Overview

Songwriter Keith Sykes goes all out to tell his story. It's as if you're right there at his concert, listening to his take on how he came to New York City in 1968, then you travel with him through his past all the way to the present day. He covers writing and co-writing, playing live, and making records. Shares his memories of fellow songwriters John Prine, Jimmy Buffett, and Jerry Jeff Walker, and many more. His deep love of music is central throughout the journey. There are insights into how his wife, Jerene Sykes, has played an important part of his career for fifty years. Never pretending to be anything more or less than a ""working songwriter,"" he laces a good-natured sense of humor into every story. This book will introduce you to an amazing songwriter who's life experiences are as enchanting as his down-to-earth way of seeing himself.

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Reviews

From his early days in Greenwich Village to his collaborations (and wild times) with giants like John Prine and Jimmy Buffett, Keith Sykes has been an eyewitness to music history. A Very Short Time doesn't just tell the stories behind his enduring songs; it's a window into the soul of American music. -- David Browne, senior writer, Rolling Stone, and author of Fire and Rain and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rock's Greatest Supergroup. Keith Sykes wove his songwriting path through America's greatest hot spots-the 1970s New York folk scene, progressive country in Austin, the nascent Parrot Head party in Key West, not to mention always keeping a funky foot in Memphis. A Very Short Time celebrates learning a craft, making a living from art and having good times with influential friends. -- Robert Gordon, author of It Came From Memphis; Producer/Director of Best of Enemies

Author Information

Once upon a time in the summer of 1967, Keith Sykes hitchhiked to the Newport Folk Festival and saw Arlo Guthrie perform ""Alice's Restaurant."" In the fall of that year he got a copy of the album, learned the whole song and sang it at a Holiday Inn audition that led to him playing in Buffalo, NY. It's pretty perfect that such a rambling tale should be at the start of Keith's own rambling tale - in the more than 50 years that followed, he would become a troubadour and storyteller, a massively successful songwriter with more than 100 songs recorded by artists as diverse as Rosanne Cash and George Thorogood. He would tour every corner of America and play in just about every conceivable kind of venue, appear on Saturday Night Live and Austin City Limits, and host songwriter nights on Memphis' legendary Beale Street with many of music's most talented songwriters. He would join Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, tour the country and record the Volcano album - the title track for which he co-wrote with Jimmy.To date, recordings of Keith's songs have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. With 13 full-length albums released - and great success with his own publishing company, credited with signing John Kilzer to Geffen Records and the discovery of Todd Snider - Keith Sykes has proven to be nothing short of prolific.And of course, he's not done just yet. Along with the release of hie autobiography, A Very Short Time, he continues to tour relentlessly, is host of the Keith Sykes' Songwriter Weekend at Melody Mountain Ranch in Stephenville, TX, and all the while writing and recording songs.

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