After becoming proficient on the banjo, he moved to Chicago in 1926 and the following year to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked with Dewey Jackson's band on river boats.
He next moved to Denver, Colorado, and then Phoenix, Arizona, where he married and played in George Morrison's band, before relocating to Los Angeles in 1932, and taking up the guitar.
[1][2] Around 1935, he became one of the first to play electric guitar, in Boot Wiley's band at Riverside, California, where he influenced Charlie Christian.
[1][2] In 1946 Kelton, McCracklin, and drummer Little Red formed the Blues Blasters, recording for the Cava-tone and Down Town labels with Kelton providing solos that "were highly unusual and most effective",[1] on tracks such as "Blues Blasters Shuffle" (1948).
[1][2] He performed and recorded intermittently in the 1960s and 1970s, while also working in the post office in Richmond, California, and also wrote songs, some of which he sold to Don Robey.