Steve Key profile picture

Steve Key

Every Tuesday at The Clubhouse in SLO

About Me

Steve Key is an award-winning songwriter, performer and recording artist. He is also a songwriting teacher, concert producer, host of weekly songwriter showcases at The Clubhouse in San Luis Obispo, and music booker for Linnaea's Cafe, also in SLO.------------------------------------------------------ He wrote "Record Time (33, 45, 78)" recorded by country star Kathy Mattea in 1992, and by the Nashville duo called Hometown News on their CD released in Sept. '05. Dozens of folk, country, blues and pop artists have recorded and performed Steve Key songs. Key has written songs with Dave Mallett, Kate Campbell, Pierce Pettis, Sally Barris and many others on Nashville's Music Row. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- Key was honored with a Lifetime Membership in the Songwriters Association of Washington, DC. Members of the Washington Area Music Association have nominated Steve Key for its "Wammie" awards as "Best Songwriter of the Year" and "Best Folk Male Vocalist". ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- Other awards include: WINNER of the New Folk contest at the Kerrville (TX) Folk Festival. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- 2003 TOP TEN FINALIST in the Mountain Stage NewSong Festival songwriting contest in West Virginia. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- 2005 TOP TEN FINALIST in the Plowshares Song contest in Phoenixville PA. ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- Steve Key toured frequently across the U.S. and Canada, performed at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Canadian folk festivals at Winnipeg and Owen Sound, and three times on the main stage of the Kerrville Folk Festival. He appeared at major venues such as The Birchmere (VA), The Ark (MI), The Bluebird Cafe (TN), and The Kennedy Center (DC). Key shared concert billing with Richard Thompson, Christine Lavin, Patty Larkin, Cheryl Wheeler, Ellis Paul, Livingston Taylor, James McMurtry, David Mallett, Taj Mahal, Rory Block, Claudia Schmidt, Jonathan Edwards, Bill Staines and Tom Paxton.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/24/2004
Band Website: stevekey.com
Band Members: Many people volunteer to help me run the shows: Anthony Roselli (does sound at every showcase), Tanya Tyner (ticket sales at the David Olney show), Cliff Stepp (designs posters for the song contest), Nancy Craig (is particularly good at passing the tip bucket), Nancy Lehman (distributes fliers), Joan Ott (has helped out in many ways), Sonnie Brown (an excellent MC), Craig Dingman (ticket sales), Michael Barrish (sound, ticket sales, and also fixed my guitar case!) Thanks to everyone else who pitches in.
Influences: Jackson Browne, Janis Ian, John Denver, Steve Goodman, Loudoun Wainwright III, Tom Paxton, Jonathan Edwards, Gordon Lightfoot, Glen Campbell, Mac McAnally, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, John Prine, Christine Lavin, Bill Morrissey, Rod MacDonald, Cheryl Wheeler, Bruce Springsteen, Guy Clark, Tom Waits, Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Burl Ives, Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger, Cat Stevens, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ferron, Neil Young, Graham Nash, Bob Franke, Pierce Pettis, B.W. Stevenson, Hoyt Axton, John Hartford, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Shel Silverstein.
Sounds Like: the Number 1 Broadway Local, a poetry reading at the Cafe Trieste, a campfire in Texas Hill Country, a '68 Plymouth Valiant with bald tires and brakes you can hear two blocks away, a Dunkin' Donuts in Baltimore, a radio station you heard once but can't remember where it is on the dial, a scratchy record they'll probably never release on CD, the Berryessa Flea Market, the bookstore that's closing next week, Bongo Java, the Lunch Bunch AA meeting at the Improv in DC, a guy with a guitar.
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Aug. 22 Dreamsicles Show

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Posted by Steve Key on Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:03:00 PST

Tuesdays at The Clubhouse

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Posted by Steve Key on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:37:00 PST

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WOODY GUTHRIE!

Today (July 14) is the 96th birthday of the writer of "This Land is Your Land".  Tomorrow, July 15, local songwriters Morgan Enos, Sierra Chavez, Jon Bartel, Anthony Roselli and Steve Key will co...
Posted by Steve Key on Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:32:00 PST

What you missed last night

We had a great showcase at The Clubhouse last night -- perhaps the tourists have already hit town?  It was everything I hope for in a show: a full house with mainly attentive listeners (hey, it's...
Posted by Steve Key on Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:16:00 PST

Two new songs posted

Let me know what you think of "Windchimes" and "Hardly Beginners Luck".  Thanks to Randall Sena at Certain Sparks studio in Lompoc for recording these for me.
Posted by Steve Key on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:26:00 PST

Im in Wainwrights YouTube Video

Canadian singer-songwriter Wainwright (Mike, not Rufus) documented his visit to the Clubhouse in San Luis Obispo, "Guitar and a Car Tour Day 12", posted here:http://www.youtube.com/wainwright747I'm si...
Posted by Steve Key on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:26:00 PST

I’m in today’s Times!!!

http://www. santamariatimes. com/articles/2008/05/16/ae/ae05. txtThey write the songs:West Coast Songwriters competition monthly at The ClubhouseBy Bettina Adragna/Features Writer/Santa Maria Times CA...
Posted by Steve Key on Fri, 16 May 2008 11:47:00 PST

A Real Good Show

Last night's showcase at The Clubhouse in San Luis Obispo was one of the good ones -- strong musical performances, lots of people to hear it, Rob the bartender running around the room all night l...
Posted by Steve Key on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:44:00 PST

Winners of April 6 competition

What a great show last night!  Our monthly West Coast Songwriters Competition at the Clubhouse in San Luis Obispo featured 16 contestants, including new WCS members Bill Vincent and Rob Hutchings...
Posted by Steve Key on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:47:00 PST

Julie Loyd tonight! And SLO updates

"ANGRY AND PERSONAL...tough guitar playing and a smooth voice...lyric folk-rock with a feminist/queer bent...the lust-child of Jonatha Brooke, Ani Difranco and Alanis Morisette." That’s how fans...
Posted by Steve Key on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:10:00 PST