Robert Earl Keen is the nation’s 2026 “Texan Of The Year.” Or at least that’s what a well-known, nonpartisan group of Texas business and political leaders said last year.
And the accolade fits. Because Keen, a veteran Americana singer/songwriter who performs at the Charleston Music Hall on March 18, isn’t just a first-rate writer. He’s a Texan down to his dusty boots. He’s more Texan than an oil well, basically.
So he was pretty excited, though a little bewildered, to find out about being named Texan Of The Year.
“It’s a real honor,” Keen said in a recent interview with the Charleston City Paper. “I would have never thought I’d be ‘Texan Of The Year,’ but I certainly won’t deny it. I feel like I’m a Texan born and bred, and I’m still flying the flag as much as I can.”
Keen was given the honor to celebrate his flood relief efforts in 2025, including a benefit concert. Overall, he helped to raise more than $3.2 million.
Keen, who lives in Kerrville, is also Texan to the bone when it comes to his songwriting. While Lyle Lovett, his longtime friend and former neighbor when they both attended Texas A&M University, has a true knack for a surreal punch line, Keen’s writing brings more of a wry smile than a chuckle.
Take his hilarious and horrific holiday tableau, “Merry Christmas from the Family.” It opens with “Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party,” and heads downward from there, including a visit from an ex-con cousin, margarita-spiked eggnog, a second beer run for Mom and Dad, and Keen receiving the ugliest Christmas sweater in the world as a gift.
None of it is overplayed. Keen recounts the scene as a low-key detached observer, simply shaking his head and saying to his listeners, “Oh, this? This is just a Texas Christmas, friend.” And you grin.
But that’s just the best-known example of his dry humor. Go check out “Gringo Honeymoon,” a travel story about a guy heading to Mexico after a breakup and quickly getting in over his head. Or listen to “Dreadful Selfish Crime,” the deadpan tale of a man who commits murder largely out of laziness. And there’s always “The Five Pound Bass,” a sort of mini “Moby Dick” tale about a bass fisherman stalking his prize.
Keen’s more subtle, but he’s just as funny in his own way as his old neighbor.
Keen said that, whether it’s him or Lyle Lovett or Joe Ely or Willie Nelson, no one writes songs like a Texas songwriter.
“Number one, Texas has a long musical history that dates back to the early 19th century,” Keen said. “But as far as how we’re connected as songwriters, I believe that we pay attention to our surroundings. There’s a lot of color in the work,
“The songs might have a sentimental meaning or some kind of pathos going on. But they’re always built on a lot of local color. I think that’s what we all share.”
Two albums in Charleston
On his current “Then and Now” tour, Keen is playing two of his classic albums in full. Fans at the Music Hall will hear every track on 2001’s Gravitational Forces and 2011’s Ready For Confetti.
Both albums display Keen’s master of songwriting and reaffirm his status as one of our best “Americana” artists, mixing incisive folky songwriting, country twang and rock muscle.
Gravitational Forces also includes one of Keen’s most beloved songs, “The Road Goes On Forever,” a cinematic outlaw ballad about drifters, crime and inevitable consequences told with the detail of a short story.
“I was the first artist on (the well-known Americana label) Lost Highway Records,” Keen said, adding with a chuckle that with Ready For Confetti, he was also the last-ever artist on Lost Highway.
“Maybe instead of ‘Then and Now,’ I should have called the tour ‘The Lost Highway Years,’ ” he said.
Regardless of what the tour is called, fans should try to catch this show. Keen still tours occasionally, but in 2022, he announced his retirement from heavy touring. Now, he simply plays the music he loves on his “Americana Podcast,” which is in its seventh season.
When it comes time to play live, Keen chooses his dates carefully. And he said he’s always happy to include a swing through the South on every tour he does.
“Charleston’s a beautiful city, first of all,” Keen said. “I call it the civilized version of New Orleans. I love coming down there. And historically, we just have great audiences there.”
“I try to play in friendly waters, Vincent,” he added with a grin we could hear over the phone.
But it’s not just Charleston. Keen is a guaranteed sellout show from The Birchmere in Virginia all the way down to the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta.
“Apparently, I speak the language pretty well,” he said of his popularity in the South. “There’s some kind of connection. All I really know is that the Southeast has always been solid for me.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: Doors open at 7 p.m. March 18, Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St., Charleston. Tickets range from $87-$251: charlestonmusichall.com
5 must-have albums by Robert Earl Keen
If you’re looking to get some prime music by Robert Earl Keen, here are five must-own REK albums.
No Kinda Dancer, 1984
The first Robert Earl Keen album is packed with gems, including a co-written song with Lyle Lovett that became a live staple “The Front Porch Song.”
A Bigger Piece of Sky, 1993
Generally considered a career peak, this album takes Keen out of his small-town Texas comfort zone in favor of a more expansive blend of roots rock, honky tonk country and Western back-porch folk. Keen’s storytelling abilities shine here with “Daddy Had a Buick,” “Corpus Christi Bay” and “Crazy Cowboy Dream.”
No. 2 Live Dinner, 1996
Keen spent decades honing a killer live show, and it’s on display here. Forget the studio versions of warhorses like “The Road Goes On Forever” and “Merry Christmas From The Family.” These are the definitive takes.
Gravitational Forces, 2001
Another critically-acclaimed release featuring a multitude of vivid stories with memorable melodies and superb instrumental backing. Keen delivers his goods early and often, starting with the singalong chorus to Joe Dolce’s “My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame.”
Ready For Confetti, 2011
Keen’s release schedule has slowed a bit, and this is one of two new albums that he’s released in the last 15 years. Luckily it’s a late-career winner, piled high with banjos, accordion, mandolins, guitars and layered backing vocals, all of it anchored by Keen’s grainy baritone.
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