Keith Anderson Healing Nicely

Keith Anderson photo courtesy of Sony BMG Nashville.

March 12, 2009 — In late January, Keith Anderson announced he was shutting down his touring schedule through the end of February while he underwent vocal surgery. Cancelling shows wasn’t pleasant, but neither was the physical condition that led to that decision.

"I had a recurring vocal cord bleed that happened once every year [or] two years," he told the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville. "We were able to over the last three years narrow down where it was and knew at some point we were going to have to do it. And what they do is go in and cauterize those particular problem vessels and just eliminate them from the equation, so you don’t have to worry about it. And I feel better vocally than I have in years, and the cords look great."

Of course, the recovery required Keith to not speak for several weeks on end. He found that he was able to heal more than just his body.

"There’s just so much that you cannot deal with when you’re talking and busy," he said. "I really got to deal with some great stuff. I got to go through a lot that went on last year with losing my mom and some other personal issues. And I just feel better right now as a whole — spiritually and mentally — I feel like there was just a healing that went on, not vocally. That was obvious because that’s what we were doing, but mentally, physically and spiritually, there was just something that happened and a renewal there that’s been awesome."

Keith is set to appear Thursday in a Nashville fundraiser for the Alex LaVasseur Memorial Scholarship Fund with Billy Dean, Sebastian Bach and Alex’s dad, Jeffrey Steele.

On a tragic note, a woman who appeared in one of Keith’s videos has died. The body of Lisa Renee Davis was found near a church in Lakeland, Tenn., Memphis TV station WMC reported. When police went to question a suspect, the 21-year-old shot himself and died shortly after. According to Country Aircheck, Lisa had roles in Keith’s "Pickin’ Wildflowers" video and in Jason Michael Carroll’s "I Can Sleep When I’m Dead."