Robert Earl Keen (born January 11, 1956) is an American country singer and songwriter from Houston, Texas.
Early life and education
Keen was born and grew up in Houston, Texas. As a teenager, he was an avid reader who excelled in writing and literature classes. Keen was a fan of the British rock band Cream, and was influenced by country music from artists Willie Nelson, Norman Blake, Jesse Winchester, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Withers, Gary Stewart, and Jimmie Rodgers.
After graduation from Sharpstown High School, Keen started playing guitar himself shortly thereafter, learning to play classic country covers out of a songbook the summer before starting college at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. In 1983, Keen won the New Folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas. That same year, he began making his self-produced first album, No Kinda Dancer. While in Nashville, Keen and Gray worked at Hatch Show Print shop.
Keen returned to Texas in 1987 and released his second album, The Live Album, in 1988, followed by his third album, West Textures in 1989. Keen's own version of "Whenever Kindness Fails" appeared on his fourth album, 1993's A Bigger Piece of Sky. In 1994, he released Gringo Honeymoon followed by No. 2 Live Dinner in 1996. His 1997 album, Picnic, marked the beginning of his on-again, off-again relationship with major labels (both that album and 1998's Walking Distance were issued on Arista Records, and 2001's Gravitational Forces, 2009's The Rose Hotel, and 2011's Ready for Confetti were released on Lost Highway Records). Keen's other albums include 2003's Farm Fresh Onions (Audium/Koch Records) and 2005's What I Really Mean and 2006's Live at the Ryman (both on E1 Music). The producers with whom he has worked on those albums have included John Keane, Gurf Morlix, Gary Velletri, and Lloyd Maines. In 2022, his concert tour was listed as one of the most successful in the world.
In January 2022, Keen announced that he would stop touring and performing publicly after September 2022. His final tour was named the "I'm Coming Home Farewell Tour" and the final leg was played September 1, 3, and 4 at Floore's Country Store in Helotes, Texas. Approximately 3,000 people attended the last show on September 4 for nearly two-and-a-half hours. Despite the claims of playing his final shows and farewell tour, Keen proceeded to do several shows in 2023 and listed a 2024 tour on his website with a dozen stops. Instagram posts on Keen's account containing photos from his "I'm Coming Home Farewell Tour" were later edited to remove reference to the "farewell" part of the tour.
Discography
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!
! rowspan="2" style="width:14em;"| Title
! rowspan="2" |Label
! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Album details
! colspan="6"| Peak chart positions
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
!Year
! width="40"| US Country<br />
! width="40"| US<br />
! width="40"| US<br />Heat<br />
! width="40"| US<br />Indie<br />
! width="40"| US<br />Folk<br />
! width="40"| US<br />Grass<br />
|-
!1984
| scope="row" | No Kinda Dancer
|Sugar Hill Records
| CD, Cassette, LP record
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
!1989
| scope="row" | West Textures
|Sugar Hill Records
| CD, Cassette
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
!1993
| scope="row" | A Bigger Piece of Sky
|Sugar Hill Records
| CD, Cassette
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
!1994
| scope="row" | Gringo Honeymoon
|Sugar Hill Records
| CD, Cassette
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
!1997
| scope="row" | Picnic
|Arista Records
| CD, Cassette
| —
| 160
| 4
| —
| —
| —
|-
!1998
| scope="row" | Walking Distance
|Arista Records
| CD, Cassette
| —
| 149
| 3
| —
| —
| —
|-
!2001
| scope="row" | Gravitational Forces
|Lost Highway Records
| CD
| 10
| 111
| 1
| —
| —
| —
|-
!2003
| scope="row" | Farm Fresh Onions
|Audium/Koch Records
| CD
| 24
| 172
| 9
| 11
| —
| —
|-
!2005
| scope="row" | What I Really Mean
|E1 Music
| CD, Streaming, Download
| 21
| 122
| 1
| 5
| —
| —
|-
!2009
| scope="row" | The Rose Hotel
|Lost Highway Records
| CD, Streaming, Download
| 17
| 83
| —
| —
| 10
| —
|-
!2011
| scope="row" | Ready for Confetti
|Lost Highway Records
| CD, Streaming, Download
| 21
| 66
| —
| —
| 3
| —
|-
!2015
| scope="row" | Happy Prisoner:<br />The Bluegrass Sessions
|Dualtone Records
| CD, Streaming, Download
| 10
| 109
| —
| 6
| 5
| 1
|}
Live albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" style="width:14em;"| Title
! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Album details
! colspan="1"| Peak positions
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! width="45"| US Country<br />
|
- Release date: November 18, 2016
- Label: Dualtone Music
- Formats: CD, Music download
| 29
|-
| colspan="10" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart
|-
|}
Compilation albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! style="width:14em;"| Title
! style="width:18em;"| Album details
|-
! scope="row"| Best
|
- Release date: November 7, 2006
- Label: E1 Music
- Formats: CD, music download
|-
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Year
! style="width:14em;"| Single
! Album
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1984
! scope="row"| "No Kinda Dancer"
| rowspan="2" align="left"| No Kinda Dancer
|-
! scope="row"| "The Armadillo Jackal"
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1997
! scope="row"| "Over the Waterfall"
| align="left" rowspan="3"| Picnic
|-
! scope="row"| "Levelland"
|-
! scope="row"| "Undone"
|-
| 1998
! scope="row"| "Down That Dusty Trail"
| align="left" rowspan="2"| Walking Distance
|-
| 1999
! scope="row"| "That Buckin' Song"
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2001
! scope="row"| "Hello New Orleans"
| align="left" rowspan="3"| Gravitational Forces
|-
! scope="row"| "Not A Drop of Rain"
|-
| 2002
! scope="row"| "High Plains Jamboree"
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2003
! scope="row"| "Furnace"
| align="left" rowspan="2"| Farm Fresh Onions
|-
! scope="row"| "All I Have Is Today"
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2005
! scope="row"| "What I Really Mean"
| align="left" rowspan="2"| What I Really Mean
|-
! scope="row"| "The Great Hank"
|-
| 2009
! scope="row"| "The Rose Hotel"
| align="left" rowspan="2"| The Rose Hotel
|-
| 2010
! scope="row"| "The Man Behind the Drums"
|-
| 2011
! scope="row"| "I Gotta Go"
| align="left"| Ready for Confetti
|-
|}
Music videos
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Year
! style="width:18em;"| Video
! Director
|-
| 1997
! scope="row"| "Over the Waterfall"
| Steven T. Miller/R. Brad Murano
|-
| 2004
! scope="row"| "Merry Christmas from the Family"
| David McClister
|-
| 2005
! scope="row"| "What I Really Mean"
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| 2015
! scope="row"| "Hot Corn Cold Corn"
| Curtis Millard
|-
! scope="row"| "Footprints in the Snow"
| Matt Bizer
|}
Other appearances
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Song
! Album
|-
| 2018
| "Do Wacka Do"
| King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller
|}
Notable covers
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Year
!Performer
!Single
!Reference
|-
|1987
|Nanci Griffith
|"Sing one for Sister"
|
|-
|2009
|Reckless Kelly
|"Think It Over One Time"
|
|-
|2009
|Max Stalling, Dale Clark
|"No Kinda Dancer"
|
|-
|2009
|Jason Boland
|"Mariano"
|
|-
|2009
|Chris Knight
|"Undone"
|
|-
|2001
|Lyle Lovett
|"This Old Porch"
|
|-
|1998
|Lyle Lovett
|"Rollin' By"
|
|-
|1998
|George Strait
|"Maria"
|
|-
|1992
|Joe Ely
|"Whenever Kindness Fails"
"The Road Goes on Forever"
|
|-
|2006
|Cross Canadian Ragweed
|"Lonely Feelin'"
|
|-
|2000
|Dixie Chicks
|"Merry Christmas from the Family"
|
|-
|2015
|Shawn Colvin
|"Not a Drop of Rain"
|
|}
Honors
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Honor
!Reference
|-
|1983
|Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition
|
|-
|2018
|Texas A&M University Distinguished Alumni Award
|
|-
|2019
|Inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame
|
|}
References
External links
- Texas Heritage Songwriters Association
- Americana Podcast