Robert Earl Keen News

By CHRIS SHULL FORT WORTH - Robert Earl Keen captures Texas - its wide open landscape, its cross-culture borderland, its people - with gritty honesty and homespun humor.

Veteran singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen has a slew of signature songs , and he's still cranking out thoughtful material on his new album, The Rose Hotel .

The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is a scientific comparison of Robert Earl Keen's three live albums.

Richie Reinholdt has a way with words. On the local musician's latest release, Shelf Life, phrases like, "four wheel songs by morning light" and "the sky holding sunset in her hair" pepper songs that lope along in melancholic alt-country soundscapes.

Hallelujah, everybody say 'Cheese' Merry Christmas from the family! If you've never had the chance to hear alt-country star Robert Earl Keen do this song live, you should go do it before you're dead.

Robert Earl Keen was in the Kerrville Albertsons the day before Thanksgiving, shopping for a turkey to cook on his smoker, when I connected with him to talk about his passion for feeding the less fortunate.

Jeremiah James Gang, Idaho's top-selling honky tonk/outlaw country band, will perform at 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec.

In an interview in June Lyle Lovett mused on the tendency of critics, music industry types and even some fans to label him a country artist, when there's really no accurate categorization for the stylistically borderless music the Houston native creates.

You can get listings anywhere, but you'll only get the story here. KEEN MUSICAL INSIGHT: Robert Earl Keen isn't a music industry insider.

As an instrumental virtuoso with a wildly curious nature, the 47-year-old songwriter, banjo player, and guitarist is known for genre cross-pollination: He has played bluegrass with Austin band the Bad Livers, jazz with Bill Frisell, and country with Robert Earl Keen.

Bon Jovi, "The Circle" . 3 stars. Carrie Underwood, "Play On" . 3.5 stars. Wolfmother, "Cosmic Egg" . 4 stars.

"The Road Goes On Forever" is a song that twangy Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen wrote 20 years ago and knows he will never outrun.

If there's one guy who has become almost synonymous with Texas, it's Lyle Lovett.

It was fellow Texan Steve Earle who talked Robert Earl Keen into moving to Nashville to become an important songwriter in the '80s, back when Texans were all the rage.

There are a lot of songs about Texas out there, and Rocks Off wouldn't be doing our duty if we sent you off into the world without properly informing you about their veracity.

Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett have been friends since their days in college together at Texas A&M in the early 1980s.

ROBERT EARL KEEN is more a legend than a celebrity. For more than 25 years, the Houston native has been writing smart, plucky songs about misfits and barflies and has recorded a string of well-received albums, including the landmark " A Bigger Piece of Sky " in 1993 and " Picnic " in 1997.

For Mike Nealy, there's nothing like drinking a nice cold one at the end of the day, but don't expect to see him sipping the kind of brewski you pick up at the corner store or bar.

As universally anticipated, Miranda Lambert 's Revolution debuts at No. 1 this week on Billboard 's country album chart.

The unofficial king of today's crop of prolific Texas singer/songwriters, Robert Earl Keen doesn't have to write another word to help him book every available date he wants to play for the rest of his life.