Robert Earl Keen

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PeteM
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:07 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Robert Earl Keen

Postby PeteM » Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:36 pm

I've heard many of you talk about this guy. Where do you suggest I start if I picked up a CD? He's got a bunch of material. :?:
Peter

paddyinthepub
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Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Postby paddyinthepub » Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:20 am

Hey Pete....sorry to say I had a doozy of a reply to this question all typed up and somethin happened to it when I tried to submit it. :cry:

I gave it the old college try. :D

The short answer is: No Kinda Dancer and West Textures, REKJr's first and second......enjoy, I hope to recover that first attempt to answer this and post it later.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

wendy
Posts: 357
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:59 pm
Location: Boothbay, Maine

Postby wendy » Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:58 am

I second those suggestions!! No Kinda Dancer and West Textures are just chock full of great songs, many of which still make me laugh out loud.
-wendy

paddyinthepub
Posts: 3768
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Postby paddyinthepub » Tue Aug 29, 2006 7:05 am

Hey Pete,

Is 3 weeks enough?

Hope you got a round tuit.... :lol:

Let us know when ya do and what ya think.

TIA.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

PeteM
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 7:07 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Postby PeteM » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:31 pm

My bad....I haven't gone out to get any new music for a while. I get busy and don't got out to my local CD paradise for a while, and then it's like the flood gates open and I do some major damage. I'm on vacation next week, so I should probably notify the CD store to prepare for an invasion :mrgreen:
Peter

paddyinthepub
Posts: 3768
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Postby paddyinthepub » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:21 am

Feast or famine there Pete?

Gee, sounds familiar.

Been there and done it.

I'd a gone gently used on those two, but however ya get there I say.
Last edited by paddyinthepub on Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
Posts: 3768
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Postby paddyinthepub » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:02 pm

Robert Keen tried to make it in Nashville, Tenn.

When he had finally had enough, he headed home, to his native Texas. Here's a rare clip of Robert Keen, solo acoustic -- singing the song he wrote about his decision to head home.

"Leavin' Tennessee"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A123IhQAKao

The video is a little grainy......but the sound is music to the ears.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

wendy
Posts: 357
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:59 pm
Location: Boothbay, Maine

Postby wendy » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:30 am

Very nice, Paddy! Thanks for posting that link.... I haven't listend to WestTextures in a while, but that's motivation enough to put it back on the play list.
-wendy

paddyinthepub
Posts: 3768
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Re: Robert Earl Keen

Postby paddyinthepub » Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:23 am

Merry Christmas Ya'll...from me and Robert Keen. :mrgreen:

Merry Christmas From the Family

Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party
We were drinking champagne punch and homemade eggnog
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him until he sang
Felis Navidad, Felis Navidad

Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins from his second wife Mary Nell
Of course he brought his new wife Kay
Who talks all about AA
Chain smoking while the stereo plays Noel, Noel
The First Noel

Carve the Turkey
Turn the ball game on
Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone
Send somebody to the Quickpak Store
We need some ice and an extension chord
A can of bean dip and some Diet Rites
A box of t**pons, Marlboro Lights
Haleluja everybody say Cheese
Merry Christmas from the family

Fred and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motor home in
They blew our Christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw a breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night, Oh Silent Night, Oh Holy Night

Carve the turkey turn the ball game on
Make Bloody Mary's
Cause We All Want One!
Send somebody to the Stop 'N Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprites
A box of t**pons, some Salem Lights
Haleluja, everybody say cheese
Merry Christmas from the Family
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
Posts: 3768
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Re: Robert Earl Keen

Postby paddyinthepub » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:00 pm

Have I mentioned before how much I love the music of Robert Earl Keen? Surely I have.... :D

It started so far back now that I'm feelin older by the minute when I think back on when it all started for me.

I actually used to pass by Anderson Fair in my hometown on a routine basis back when I first started driving and had nothing better to do than to drive up and down the strip in Montrose near where the club is located. Westeheimer road was abuzz with kids and freaks and all manner of rabble rousers and I just didn't quite fit in or enjoy that sort of scene much. I knew about the club from friends gone by, and had taken in small shows a time or two at other smaller venues around town but had never ventured inside the confines of Anderson Fair.

I would eventually, but I seemed to take my sweet time. I'd pull off the main drag into the cozy lil lane that leads to the front door of the building and slow long enough to red the names on the simple hand written marquis. I did it for years. Names not familiar to me at the time like Nanci Griffith and Eric Taylor and Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen, Jr.

Oh the shows I missed out on. I mean....I was even driving by when guys like Michael Martin Murphy and Willis Alan Ramsey were on the board and Lyle and Robert were inside not yet doing it but soaking it all in and taking what they were seeing and hearing and being influenced to the point they became the artists they would become. Ya want to talk about some of my life's big regrets....there it is.

But I got it, eventually, and there was no looking back. It might have even been a Robert Earl Keen, Jr. song on the radio that pointed me in the musical appreciation direction my life would take. I had to see this guy in person. I went in knowing I'd already missed many chances to see him live as the name was always up there as I'd slowly drive by and think for just a moment maybe I should ante up cover and see what this stuff is all about. Never just up and took the chance....til I heard Robert on the radio.

It was heaven on a stage. His first record No Kinda Dancer was on vinyl and I bought the first of many copies that first night I saw him. You talk about OCD status.....omg. 8) From there forward, got all his records on the Tuesday they hit record stores. Several great records were to follow for the Houston native -- his 2nd release was the first live record - Live from The Sons of Hermann Hall outside Dallas. Followed by his 2nd studio record ' West Textures' -- another album that got played at home on the turntable and taped onto cassette and played in the car over and over and over. Did I mention love this guy? When the albums eventually came out on cassette I'd buy them, too. I was the last person I know to accept the change that was compact discs and when I did I'd go buy the old ones in that format, too. Years later when first I passed through the gate at Kerrville for the festival and saw the sign that greets all comers that reads Music People are Crazy I had to laugh....and relate...and know I wasn't alone in this musical obsession thing. There's another sign that greets festival goers that says it all -- Welcome Home. 8)

His concerts were always chalk full of intense songs and hilarity in between. The stories he'd tell as he introduced the song he was about to play. I'd take friends into whole other genres of music and a few had a hard time getting into his songs or vocal style but always, always, enjoyed his sense of humor. I saw him at Anderson Fair thereafter a dozen or so times. Got to see him on stage solo acoustic at the Kerrville Folk Festival rather early in his career, too. I almost mustered the courage to go up and speak to him afterwards but he was just too high on a musical pedastal for that to happen and me expect to make any kind of sense at all attempting to convey my appreciation for his music. So I didn't.

Saw him years later in Seattle......while living there.......both he and I many moons beyond our youth. By then he was touring the country with his crack band on a tourbus and driving the kids wild everywhere. He'd become a right of passage at his alma mater Texas A&M in College Station Texas. I had several family members who would eventually attend college there and all got their chance to be a part of the Robert Earl Keen, Jr. experience which surely it had become. The only problem with that kind of scene of course is when you get a few thousand drunken Texas Aggies "up for the show" they sing along so loud to all the songs you hardly get to truly enjoy his way around his great songs.....so I stopped following him. Guess Ellis and the like had alot to do with it, too! :D The time and distance since leaving Texas is great so the chance of knowing he was passing thorugh town lessened considerably. Leaves me a little homesick for the Lone Star State now that I sit here today thinkin back on those times.

I still bought all the records he would continue to release. There's a bunch of them....one even produced by the brother and sister team of the popular band --uh oh -- senior moment here!!! :shock: :lol: The album cover featured a photograph of his car on fire out in the dirt parking lot at one of Willie Nelson's 4th of July picnics....thus the album title -- 'Picnic' -- here we are: The Cowboy Junkies. Whew!!! Somebody needs a nap..... :lol:

Anyway, I took the long road to tell you that I just got an email from The Birchmere outside DC announcing that Robert Earl Keen, Jr. is there for two nights in March. But that's not why I found it important to bring light to here. No, that's not why at all. It's the nature of the show.

Robert Earl Keen, Jr. in an intimate setting solo acoustic.

Oh how long I have waited to see him in just such a setting again. Check him out if he plays near you.

The Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends

fortunately this post does..... :P

tour dates
Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
Posts: 3768
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Re: Robert Earl Keen

Postby paddyinthepub » Sun May 24, 2009 6:30 pm

Robert Earl Keen, Jr. dusting off an oldie and a couple new songs in Key West, Fla.

I Would Change My Life

Is There Wireless in Heaven?

F- Bomb Alert Warning in Red
Ph%&k it (grandpa word warning!!!)
"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy

paddyinthepub
Posts: 3768
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 9:44 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Re: Robert Earl Keen

Postby paddyinthepub » Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:45 pm

"once we're inside, it's a carnival ride" ~ ellis paul
paddy


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