Keith Richards at 80 - the Stones axeman is still the embodiment of rock 'n' roll
There is a meme of Keith Richards bouncing around at the moment, a photograph of Keith, axe in hand, bending down to attend to a little boy. The caption? “Keith Richards teaching Willie Nelson to play guitar.” The inference is the same as it’s been since the mid-seventies: Keith was born before all of us, will outlive all of us, and will no doubt still be around when the earth has finally had enough of us.
He’s nearly there, because today Keith is 80.
The Rolling Stone is now revered not just as an elder statesman, but also something approaching a national folk hero. An ancient guitar hero with slurred speech, inconsistent playing, and arthritic joints, he remains one of the most iconic musical entertainers of his generation, a man who looks like Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
