‘Bulo’s Saturday Music for the Masses – Robert Earl Keen Edition

Today’s edition was hijacked by nemski from El Somnambulo mainly because The Beast Who Slumbers was going to write about some 1980s English Boy Band — I just couldn’t let that happen.

One of the many problems we  human beings have like to have things labeled which assists us wrong in prejudging something, anything, based on its label. Though many of us try to work through our prejudices, music is usually not one the areas we tend to explore, we like our labels. So before we get started on Robert Earl Keen, let me throw some names of bands you may even own CDs of: Lucinda Williams, The Jayhawks, Wilco, Drive-by Truckers, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Old 97s and Ryan Adams to name a few. Some times these bands would get classified as Alt-County or Country, but I prefer the label Roots Rock.

Roots Rock is a big umbrella and includes everyone from Richard Thompson to Robert Earl Keen (or REK as he is known to his fans). Back in December of ’98, mrs. nemski and I were driving around with XPN playing and up came this song, Merry Christmas From The Family. This song was so different than all the other Christmas songs we had been listening to and his voice . . . well, to be generous, his voice was distinct.

I immediately went out to purchase a Robert Earl Keen CD, mostly because I was afraid I would forget his name. I had never heard of him as his albums usually don’t chart well.  The only album that went to the Country top ten was Gravitational Forces (2001). I went into one of Delaware’s big bookstores and only found two CDs, Picnic (1997) and Walking Distance (1998). We fell in love with his songs from Undone to Road of No Return. Here is Shades of Grey from Picnic.

One of the things we learned about Robert Earl Keen was that for as unknown he was, he had a freaking loyal following which, at the time, was documented in his two live albums: The Live Album (1988) and No. 2 Live Dinner (1996). Since then he has released Live From Austin TX (2004), Live at the Ryman (2006) and Marfa After Dark (2008).

Here is REK singing one of his fan favorites, The Road Goes On Forever.

Another fan favorite Gringo Honeymoon which comes from mrs. nemski’s favorite album, Gringo Honeymoon (1994).

I think we’ve seen REK live a half-dozen times between 1998 and 2008, which is amazing since during that time we were raising a boy. Here is REK singing What I Really Mean from 2005’s What I Really Mean.

All the albums listed above can be purchased from REK as digital downloads for under 10 bucks. Enjoy.