Bobby Keys: Slaton’s Rolling Stone

Today is the birthday of Bobby Keys. He would be 83 today.

Bobby Keys was born in Slaton, Texas on December 18, 1943 — a small railroad and cotton town on the South Plains, just southeast of Lubbock. He started playing saxophone as a teenager and was already touring with Buddy Holly’s backing musicians by sixteen. He shared a birthday with Keith Richards — a coincidence that became one of the more unlikely relationships in rock history. Keys met the Rolling Stones while both were on tour in 1965. He started sitting in. Mick Jagger noticed the saxophone.

The Sound of Every Great Stones Record

“Brown Sugar” opens with Bobby Keys’s baritone saxophone. “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” features his extended solo. “Rip This Joint,” “Happy,” “Tumbling Dice” — Keys is the texture underneath the most celebrated run of Rolling Stones albums, from Sticky Fingers through Exile on Main St. in 1972. He was a full touring member of the Stones for five decades. He also recorded and toured with John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, and dozens of others. He died December 2, 2014, in Franklin, Tennessee. Slaton, Texas produced one of rock and roll’s essential sidemen. Find his place items on Texas Music Map.