Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 11, 1956 Houston, Texas, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Country music singer and songwriter |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Known for | Song "The Road Goes on Forever" |
Robert Earl Keen (born January 11, 1956) is a country music singer and songwriter hailing from Houston, Texas, United States.
Early life and education
Raised in Houston, Keen showed an early aptitude for writing and literature during his teenage years. His musical inspirations included artists such as Willie Nelson, Norman Blake, Jesse Winchester, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Withers, Gary Stewart, and Jimmie Rodgers, alongside an appreciation for the British rock group Cream.
Following his graduation from Sharpstown High School, Keen took up guitar, initially performing classic country covers. He then enrolled at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1978. During his college years, he began crafting songs while playing bluegrass and folk music with friends, including Bryan Duckworth—his childhood companion who later became his longtime fiddle player. Additionally, he shared a residence with future musician Lyle Lovett during this period.
Career
After completing his studies at Texas A&M in 1978, Keen relocated to Austin, Texas, where he played at venues like Cactus Cafe, Emma Joe's, Alamo Lounge, and Anderson Fair in Houston. In 1983, he earned the New Folk award at the Kerrville Folk Festival and commenced work on his debut album, No Kinda Dancer, which was released in 1985.
Following this release, Keen moved to Nashville with Kathleen Gray, who would become his wife. There, he secured a publishing contract, an independent record deal, and representation by a national booking agent. During their time in Nashville, both worked at Hatch Show Print.
Keen returned to Texas in 1987 and subsequently released The Live Album (1988) and West Textures (1989), the latter featuring his well-known song "The Road Goes on Forever." This track was also recorded by fellow Texan Joe Ely, who covered another Keen composition titled "Whenever Kindness Fails"—a song Keen later included on his fourth studio album, A Bigger Piece of Sky (1993). Later albums included Gringo Honeymoon (1994) and No. 2 Live Dinner (1996).
Throughout his career, Keen balanced extensive touring with recording projects. His 1997 release Picnic marked the beginning of occasional collaborations with major labels; both this album and 1998's Walking Distance were distributed by Arista Records. Subsequent albums such as 2001's Gravitational Forces, 2009's The Rose Hotel, and 2011's Ready for Confetti were issued through Lost Highway Records. Other notable releases include 2003's Farm Fresh Onions under Audium/Koch Records and the 2005 and 2006 albums What I Really Mean and Live at the Ryman, respectively, both on E1 Music. Producers involved in his work have included John Keane, Gurf Morlix, Gary Velletri, and Lloyd Maines. In 2022, Keen’s touring ranked among the most successful worldwide.
His ensemble consists of:
- Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar, upright bass, vocals
- Tom Van Schaik — drums and vocals
- Brian Beken — fiddle as well as acoustic and electric guitars
In January 2022, Keen announced that he would retire from touring after September of that year. His final series of concerts under the "I'm Coming Home Farewell Tour" banner culminated with three performances at Floore's Country Store in Helotes, Texas, attracting nearly 3,000 attendees for the closing show. Despite this announcement, Keen continued to perform several shows throughout 2023 and revealed plans for a tour in 2024 involving multiple dates. References to the tour being a farewell were subsequently removed from his social media channels.
Studio albums
| Album Title | Record Label | Release Formats | Highest Chart Rankings | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | US Country | US | US Heat | US Indie | US Folk | US Grass | |||
| 1984 | No Kinda Dancer | Sugar Hill Records | CD, Cassette, LP | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 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 | (E1 Music) | (CD, Streaming, Download) | (21) | (122) | (1) | (5) | (—) | (—) | |
| 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
Compilation albums
| Title | Release Information | Chart Peak Position(s) |
|---|---|---|
| US Country | ||
|
— | |
|
— | |
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68 | |
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— | |
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— | |
|
— | |
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29 |
| Title | Album information |
|---|---|
| Best |
|
Singles
| Year | Single title | Album name |
|---|---|---|
| 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 title | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | "Over the Waterfall" | Steven T. Miller and R. Brad Murano |
| 2004 | "Merry Christmas from the Family" | David McClister |
| 2005 | "What I Really Mean" | |
| 2015 | "Hot Corn Cold Corn" | Curtis Millard |
| "Footprints in the Snow" | Matt Bizer |
Notable covers
'1998' '1992' '2006' '2000' '2015'| Year covered | Artist/Group | Song covered |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Nanci Griffith | "Sing one for Sister" |
| 2009 | Reckless Kelly | "Think It Over One Time" |
| 2009 | Max Stalling, Dale Clark | "No Kinda Dancer" |
| 2009 | Wade Bowen | "Lynville Train" |
| 2009 | Brandon Jenkins | "What I Really Mean" |
| 2009 | Randy Rogers | "I'll Be Here for You" |
| 2009 | Roger Creager | "I Would Change My Life" |
| 2001 | Cory Morrow | "I'll Go Downtown" |
| 2009 | Jason Boland | "Mariano" |
| 2009 | Cody Canada | "Shades of Gray" |
| 1995 | 'The Highwaymen' | "The Road Goes on Forever" |
| 2009 | 'Chris Knight' | "Undone" |
| 2009 | 'Todd Snider' | "Corpus Christi Bay" |
| 2001 | 'Lyle Lovett' | "This Old Porch" |
| 1998 | 'Lyle Lovett' | "Rollin' By" |
| 'George Strait' | "Maria" | |
| 'Joe Ely' | "Whenever Kindness Fails" / "The Road Goes on Forever" | |
| 'Cross Canadian Ragweed' | "Lonely Feelin'" | |
| 'The Chicks' | "Merry Christmas from the Family" | |
| 'Shawn Colvin' | "Not a Drop of Rain" |
Accolades
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 1983 | Winner, Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition |
| 2015 | Recipient of the BMI Troubadour Award |
| 2016 | Honored with induction into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame |
| 2018 | Awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas A&M University |
| 2019 | Enshrined in the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame |
External links
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1956 births
- American acoustic guitarists
- American male guitarists
- American country singer-songwriters
- American country guitarists
- American folk guitarists
- American rock guitarists
- American male singer-songwriters
- Living people
- Singers from Houston
- Singers from San Antonio
- Musicians from New Braunfels, Texas
- Singers from Austin, Texas
- Texas A&M University alumni
- Country musicians from Texas
- Arista Records artists
- MNRK Music Group artists
- Singer-songwriters from Texas
- Sugar Hill Records artists
- Guitarists from Texas
- 20th-century American guitarists
- 20th-century American male musicians