Robert Earl Keen

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Robert Earl Keen (born January 11, 1956)[1] is an American country singer and songwriter from Houston, Texas.

Early life and education

Keen was born and grew up in Houston, Texas.[2] As a teenager, he was an avid reader who excelled in writing and literature classes. Keen was a fan of the British rock band Cream, and was influenced by country music from artists Willie Nelson, Norman Blake, Jesse Winchester, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Withers, Gary Stewart, and Jimmie Rodgers.[3]

After graduation from Sharpstown High School, Keen started playing guitar himself shortly thereafter, learning to play classic country covers out of a songbook the summer before starting college at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.[2] He graduated with a bachelor of arts in English in 1978, and began writing songs and playing bluegrass and folk music with friends, including his childhood friend (and future longtime fiddle player in his band) Bryan Duckworth. During his college years, Keen lived with future musician Lyle Lovett.[2]

Career

File:Robert Earl Keen (2).jpg
Keen performing in 2007

In 1978, Keen graduated from Texas A&M and moved to Austin, Texas.[2] He performed in nightclubs and live-music venues in Austin, including Cactus Cafe, Emma Joe's, Alamo Lounge, Liberty Lunch, Anderson Fair in Houston, and Gruene Hall near New Braunfels.[4][5][6] In 1983, Keen won the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas.[7][8] That same year, he began making his self-produced first album, No Kinda Dancer.[2]

Following the release of this album in 1985, Keen moved to Nashville with his future wife, Kathleen Gray. He signed a publishing deal, a new independent label deal, and signed with a national booking agent.[9] While in Nashville, Keen and Gray worked at Hatch Show Print shop.[10]

Keen returned to Texas in 1987 and released his second album, The Live Album, in 1988, followed by his third album, West Textures in 1989.[9] West Textures featured the first recording of Keen's signature song, "The Road Goes on Forever".[2] Fellow Texan Joe Ely recorded the song on his 1993 album Love and Danger, along with another Keen song, "Whenever Kindness Fails".[11] Keen's own version of "Whenever Kindness Fails" appeared on his fourth album, 1993's A Bigger Piece of Sky. In 1994, he released Gringo Honeymoon followed by No. 2 Live Dinner in 1996.[11]

Keen has continued to write and record music, while also maintaining a prodigious tour schedule.[12] His 1997 album, Picnic, marked the beginning of his on-again, off-again relationship with major labels (both that album and 1998's Walking Distance were issued on Arista Records, and 2001's Gravitational Forces, 2009's The Rose Hotel, and 2011's Ready for Confetti were released on Lost Highway Records). Keen's other albums include 2003's Farm Fresh Onions (Audium/Koch Records) and 2005's What I Really Mean and 2006's Live at the Ryman (both on E1 Music). The producers with whom he has worked on those albums have included John Keane, Gurf Morlix, Gary Velletri, and Lloyd Maines. In 2022, his concert tour was listed as one of the most successful in the world.[12]

His band includes:

  • Bill Whitbeck — bass, upright bass, vocals
  • Tom Van Schaik — drums, vocals
  • Brian Beken — fiddle, acoustic guitar, electric guitar[13]

In January 2022, Keen announced that he would stop touring and performing publicly after September 2022.[14] His final tour was named the "I'm Coming Home Farewell Tour" and the final leg was played September 1, 3, and 4 at Floore's Country Store in Helotes, Texas. Approximately 3,000 people attended the last show on September 4 for nearly two-and-a-half hours.[15] Despite the claims of playing his final shows and farewell tour, Keen proceeded to do several shows in 2023 and listed a 2024 tour on his website[16] with a dozen stops. Instagram posts on Keen's account containing photos from his "I'm Coming Home Farewell Tour" were later edited to remove reference to the "farewell" part of the tour.[17]

Discography

Studio albums

Title Label Album details Peak chart positions
Year US Country
[18] 		US
[19] 		US
Heat
[20] 		US
Indie
[21] 		US
Folk
[22] 		US
Grass
[23]
1984 No Kinda Dancer Sugar Hill Records CD, Cassette, LP record — — — — —
1989 West Textures Sugar Hill Records CD, Cassette — — — — — —
1993 A Bigger Piece of Sky Sugar Hill Records CD, Cassette — — — — — —
1994 Gringo Honeymoon Sugar Hill Records CD, Cassette — — — — — —
1997 Picnic Arista Records CD, Cassette — 160 4 — — —
1998 Walking Distance Arista Records CD, Cassette — 149 3 — — —
2001 Gravitational Forces Lost Highway Records CD 10 111 1 — — —
2003 Farm Fresh Onions Audium/Koch Records CD 24 172 9 11 — —
2005 What I Really Mean E1 Music CD, Streaming, Download 21 122 1 5 — —
2009 The Rose Hotel Lost Highway Records CD, Streaming, Download 17 83 — — 10 —
2011 Ready for Confetti Lost Highway Records CD, Streaming, Download 21 66 — — 3 —
2015 Happy Prisoner:
The Bluegrass Sessions 		Dualtone Records CD, Streaming, Download 10 109 — 6 5 1

Live albums

Title Album details Peak positions
US Country
[18]
The Live Album
  • Release date: November 15, 1988
  • Label: Sugar Hill Records
  • Formats: CD, cassette
 —
No. 2 Live Dinner
  • Release date: March 19, 1996
  • Label: Sugar Hill Records
  • Formats: CD, cassette
 —
The Party Never Ends
  • Release date: October 14, 2003
  • Label: Sugar Hill Records
  • Formats: CD
 68
Live from Austin TX
  • Release date: November 2, 2004
  • Label: New West Records
  • Formats: CD, music download
 —
Live at the Ryman
  • Release date: July 11, 2006
  • Label: E1 Music
  • Formats: CD, music download
 —
Marfa After Dark —
Live Dinner Reunion[24]
  • Release date: November 18, 2016
  • Label: Dualtone Music
  • Formats: CD, Music download
 29
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Compilation albums

Title Album details
Best
  • Release date: November 7, 2006
  • Label: E1 Music
  • Formats: CD, music download

Singles

Year Single Album
1984 "No Kinda Dancer" No Kinda Dancer
"The Armadillo Jackal"
1997 "Over the Waterfall" Picnic
"Levelland"
"Undone"
1998 "Down That Dusty Trail" Walking Distance
1999 "That Buckin' Song"
2001 "Hello New Orleans" Gravitational Forces
"Not A Drop of Rain"
2002 "High Plains Jamboree"
2003 "Furnace" Farm Fresh Onions
"All I Have Is Today"
2005 "What I Really Mean" What I Really Mean
"The Great Hank"
2009 "The Rose Hotel" The Rose Hotel
2010 "The Man Behind the Drums"
2011 "I Gotta Go" Ready for Confetti

Music videos

Year Video Director
1997 "Over the Waterfall" Steven T. Miller/R. Brad Murano
2004 "Merry Christmas from the Family" David McClister
2005 "What I Really Mean"
2015 "Hot Corn Cold Corn"[25] Curtis Millard
"Footprints in the Snow"[26] Matt Bizer

Other appearances

Year Song Album
2018 "Do Wacka Do" King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller

Notable covers

Year Performer Single Reference
1987 Nanci Griffith "Sing one for Sister" [27]
2009 Reckless Kelly "Think It Over One Time" [28]
2009 Max Stalling, Dale Clark "No Kinda Dancer" [28]
2009 Wade Bowen "Lynville Train" [28]
2009 Brandon Jenkins "What I Really Mean" [28]
2009 Randy Rogers "I'll Be Here for You" [28]
2009 Roger Creager "I Would Change My Life" [28]
2001 Cory Morrow "I'll Go Downtown" [29]
2009 Jason Boland "Mariano" [28]
2009 Cody Canada "Shades of Gray" [28]
1995 The Highwaymen "The Road Goes on Forever" [30]
2009 Chris Knight "Undone" [28]
2009 Todd Snider "Corpus Christi Bay" [31]
2001 Lyle Lovett "This Old Porch" [32]
1998 Lyle Lovett "Rollin' By" [33]
1998 George Strait "Maria" [34]
1992 Joe Ely "Whenever Kindness Fails"

"The Road Goes on Forever"

[35]
2006 Cross Canadian Ragweed "Lonely Feelin'" [36]
2000 Dixie Chicks "Merry Christmas from the Family" [37]
2015 Shawn Colvin "Not a Drop of Rain" [38]

Honors

Year Honor Reference
1983 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition [8]
2015 BMI Troubadour Award
2016 Inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame [39]
2018 Texas A&M University Distinguished Alumni Award
2019 Inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame [40]

References

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External links

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