Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen is known for his narrative songwriting and uncanny ability to put a little slice of everyone’s life into his songs. They have the feel of an old troubadour telling the tales of his long life. Happy times, sad times and even the downright unsettling themes of some of his songs convey what life is all about. Keen speaks in truisms and paints characters not with broad strokes to give his song an everyman feel, but in finite terms; so much so that his complex story or character actually becomes that person everyone knows. Shucking the hook-rich, catchy song types of typical Nashville country, Keen delves deep into the qualities that make people human.Keen sat back in his tour bus Tuesday before his performance at the State Theatre to talk about his music and life on the road.
One pretty pervasive theme in your songwriting is working in the oil industry. Did you ever work in the oil field or on the oil rigs like you talk about in your songs?
Robert Earl Keen: Yeah, my dad used to be in the oil business. We used to spend our summer vacation in Laurel, Mississippi. So, as kids we were like ‘Dad, this isn’t vacation,’ and he’d be like ‘Aw yeah it is, look at these trees around here,’ and we say ‘No this isn’t – you’re working.’ His answer was you always have to put in a little bit of work when you’re on vacation. I was a roughneck for four summers in college. I was a derrick man the last summer – not that I’d recommend it.
What do you think about the trend now with such things as the “Red Dirt Revolution” and the turn back to the song and songwriter that has been brought on by bands from Texas and Oklahoma?
R.E.K.: The turn to songs and songwriters, I think it’s great. Some of these people write some great songs and definitely have created an interest that goes beyond their county line.
Do you feel like the patriarch of some of these red dirt bands?
R.E.K.: As far as like, did I do something that made a lot of sense to people, in particular the red dirt guys like you are talking about? Yeah, it makes perfect sense, because that’s what they all want to do … get out and play.
You stay on the road a lot. Is that where you’re most comfortable?
R.E.K.: I’ve always stuck to just doing what I did, which was writing songs and performing. I think it has been the performing part that has really kept me going. When you’re out on the road, you know, you’re the captain of your own ship to some degree. You get out there and you’re playing to the people. You’re doing your own thing and if people like it then you can keep doing it.
How long do you plan on staying on the road? Are you going to be like Willie Nelson and do it as long as you can?
R.E.K: As long as it works out, I like the road. Sometimes I might think I’m out here a little too much. I like to be with my family, and I miss them when I’m on the road, but at the same time this is the only thing I know how to do. I can’t really think of something else I’d do. There’s definitely some perks, too, of the job. I get to hang out and meet all these cool people. When you’re out of it those perks disappear rapidly.
When it comes to your songwriting, how do you do it? Do you sit down with the intent of writing a song or do you let them just come to you?
R.E.K.: I try a lot of different things. I’m real open-minded about how you can write a song. My main way of writing songs would be just sitting here and playing some chords. You just let your mind drift like you kind of would right before you fall asleep. You kind of lock in on something that seems like a good idea and play around with the melody. You can sometimes find this vague idea and this vague melody, and you let them push each other around ’til something comes out. If you look at my songs, my songs aren’t real hook-oriented. They have choruses and all, but they’re not the really pithy and clever hooks that you hear in a lot of songs. I’m more of a storyteller.
How did songs like “The Road Goes On Forever” and “Corpus Christi Bay” come about?
R.E.K.: Both of them had the same process applied. For “The Road Goes On Forever” I was just sitting around on my porch. I lived in this little one-horse town for the longest time called Bandera, Texas. It’s not your real textbook small town, it has that flavor, but it’s real wild and wooly and had some real characters in it. I knew this couple that was always in trouble and I just started with that. I just fictionalized the rest. I just created this big story. “Corpus Christi Bay” really was more journalistic because that’s pretty much what my life was like when I worked down in Corpus on these rigs in the summer. My brother lived down there and it was like we never slept and this job was like a seven-day-a-week job. We didn’t even have a day off. Everyday I’d head off to work and everyday I’d come home to go to bed. My brother would say ‘Man, you can’t do that – we’ve got to go out. Be a man.’ He’d intimidate me or kind of goad me into this stuff and we’d go out and tear up the town. It was wild, funny and scary – mostly alcohol-induced.
When you were starting out, was there a time when you realized that you had made it big?
R.E.K.: I don’t know if I’ve ever had that moment. I mark the really great parts of what I’ve done by the opportunities I’ve had to hear other people.