Shane holds more than a handful of titles, including event champion held recently at the 53rd annual Bob Wills Day fiddling contest in Turkey, Texas. He has won the title several times there, as well as competed in the national championships in Weiser, Idaho multiple times.
At the mere age of 15, Shane out-picked four World Champion fiddle players. He remembers well winning the New Mexico State Championship. “It didn’t make me the Grand Champion because it was just a fiddle contest, but there were four World Champions playing against me, and I won. That’s pretty neat. I won a handmade fiddle. It had a boot carved in the end of the scroll and had a boot inlaid in the back.”
He wishes he still had that fiddle, but he doesn’t. “I traded it for six other fiddles that were really good.”
“My dad’s the one who really inspired me and got me going,” says Keys. “My dad played, and my grandfather played. And since I was a little kid, I’d go to bed with them playing somewhere – playing, jamming or practicing.”
Keys studied classical violin through high school. In 1983, he began taking lessons from Bart Trotter, the 1984 World Champion fiddle player. “I took seven years of lessons from him. I’ve traveled all over the United States taking fiddling lessons from the very best”.
“I took classical violin to help me learn proper technique, and then I applied it to my fiddling. I just love it. Some people drink alcohol for relaxation. I play the fiddle, and it calms me down. There’s nothing I love more, except God.”, according to Keys.