Keith (Bill) is born in Boston.

Bill Keith grows up in Boston, studies piano initially, then takes up the banjo at Amherst College, where his roommate is guitarist Jim Rooney. The two become regulars at Club 47 and other Boston folk clubs. Keith plays briefly with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, then the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. He founds the Beacon Banjo Company, which makes and tune banjos, and develops a playing style that advances use of the instrument. Keith moves to Woodstock, New York, in the early 1970s, and dies there on October 23, 2015.