Biography

In the 1960s a young boy lay on the floor of his family's dining room and listened to records. The music of Mozart, Beethoven, The Kingston Trio, The Weavers, The Beatles, Benny Goodman, Little Richard, Aaron Copeland, Benjamin Britten, and more all intermingled and filled his head with dreams of being a musician. Keith Hays is still listening to records, but now they include his work. His work covers a wide range of styles and genres-from New Age piano, classical guitar, folk guitar solos, guitar ensembles, and sacred choral music to cutting-edge electronic music and hard rock ballads.

Hays has produced and/or engineered two dozen independent projects for artists like Jack'o'pierce, Akoustik Nerve, Densil Adams, Steven Mitchell, the Sutcliffes, Daniel Bailey, Linda Mantooth and the Howard-White Band. Hays has engineered recordings for a number of educational projects. A personal favorite was recording the Keyboard Ensemble from the Booker T Washington High School in Dallas. The student members included Down Beat Student Songwriting Award winners and multiple Grammy-winner, Norah Jones.

He has produced nine CDs for Warner Bros. Publishing and has composed scores and sound designs for television, film and a number of theatrical productions. Along the way Hays won an award for his work from the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival.

Currently, Keith is living in Nashville, writing, producing projects in his home studio. Though he spends most of his time working as a composer or songwriter, his performance skills are equally impressive. Live, he shows that his musical expertise is not limited to composition and his guitar, keyboard, and vocal talents are formidable.

A sincere and honest performer, Hays gives a little of himself to his audience each time he steps on stage, and each time he steps off they ask for more.