Keith Dunn is a harmonica player, singer, producer and songwriter. He was born in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 and has been playing blues music for over 30 years. He is the founder of record label DeeTone Records.

Biography

As a nine year old Dunn saw his first concert when T-Bone Walker

T-Bone Walker

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...

 played a free outdoor concert. At the age of 12 he bought a harmonica and began playing it at parties and with street players. He grew up listening to radio station W-I-L-D, initially taking a liking to Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...

 and Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson

William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...

. Later on he started listening to Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...

 and John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

. He also bought records by Sonny Boy Williamson I

Sonny Boy Williamson I

Sonny Boy Williamson was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.-Biography and career:...

 and II

Sonny Boy Williamson II

Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...

). In his early career he played only acoustic harmonica.

After seeing the Junior Wells

Junior Wells

Junior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist...

 - Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy

George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...

 Band he put his first real band together, Blue Lightning. They played material by Junior Wells

Junior Wells

Junior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist...

, Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:...

, Aleck "Rice" Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II), and also James Cotton

James Cotton

James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...

 and Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

. Dunn's second band was called the Honeydrippers which was a guitar/saxophone driven group.

Dunn presently lives in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. He has performed with James Cotton

James Cotton

James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...

, Hubert Sumlin

Hubert Sumlin

Hubert Sumlin is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic...

, Roy Eldridge

Roy Eldridge

Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...

, Big Walter Horton

Big Walter Horton

Walter Horton, better known as Big Walter Horton or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming and essentially shy man, Horton is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the history of blues...

, Lurrie Bell

Lurrie Bell

Lurrie Bell is an American blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player, Carey Bell.-Career:...

, Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:...

 and Big Mama Thornton

Big Mama Thornton

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...

. He works as a record producer and gives master classes in harmonica. He regularly tours with The Love Gloves and The International Blues Band and also appears as a guest musician with different artists, for instance Big Jack Johnson

Big Jack Johnson

Big Jack Johnson was an American electric blues musician.One commentator noted that Johnson, along with R. L...

.

Awards

For the songwriting on his Alone With The Blues CD, Dunn received several awards (for the songs "Strange Things Are Happening" and "Need To Make A Dollar"). He also won the Talking Blues Award for the live performance of the songs on that CD.

Solo albums

• Alone With The Blues (Keith Dunn) (DeeTone Records, 2003)
• Delta Roll (Keith Dunn and Lars Vegas & The Love Gloves) (2006)

Albums produced by Keith Dunn

• She's Magic (Willem van Dullemen) released on DeeTone Records

External links

• Keith Dunn Keith Dunn Official Website
• DeeTone Records DeeTone Records Website