Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 3, March 2004
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LIVE FROM NORTH SEATTLE!
Key making his mark on local folk scene
By CLAYTON PARK
Singer-songwriter Steve Key, who recently moved to Seattle from the East Coast, has yet to score a breakthrough hit, but he's come close several times during the course of his career.
In 1992, national country music recording artist Kathy Mattea included one of his songs, "Record Time (33, 45, 78)," on her album "Lonesome Standard Time," which has sold more than 800,000 copies to date.
Several of his tunes were also recently added to the Smithsonian Institute's Folkways collection of American folk music.
Key recorded the songs in the late 1980s and early 1990s for a now-defunct folk music publication called Fast Folk, which used to offer free vinyl records in each issue that featured sample works by up-and-coming folk musicians.
The Smithsonian recently issued a two-CD retrospective of songs from the Fast Folk archives. "I didn't make the cut (to be included in the CD set), but you can go to the Smithsonian Web site and order them," Key says of the songs he contributed to Fast Folk.
He didn't receive any money from the Smithsonian, which had to get his permission to add his Fast Folk recordings to its archives, but he did get some bragging rights: "The Folkways office told me in my contract that I could call myself a Smithsonian recording artist!"
Key is a veteran of the New York folk music scene who played the same club circuit in the 1980s as folk music luminaries Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Michelle Shocked and John Gorka. In the 1990s, he "dropped out" out of the folk music scene "to pursue the Nashville thing," moving to Music City in hopes of selling more of his songs to national recording artists.
While he managed to make a name for himself as the host of a weekly singer-songwriters' night at a Nashville coffeehouse, Key soon discovered that the country music capital is not the most welcoming of places for folk musicians.
"I joke in my shows now that it's illegal to be a folk singer in Nashville," he says.
After spending five years in Nashville, Key relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2000 where he revived his career as a solo performer, playing the occasional club, concert hall, church or restaurant, but more often than not performing "house concert" circuit concerts held in the homes of folk music fans.
Key says a house concert "is the big thing in folk music these days" particularly as the number of clubs and coffeehouses that regularly feature live acoustic music has dwindled across the country in recent years.
Key has even written and recorded a song on the subject, titled "If You Got the Rooms, I Got the Tunes."
A house concert is not to be confused with a "house party," Key notes.
"A house party is where no one listens to the folk singer if one should play," he jokes to his audience.
Key has also spent a good portion of his career on the road, traveling from city to city to perform wherever a folk music audience is to be found. "If you want to be a full-time musician, unless you're playing weddings, if you want to play original music, you have to go on the road," he says.
Key moved to Seattle in December after "I met somebody (on the East Coast) who lived here." While that relationship didn't last, Key plans to stick around, and has already made his presence felt on the local folk music scene.
He has launched a monthly singer-songwriter showcase at the Hugo House on Capitol Hill. He has dubbed the series "S5 Concerts" for "The Secret Society of Seattle Singer-Songwriters."
Key has also landed a regular volunteer gig as the host of a weekly radio show on KSER 90.7 FM in Everett. The show, titled "A Sunlit Room," airs every Wednesday, from 8-10 a.m. "I get to play local songwriters ... as well as a variety of world music, jazz, pop and blues," he says.
He has also lined up several live shows, including a performance on Thursday, March 18 at Conor Byrne Pub in Ballard (5140 Ballard Ave. NW), beginning at 9 p.m. Also performing on the bill that night will be Barb Ryman, a visiting singer-songwriter from Minnesota.
On Saturday, May 8, he will perform at a Seattle Folklore Society concert at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, opening for David Mallett, a visiting singer-songwriter from Maine who once collaborated on penning a song with Key. The SFS show begins at 7:30 p.m. The Phinney Neighborhood Center is located at 6532 Phinney Ave. N.
"There's great talent around here," says Key of the Seattle folk music scene after attending a recent acoustic music night at the Meadowbrook Community Center organized by Wedgwood musician Wes Weddell.
"There's some great local songwriters here," says Key. "I've met several folk musicians who've been very gracious to me. Instead of being competitive, they've invited me into their homes to swap songs. I'm going to give it a chance here."
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For a full schedule of Key's upcoming performances or to order his "House Blend" CD, call 281-8656 or visit his Web site at www.stevekey.com.