A while back, we were chatting up Robert Earl Keen the best songwriter no one outside of Texas has heard of and we dropped the country bomb. Now, Keens a pretty mellow dude, but he got all worked up, saying, Ive never written a country song in my life. That phrase Texas singer/songwriter limits you. True, its both blessing and curse. Keens perpetually lumped in with the sainted likes of Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Nanci Griffith, but hes not a lick like any of em. We think heresy! that Keens better than any of em, a master storyteller who appeals to both sensitive types and snuff-drooling rednecks.
Fri., Feb. 8, 2008