Keen was awesome!
by SusanB on 9/27/23Birchmere - AlexandriaBoth the artist and the venue were a fantastic experience! Wishing Robert Earl Keen a peaceful retirement! The Birchmere is an experience I highly recommend!
“The road goes on forever ...”
It’s not always easy to sum up a career — let alone a life’s ambition — so succinctly, but those five words from Robert Earl Keen’s calling-card anthem just about do it. You can complete the lyric with the next five words — the ones routinely shouted back at Keen by thousands of fans a night (“and the party never ends!”) — just to punctuate the point with a flourish, but it’s the part about the journey that gets right to the heart of what makes Keen tick. Some people take up a life of playing music with the goal of someday reaching a destination of fame and fortune; but from the get-go, Keen just wanted to write and sing his own songs, and to keep writing and singing them for as long as possible.
Earlier this year, Keen played a handful of sold-out theater dates with Lyle Lovett, just two old friends swapping songs on acoustic guitars like they used to do on Keen’s front porch in College Station. But the lion’s share of his concert schedule still finds him playing full-tilt with his seasoned road and studio band: Brotherton on guitar, Bill Whitbeck on bass, Tom Van Schaik on drums, and Marty Muse on steel guitar. “I’ve been with this band for 20 years now,” Keen says proudly. “I used to think that was just sort of an interesting fact, but now it’s almost a total anomaly — that just doesn’t happen much. I always felt like once you lock into the right bunch of people, you try to do the best by them that you can. So we’ve been able to stay together a long time, and I think one thing that makes it worthwhile for people to come see us as an act is the fact that it’s not like we’re trying to work it all out onstage — we’ve already worked everything out.”
As for what they’ll be working on next, well, Keen’s fans probably won’t have to wait very long. Despite the fact that 2014 will mark the 30th anniversary of his first album, No Kinda Dancer, Keen’s primary focus remains — as ever — more on the road still ahead than the road behind him.
“We take everything one year at a time,” he says, “but I am hell-bent and bound to make a record this year. I really don’t know what I have in mind as far as what it will be, but what will happen is I will go off to my ‘Scriptorium’ for three or four days to write with no distractions, and I’ll have a record by the time I’m finished. I’m locked into this idea, and I know for a fact that I’m going to get a new record out ... unless I get hit by a bus or get run over by my own bus!”
Both the artist and the venue were a fantastic experience! Wishing Robert Earl Keen a peaceful retirement! The Birchmere is an experience I highly recommend!
Didn’t realize REK would be solo. A great how all the same. Worth the 4 hour drive.
One of the first solo shows for Robert Earle Keen after quitting the road in 2022. It was great to see him again, but he seemed a little lost/lonely without his band. Definitely some fine high points (Corpus Christi Bay, Dreadful Selfish Crime) but overall not quite the same experience as a full band event.
Loved the opportunity to see one of NY all time favorites do another show
REK puts on a great show and this was no exception. We're going to miss getting to see him due to his retirement from touring. I guess the road does not really go on forever.
Robert Earl Keen served up a generous helping of Texas-style live music, mostly enjoyed by the folks closest to the stage. I was straining to hear what was so funny, out of hearing range, as part of the audience sitting in the balcony. I couldn’t hear what he was saying! So, Moody Theater…was it the acoustics, was it Keen’s microphone level, was it Keen with his mouth on the microphone — too close — that made it difficult to understand song lyrics and when he was talking? Whatever the reason, I missed all his bygone touring stories and his lyrics’ back stories. They had to been humorous, telling by the reaction of those folks standing in the pit, up close next to the stage — laughing, waving and clapping! Sound check — testing, testing 1-2–3 please Moody sound technicians, for everyone to enjoy his final tour!
The Best REK show that I have attended. Reminded me of the Road Goes on Forever! The Music Went On Forever and Created a Fabulous Show!!!
Robert Earl Keen put on a damn good show and Todd Snider was great!
Good set list, band, and venue. Seemed to me like he was screaming the words a bit more than singing them. Still glad I didn’t miss the swan song tour but enjoyed his show more at The Paramount a few years back.
I am always so stoked to see The man himself and knew I had to be at his final tour (we'll see if it is final or not). I thought the show lacked the energy and he seemed tired and it was evident. Bummer.