Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen is an American country singer and songwriter from Houston, Texas.
Early life and education
Keen was born and grew up in Houston, Texas. 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.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. 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 Bryan Duckworth. During his college years, Keen lived with future musician Lyle Lovett.
Career
In 1978, Keen graduated from Texas A&M and moved to Austin, Texas. 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. In 1983, Keen won the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas. That same year, he began making his self-produced first album, No Kinda Dancer.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. While in Nashville, Keen and Gray worked at Hatch Show Print shop.
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. West Textures featured the first recording of Keen's signature song, "The Road Goes on Forever". Fellow Texan Joe Ely recorded the song on his 1993 album Love and Danger, along with another Keen song, "Whenever Kindness Fails". 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.
Keen has continued to write and record music, while also maintaining a prodigious tour schedule. His 1997 album, Picnic, marked the beginning of his on-again, off-again relationship with major labels. Keen's other albums include 2003's Farm Fresh Onions and 2005's What I Really Mean and 2006's Live at the Ryman. 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.
His band includes:
- Bill Whitbeck — bass, upright bass, vocals
- Tom Van Schaik — drums, vocals
- Brian Beken — fiddle, acoustic guitar, electric guitar