(3605) Robert Earl Keen / Hayes Carll

From the ACL taping program on August 4, 2010:

Making a name for himself back in 1984 with his debut album, No Kinda Dancer, Texas native Robert Earl Keen is now regarded as one of the most highly venerated country music veterans of the past 20 years.

Born in Houston, Keen grew up listening to folk and country music in his home and created his own music that pleasurably combined both genres. Keen lays it down on the Austin City Limits stage with his well-known sound that blends “acoustic folk balladry and raucous barroom country” (NPR World Cafe).

Keen learned to play guitar while studying journalism at Texas A&M. During these years, he formed a lasting friendship with Lyle Lovett, and they eventually co-wrote the song “This Old Porch” together. After releasing his first album to a welcoming Austin audience, Keen went to Nashville in the mid-80s to try his hand at the Tennessee country music scene. Yearning for the Texas landscapes and residents that had provided him with unending creative inspiration for so many years, Keen returned to Austin soon thereafter.

In his most recent album The Rose Hotel, Keen performs songs ranging from a “spun-out story tune that looks at a pair of lovers who can never quite connect as they think they're meant to, fueled by a shuffling rhythm, mandolins, Bukka Allen's accordion, and some electric guitars for support” (Billboard). Keen’s mastery of the guitar has earned him critical acclaim worldwide, but USA Today sums up his talent best, stating that, “top-notch tune-smiths are as plentiful as tumbleweed in Texas, and American veteran Robert Earl Keen is the best.

• Throwin' Rocks
• Man Behind the Drums
• The Great Hank
• Something I Do
• 10,000 Chinese

with special guests
Lloyd Maines - guitar, mandolin
Danny Barnes - banjo
Bukka Allen - accordion, organ, piano

From the ACL taping program on August 4, 2010:

Live performances have proven to be one of Hayes Carll’s biggest strengths, inviting fans into his world with clever anecdotes, genuine sincerity and self-deprecating humor. Carll has an uncanny ability to relate to audience members by singing to them as if they are old-friends getting together on a summer evening, and his Austin City Limits performance promises to be no different.

Carll delivers songs born of baptism-by-fire experience, world-weary observations, and sharp wit. His confidence and charisma are second only to the quality of his songwriting. While his songs draw from Texas songwriting heroes such as Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Carll has crafted his sound into something that is truly his own.

In 2008, Carll released the album Trouble In Mind showcasing a collection of songs that blend some of the finest elements of folk, country, and rock with brainy, quirky lyrics. On this album, Carll navigates his way through both stormy weather and calm, sun-drenched waters with ease, emerging with songs that melt even the hardest heart in town or stir up a rowdy roadhouse. Mojo Magazine declares that the tone of Trouble In Mind “is spot-on and the songs have just the right amount of heft, humor, and humanity.”

In the two years since the release, Carll has toured non-stop, both with and without his band. Carll won Song of the Year at the 7th Annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards for his satirical “She Left Me For Jesus”. Carll’s patience and hard work paid off when Trouble In Mind became the number one R&R Americana Album of 2008.

• Wild as Turkey
• Chances Are
• Little Rock
• Duet
• Drunken Poet's Dream (with Ray Wylie Hubbard)
• Hide Me

with special guest
Ray Wylie Hubbard – vocals, guitar