Keith Baumann

Multi-instrumentalist Keith Baumann has been a professional musician and educator for nearly 35 years. As a teenager living on the east coast, he began studying guitar, mandolin and banjo. After taking lessons with banjo master Tony Trischka, his passion soon brought him out to the bay area where he joined the bluegrass band Heartland alongside members Allison Brown, Tony Furtado and Jim Nunally. Keith also began playing Resophonic guitar at this time and in 1991 relocated to the Midwest to begin touring with Greg Cahill and the Special Consensus. Over the years, he has performed with many great musicians such as Vassar Clements, Patsy Montana, Laurie Lewis, Peter Rowan, Stacy Phillips, Rose Maddox, Tiny Moore, Joe Craven and the Former Texas Playboys. Keith currently leads his own bluegrass band, The Hard Times Bluegrass Band as well as working with numerous traditional jazz ensembles and big bands. Keith has played at numerous national festivals and has been an instructor at the Midwest Banjo Camp, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop and the Cape Cod Mandolin Camp. He maintains an active schedule performing both bluegrass and jazz, as well as offering private lessons and workshops. Keith has taught for 12 years at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music and writes regularly for DownBeat magazine. In addition, he has been published in both Guitar Player and Flatpicking Guitar magazine.