Key's first exposure to live music was from 1962 - 1964
when he found himself immersed in the Jazz Scene happening throughout Los Angeles.
Key was a Marine at the time, an MP, stationed at a helicopter base near El Toro. He was just an 18 year old punk ass kid.
These were the years all the Jazz Greats were out in their prime:
Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Les McCann, Onzy Matthew's Big Band. The list goes one.
The foundation for Key's approach to music was formed at this time.
In his own words, Key describes what he heard,
The musical idea is that the music starts with a theme
and then all the musicians make a painting out the theme.
They go off and then find their way back again.
It was improvisation, Key figured that's how it was done.
No rehearsals. Just go.
To this day, Key doesn't rehearse with his musicians.
Sure, once in a while they might gather in a living room and talk about a new song,
although the last three albums all reflect Key's approach to music based on his early exposure
The Pyramid Session Live just happened.
The music found itself around Key's song-writing: loose, but tight. It just works.
Friday Night Road Trip was recorded during a gig at Harvelle's in Santa Monica CA.
And most recently, Rough & Raw which is all first takes. Some of the songs were the first time the musicians ever heard them.
This is what you get with good musicians. Key's early musicial education continued when the
Great Electric Blues Guitar Players hit the scene in the mid-late 60's.
Now he heard Albert King, Albert Collins, BB King, John Lee Hooker, and Buddy Guy many times live.
One night BB King was early for a gig. Somehow Key was at the right place at the right time &
BB King invited Key to hang with him- just the two of them.
Key noticed that each band member who knocked on the dressing room door regarded BB with great respect.
"It was remarkable," Key remembered.
Albert Collins and Key spent alot of time together because they both loved buses.
They would sit sit, drink, and swap stories until late in the light.
It was during this time that Key was inspired to pick up the guitar.
Buddy Guy was the man who did it for him.
Somehow hearing him play one night Key got it in his mind that he could do that.
It was still a few years yet before Key got the courage to face the long road of learning how to play the shit out of it!
Years later Key opened for Buddy Guy and Junios Wells.
After his set, Junior Wells invited Key to join him for a fifth of gin.
"He just opned up the bottle and I went into party mode," Key remembers, "No mix, no nothing, just straight up gin."
While Junior talked about the road, giving Key tips & stories, they drank & drank.
"He told me everything I would need to know, but of course, I got so drunk that the next day I couldn't remember a thing he said."
Junior had passed the torch to Key, but the next morning when he woke up Key couldn't remember where he had put it. If you really listen to Key's music you will hear the Jazz influence, though the in-your-face sound is the Blues
One of the most profound musicial experiences Key's good fortune put him in front of was Lou Rawls. It was the Black and Blue tour.
Rawls was in Los Angeles, fresh out of Chicago. "His energy was hard-core. Raw. He was a cool ball of fire... he was so good."
And that is what Key's live performances are today. Key's fans refer to him over and over as the "greatest yet-to-be discovered guitar player in the world today."
Key's talent, both as a song-writer & as a player, is toe-to-toe with greats like Neil Young. Key is innovative, original, and ever-changing.
Key Frances is a true artist.

Request Key's music on Radio Sfera, Whole Wheat Radio, Radio Holstebro, Radio Tonka, Highway 61, Classic Blues Radio, Triple R Blues Radio, Roots Rock Radio, Blues Alive, Tilos Radio FM 90.3, Radio Aria, Bluespower, Mojo Blues 94.1 FM