ROBERT EARL KEEN

My first interview with Robert Earl Keen appeared in the April 1990 issue of Country Music People. On a working holiday in Texas, during the previous summer, the interview had taken place on the seemingly endless back porch of Robert's home in the heart of the West Texas Hill Country. Robert's home, one of a handful of properties located within a golf course complex, was enveloped by a shady copse. In addition, the complex boasted an airfield, and appropriately enough for someone raised in the ways of a true Texan, a swimming hole and a river. Armed with a fishing pole, you could while away long, hot Texas afternoons by the river's edge. Scenes snatched from memories of an idyllic afternoon, and I didn't even namecheck Kathleen Keen's wonderful sandwiches !

In early June 1989, Robert had just completed recording his third album 'West Textures,' for the independent, North Carolina based Sugar Hill label. That eleven track recording was subsequently released in the UK, on the Topic Records subsiduary, Special Delivery. Segue to 1993, and a series of coincidences. Four years later, Robert's fourth album 'A Bigger Piece Of Sky,' has been released on opposite sides of the pond, by those same labels. The interview on this occasion involved both our homes, the connection being courtesy of Alexander Graham Bell's penchant for invention.

REK: Are you in Kerrville ? I thought you maybe wanted to come by and have a sandwich.

AW: And don't I just wish that I could. Anyway, can I begin with the opening and closing tracks on the new album. There seems to be a worldly wise resignation in the lyric of both songs. Was that sequencing deliberate ?

REK: You know how old movies used to begin with the curtain drawing back, and end with them closing. That calm period, and then the action all takes place - that's how this new album works. That's the idea behind it, if you like. It opens with a gentle universal lyric in 'So I Can Take My Rest,' and ends with 'Paint The Town Biege,' which has a real personal, yet calm sort of lyric. Then we've got all those guns and stuff !

AW: We'll get to them later. You co-wrote 'Night Right For Love' with Greg Trooper. How did you run into him ?

REK: He was writing for some people that I know. They called me up and said, 'We've got this great writer living in Austin at the moment, and he wants to write with some people.' I went to Austin, met Greg and we wrote that song. I didn't really know him. I'd met Greg one time - but that's not really important - when you write together, it kind of depends on personality. I just happened to get along with him. Greg had some really good ideas and some nice music. We were able to do that song. In fact, it was a song that I already had about half written. I needed some help on it and he did the job. I had the melody and the first verse, but I wasn't sure where I was going with the song. All I knew I wanted to do with it, was make it as beautiful as possible. A real sensitive, warm and loving sort of lyric. I didn't want to get into the area of talking about any kind of hardship as far as the characters were concerned. The moment, is what I was trying to define.

AW: On the liner of Greg Trooper's current album 'Everywhere,' he namechecks a lady who appears on your new album. That's Maura O'Connell. Did you already know her ?

REK: When we were getting ready to do this record, I decided that I wanted to do 'Night Right For Love' as a duet. I had been trying to think of some people to do it with, and Garry Velletri suggested Maura. That was great, because I already knew Maura and had done a lot of shows with her. We also the only members of a real exclusive club, called The Martini Club. It was for people who had genuinely never drunk Martini's. Anyway, I called her up and she said that she'd love to do it.

AW: Maura also has a solo on 'Blow You Away,' as does Michael Snow. Who is he ?

REK: He's an Irish guy who lives in Nashville. One of the other musicians in the band knew Michael, and said that we should get him in to play the Bodhran. He's got a real raw, earthy feel to his voice and I love it. [Immitates Snow's line 'She drops your room key in the tray'].

AW: Let's check out those guns and stuff, and in particular, two cuts in the middle of the album. 'Blow You Away' and 'Here In Arkansas.' They're both quite dark songs lyrically. 'Blow You Away' focuses on an attitude which is very prevalent in society, here in the ninties.

REK: I'm glad to hear you say that about society. Many people can't see that. I didn't mean it as an anti-gun law song, but something really more basic - kind of a beware song. I don't have any particular bias, one way or another, against guns. I do think that it's kind of a scary world these days, with fourteen year olds out there blowing people away. The song describes all these situations which in one way could be a normal situation; in another way, there's always this trouble just bubbling beneath the surface. The message of that song, is that there is always a dark side to most of life's experiences.

AW: What about 'Here In Arkansas.'

REK: That's one of those songs, where you're about half asleep when you write it. You just let your mind roll with what is going on. You could say that it's a destiny oriented song. I made the story up as I developed the lyric. The victim in the song, is a regular person. Here's the scenario. You're out in a really, really rural place, where there's still some very superstitious people around. It's very remote and removed from the rest of the world. They have these old superstitions. The main character, who is the seventh son of the seventh born, is considered to be a jinx, or a bad omen, and they decide to get rid of him. They conclude through their superstition, that he will cause their destruction. What actually happens, in their attempt to get rid of him, is that they cause their own destruction. That's where the line about 'the fire across the prairie' comes from.

AW: Why did you decide to cover 'Amarillo Highway' ?

REK: Because I love the song and I'm a great fan of Terry Allen's. Part of the thing about being a songwriter who makes recordings, is the opportunity to pay tribute to other songwriters that you really like.

AW: There's a certain degree of humour in the Texas travelogue lyric of the latter song. The only song of yours in this set, which employs humour is 'Daddy Had A Buick.' Did you father actually own a Buick ?

REK: Oh yea. The first car that I remember we had, was a giant, copper brown Buick with holes on the side and huge chrome bumper on the front. I guess Buick's are pretty much the standard American kind of car. We're talking about basic middle America, and what that is about. It just describes how young people on the road react, when they have the opportunity to own a car. Not like the Tom Joad thing, but that real happy go lucky sort of thing. I still write funny songs, but I didn't put many on this record. I didn't want to diminish what I was trying to project, with some of the more serious songs. For instance, on 'West Textures' - I get more requests and more hoopla about 'The Five Pound Bass' and 'It's The Little Things,' than I do for songs like 'Mariano,' or even 'Leavin' Tennessee.' I think the latter pair of songs are just as great, but somehow people kind of pick out the funny stuff. I'm kind of glad, because part of what my act is about, is that I want to make people laugh. On the other hand, I also want to be taken seriously. On this new album, I decided to drop the funny stuff. The new humourous songs I've written, wouldn't have fitted in anyway.

AW: Last year, Joe Ely covered 'The Road Goes On Forever' and 'Whenever Kindness Fails.' What did you think of his versions ?

REK: I just loved them. I'm just a huge fan of Joe's, and I thought he did a really great job. Even though I lived in Austin for a spell during the early eighties, I never got to know Joe at all. I met him at a show in Philadelphia. He heard me do the songs and decided to record them.

AW: The cover art for 'A Bigger Piece Of Sky' features a painting by cowboy artist Ray Strang, titled 'Slow Poke.' Do you own the original ?

REK: No. I own a print of it. This painting had a real particular, sentimental significance for me. It was a print that was in a frame, that hung above my grandmother's bed. She lived in this old, rickety house out in West Texas. I used to spend the summers out there with her. When she passed away, kind of like the 'Randall Knife' thing [NOTE. This is a reference to the Guy Clark song of the same name. The knife, owned by Clark's late father, became Guy's prized link with the past, after his father passed away], they asked me what I wanted. I told them that I wanted that painting. They gave it to me. When we did the record and I decided on the title, I thought that I'd like to have the painting on there, because it means a lot to me. I've found in this whole business, that if you do what means a lot to you, you never regret it. I do have a small collection of western books, that I pick up at junk stores. I've also got a bunch of little cowboy trinkets, here and there, but it's not like my life revolves around them. I know people who go into the western thing, so deep, that they even sleep in their Wranglers.

AW: In 'Jesse With The Long Hair' who shot Mr. Brown, the banker. Was it the sherriff ?

REK: Right.

AW: Three things attracted me to this song. The storyline, the quartet of characters and the need to find the solution to that mystery.

REK: That was my whole idea. I've always wanted to write a really good western song. I started banging around with the guitar one day and that song came out. I was really glad. It wasn't that simple though. I had to put in a lot of work on that song, because I wanted strong characters. I also wanted that element of intrigue. I didn't want it to be really, really obvious. The thing is about Marty Robbins' western songs, which I love, and would like to be able to even approach in terms of quality, as a writer - songs like 'Big Iron' and 'El Paso' are fairly straight forward - with 'Jesse...' and unlike Marty's lyrics, I wanted the answer to be a little bit of a mystery. That applies to the chorus as well - Flesh and blood it turns to dust, Scatters in the wind, Love is all that matters in the end - the idea about the chorus repeating, is that it applies to Jesse [NOTE. Who is cast in an outlaw/folk hero mould] and Luann, throughout most of the song. At the end, what it applies to really, is the sherriff's love for his old comrade Jesse.

AW: The principal character in 'Crazy Cowboy Dream' is pretty restless. Does that type of lifestyle hold any appeal for you ?

REK: No. That's a song about a rodeo rider. When I perform it onstage, I often think that the lyric kind of parallels my life as a musician. When I'm on the road, I see people that I love for a very short period of time, and then I jump the fence again. That's what that song is really about. I wrote a rodeo song, because I used to ride the rodeo some, and I've always been really intrigued with it. I enjoy it quite a bit, so I just drew from my experiences. That element of having to keep moving on, is exactly how the music business lifestyle can be as well.

AW: Having listened to your album regularly over the last couple of weeks, I can hear Willie Nelson performing this song. I reckon that Willie should record an album which only contains material penned by Texas born writers. 'Crazy Cowboy Dream' should certainly be one of the tracks.

REK: That would really be a great song for Willie to do. I understand that he has just issued a new record, which includes a couple of Lyle's songs. And a couple by John Hiatt. I haven't heard it, but that sounds like a good idea.

AW: There's a powerful story and a colourful group of characters in 'Corpus Christi Bay.' It struck me that it could have been a Larry McMurtry novel. I've already seen the movie in my minds eye. Was writing the song in that style deliberate ?

REK: Well, thanks for that compliment. 'Corpus Christi Bay,' is a sad song about having fun. A lot of that song is exactly how my life was. I lived in Corpus for a while and worked in the oilfields. Obviously I'm not in Corpus still hanging around in a bar, but when I was there, it seemed like those were the only places I ever saw.

AW: Since the lyric features a blacktop county road, a swimming hole and a fishin' pole, the closing track 'Paint The Town Biege,' can only be autobiographical.

REK: It is. To be honest, since you've visited us here, I would have hoped that you would have been able to draw that conclusion. Actually, I've had several people tell me that the song is precisely a reflection of feelings which they have. It's a song about moving out of the city, forgetting the fast lane and mellowing out a little bit. The country life undoubtedly does that for you.

AW: Gary Velletri who produced 'A Bigger Piece Of Sky,' is a new name to me. Where did you find him ?

REK: Actually, I've known Gary for about eight years. He runs Bug Music in Nashville, who I write for. He helped me out when I first cut these songs as demos. When we were ready to do the album, I asked him if he wanted to produce it, and he said 'Yes.' We worked real well together and I enjoyed the whole experience.

AW: You recorded this album at The Board Room in Nashville. Is that a new studio ?

REK: No. It's an old house. One of those kind of shotgun style houses. Actually it went out of business right after we cut the album. We did it there, because I really like the work which the engineer Jeff Coppage does. It's only a small, three room house. One room is where the engineer works and the other two rooms, were recording studios. We cut some of the songs on 16 track and the remainder on 24 track.

AW: You've already made a video for 'Daddy Had A Buick.' Do you plan to do any more ?

REK: That becomes a matter of how much money you have, and I've spent all my money. I was either going to spend money on advertising, or on a video. I chose the latter. In fact it's the first video I've ever made. It mostly shows me in performance, with some black and white shots of a couple driving a Buick around. The wind is blowing in their hair, and they're playing the radio and stuff. It's mainly me and some musicians playing together. It's real good and I like it. I believe they're showing it on CMT Europe.

AW: Your new album was released Stateside in later February. Have you done any television shows, or tours to promote it ?

REK: Yes. For television, I did Nashville Now, Crook N' Chase and The Texas Connection. Crook N' Chase is a Nashville Network show. Like a country version of Entertainment Tonight. This was all in March. I also went out on the road and opened up for Lyle [Lovett]. The tour consisted of seven days in Montana, Oregon, California and also in Canada. While we were there, we did a TV show out of Edmonton, called Country Beat. We performed in Vancouver, and they came down and shot it. Lyle was touring with his Acoustic Quartet.

AW: Two of your songs have been included on the soundtrack of the latest Peter Bogdonovich movie 'The Thing Called Love.' 'Daddy Had A Buick' and 'Corpus Christi Bay' being the songs in question. I believe that Trisha Yearwood, K.T. Oslin and Webb Wilder appear in the movie. Do you also appear on the big screen ?

REK: No. It's only my songs which you can hear in the background. The film comes out in the States this July, I understand. Mark Roswell who did 'The Commitments,' is the music director for this movie. He was in Nashville when we were cutting this record. He came by and I played him a couple of songs and he liked them pretty well. Then I was in Nashville last October, playing at The Bluebird Cafe. Mark, a guy named Stephen - I can't remember his last name, plus the actor, River Phoenix came to see me play. The next thing I knew, they said they were thinking about using my songs. Then I heard that they had decided not to include them. The next thing I knew, someone told me that Peter Bogdonovich had heard my songs and wanted them on the soundtrack. The movie is about a young songwriter who arrives in Nashville, experiences some hardships, has a buddy that's an old crusty songwriter who helps him through - I don't know where it goes from there - the young guy probably falls in love with somebody and becomes a great big star.

AW: Is there a second Robert Earl Keen, British tour in the offing ?

REK: It starts May 20th, as far as I know. We're doing about eight or nine dates. There's a couple of Irish dates and then we go to Norway.

AW: Finally, you appear to have dropped Junior from your name.

REK: It got too complicated. I'd see my name advertised at various venues as Robert Keen Jr., Robert E. Keen Jr., Robert Earl Keen - they'd leave out the Junior. I figured people are really kind of used to this three name thing now, so I decided to stick with that.

Come to think of it, during our conversation, I forgot to let Robert Earl Keen know what I thought of 'A Bigger Piece Of Sky.' Quarter way into 1993, I can attest to having heard some damned fine albums. If that high quality level is maintained for the remaining nine months, that old chestnut, the end of year Best of...... is going to involve some real conscientious selecting this year. As batting averages go, Robert Earl Keen deserves to earn major league rewards and recognition for 'A Bigger Piece Of Sky' . Anything less would be unacceptable in my opinion.