[1] He was active on the New Orleans R&B scene since his teens, and became a session man on many hit recordings of the late 1950s and the 1960s, including those by Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, Lee Dorsey, Ernie K-Doe, and others.

[2] His band The Ivories at New Orleans' Dew Drop Inn attracted an enthusiastic following, sometimes upstaging visiting national acts Moore was hired to open for.

[citation needed] While highly regarded locally and by his fellow musicians, lack of hit records under his own name kept him from the national fame achieved by a number of his peers.

Keith was locally famous in New Orleans as ambient noise artist, Jambox Pyramid, and member of the punk band Manchild.

In 2008, in ceremonies and performance at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Deacon John was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.