Time let me play. From the poetry of Dylan ThomasKeith James is an Artist with a specific, singular reputation; that of setting Poetry to Music. His previous concert tours and recordings across the past decade have seen him enjoying both success and critical acclaim for his settings of Poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca, Pablo Neruda, William Blake, Isabel Allende, Leonard Cohen and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Keith’s UK tour is entitled The Songs of Leonard Cohen has enjoyed huge acclaim; clocking up 250 concerts over the past 3 years. Says Keith.. ‘I have been fascinated with the challenge of studying Dylan’s work and attempting a concert of music settings. As soon as I was in the thick of it, I was bound by it and to it! This is by far the toughest and most deeply human project that I have ever embarked on. I enjoyed the process immensely’.Says Keith.. ‘I have taken my experience in music together with my love of Poetry and fused it with a trust in my own ability. Having spent a considerable part of my life concentrating on the Art of beautifully written prose in music, I have drawn much goodness from two particular, but quite different Artists that I have studied at length: Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell.Keith, who is essentially an acoustic Singer Songwriter, started as a musician on a small scale playing the wine bar circuit across the home counties during the late 70s and early 80s, carving the beginnings of a life time career in music during an era when he was swimming against the current tide. He recorded 4 Albums, played thousands of gigs, presented a number of really well received concerts and recorded many live sessions for the BBC at Maida Vale produced by the late Paul Walters.After a couple of years break in South America towards the end of the 80s, Keith returned and set up a recording studio in Berkshire which lead to 15 years of consistently successful work as a producer and sound engineer, completing many impeccably well produced Albums for artists from that straddle the more organic spectrum - Folk, Singer-songwriter, Blues and Jazz: Luke Daniels, Lillian Boutte, Michael Messer, Derrin Nauendorf, Luke Jackson. Also having the pleasure to work on recordings with Nancy Kerr, Ben Castle, Clive Carroll, Dylan Howe, Tim Edey and both Alec and Jacqui Dankworth.During these years, Keith recorded a great deal of his own material that he later to be released on 2 original CD Albums: Outsides and No 1 Paradise Road. All of Keith’s records feature amazing musicians, the most notable of which are Richard Causon Keyboards and Martin Ditcham Percussion.In 2001 Keith pioneered the first of his now hugely acclaimed concerts entitled ‘The Songs of Nick Drake’. This was a turning point as demand for this concert presentation quickly gained momentum across the UK and it was only a couple of years before performing took over completely. This show has now well passed the 1000 marker and has visited Holland, France, Italy and Spain, all of Nick’s Schools and Colleges and Glastonbury Festival, mostly performing with the outstanding Double Bass player, Rick Foot.Keith is very intense, passionate and torturously meticulous with his work, he has great tenacity and will study a subject through to find its inner core and embryonic beginnings.Keith’s more recent passions that have given birth to both Albums and concert tours are: The poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, Poet in New York – Lorca, the poetry of Isabel Allende, Pablo Neruda, William Blake, Dylan Thomas and Leonard Cohen. The study and transcriptions of Dylan Thomas’ poetry took close to a year to complete and produced a wonderful Album entitled Time let me play and a well received tour during the second half of 2014. It hardly needs to be said that Keith’s studious and interpretive concert tour based on the work of Leonard Cohen (it often takes on the feel of an impromptu lecture or workshop) has been a huge success and is ongoing.. Keith has evolved into a very singular artist and wordsmith. Always.. his first original release for some time has come together slowly and has matured with a strong sense of both personal and collective awareness, a tone that has been caught through older eyes; surreal, sub-textural, daring and provocative, showing anger and disturbance, humour, resolve, vision and sometimes compelling sadness. Much has been drawn from those he has admired throughout his life - either consciously or otherwise, along with a kaleidoscope of colour from today's set of paradoxical assimilations we call reality. Currently in the process of completing a book about the eerie corners of a writer’s mind as they struggle for affirmation and the rent. The volume also includes much of Keith’s poetry; some that have become songs and some not. He lives on the south west coast of Wales.