Texas-born guitarist/bassist/vocalist
Keith Allison had a career woven into the very fabric of American rock & roll and pop/rock since the mid-'60s. Born
Sydney Keith Allison and raised in San Antonio, he was already attracting notice locally in his mid-teens in high school, not only with his prowess on the guitar but also with his looks -- he was nearly a dead ringer for
Paul McCartney. It was when he moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'60s that his career began to take off. He passed briefly through the line-up of
the Crickets, and worked with such figures as
Roy Orbison and
Ray Peterson, but his big break came about, ironically, because of his looks. His resemblance to
McCartney got him noticed one night when he was hanging out at the Whisky a Go Go, while the crew for the rock & roll showcase Where the Action Is was filming. He was caught on camera, and was asked to return to the Where the Action Is set, becoming a fixture in their audience scenes. He subsequently became friends with both
Mark Lindsay of
Paul Revere & the Raiders and
Allison's fellow Texan
Michael Nesmith of
the Monkees.
Allison can be heard playing harmonica on
the Monkees' self-titled 1966 debut album, and later played guitar on the
Headquarters album. Additionally, he recorded with
Tommy Boyce and
Bobby Hart on their A&M Records sides.
In 1967,
Allison was signed to
Columbia Records and cut one album, Keith Allison in Action, produced by
Gary Usher. It was a well-produced pop/rock effort, including renditions of the
Lindsay co-authored "Good Thing," the Where the Action Is theme song "Action, Action, Action" by
Tommy Boyce and
Bobby Hart,
Donovan's "Catch the Wind" and "Colours,"
Ray Charles' "Leave My Woman Alone," and
Neil Diamond's "Do It." Alas, the single from the album, "Louise," authored by
the Rising Sons'
Jesse Lee Kincaid (with a B-side of "Freeborn Man," co-written by
Allison and
Mark Lindsay), failed to chart. But he kept busy playing on three subsequent
Monkees albums,
The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees and
Head (both 1968) and
Instant Replay (1969). And in 1969, he actually joined
Paul Revere & the Raiders, playing organ, guitar, piano, and bass, as well as providing some vocals for Hard 'n' Heavy (With Marshmallow). He was with the group for the next three years, collaborating as a songwriter with
Lindsay on the album Collage, an effort to move the band into the '70s (which, sad to say, failed commercially). He remained with them, playing guitar and bass, on the Indian Reservation album, and also found time to play on
Al Kooper's
Easy Does It, as well as working with
Tommy Roe,
Ronnie Hawkins,
Johnny Rivers, and the vocal duo Spring.
Allison devoted his time to acting over the next few years, but in the '80s he returned to music, and continued to perform in the 21st century. He was a longtime member of
the Waddy Wachtel Band, and also played bass on Last Man Standing, the 2007 album by rock & roll legend
Jerry Lee Lewis. In 2014, Keith Allison in Action was given an expanded reissue on Real Gone Music, with several non-LP single sides included as a bonus.
Keith Allison died on November 17, 2021 at his home in Sherman Oaks, California; he was 79 years old. ~ Bruce Eder