not sure when this was filmed but shows the terrific chemistry Ben had with Neil Young.
We wrap things up with an audio-only recording of Neil Young with The Shocking Pinks, a band that featured Keith on pedal steel, from 1983.
R.I.P. Ben. You will be sorely missed.
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 5:28 pm
The video of “This Old House” is from 6-14-1989 Jones Beach, and a video of Neil’s entire show circulates. Bruce Springsteen guests on the final song of that night, “Down By The River.”