PrintBook review: The Road Goes on Forever and the Music Never Ends
The Road Goes on Forever and the Music Never Ends
Robert Earl Keen
www.utexaspress.com
EnlargeFans of Robert Earl Keen will certainly enjoy getting to know the iconic Texas singer/songwriter better through the pages of The Road Goes on Forever and the Music Never Ends.
Released in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of his classic anthem "The Road Goes on Forever," the book is not so much a biography or career retrospective as it is an opportunity to page through the Keen family scrapbook.
Keen has released 16 albums and sells out shows from Maine to Mexico, having garnered an enthusiastic cult following.
Mainstream audiences may know him best from his songs which have been recorded by other artists, such as George Strait and Johnny Cash.
The book's 24 chapters are named for Keen songs, including "Paint the Town Beige" and "All I Have Is Today."
The lyrics to each song are reprinted amid candid photos, concert posters, private letters, journal entries, and glimpses into the stories behind the music.
Keen shows a gift for succinct understatement — of the song "Corpus Christi Bay," with its lyrics about getting drunk and stoned, he offers this insight: "True? Yes, unfortunately."
But it's that unadorned down-home honesty that appeals to his music fans, who will be delighted to find a CD enclosed with the book containing all 24 of the songs the book describes.
Issue: July 2009
