Robert Earl Keen returns from retirement full steam ahead with new album Western Chill.
Cowboys & Indians: Well, looks like you’ve had the shortest retirement since Frank Sinatra’s brief hiatus in 1971. Because here you are with a terrific new album, Western Chill.
Robert Earl Keen: It really hinges on the fact that I am no longer touring. So that means I don’t have a bus, I don’t get in [it] and go out and tour. I do a few cameo appearances, like two or three songs for different fundraisers, and people that I like and need help, that sort of thing. The main thing is that I just continue to work in music. But the touring part is over. And that would really take up about 80 percent of my life.
C&I: But Western Chill is not just an album. Tied in with it, you’ve got a graphic novel, you’ve got a songbook, you got, I don’t know, maybe coupons for free pizza?
Keen: [Laughs] Well, we also have a DVD.
C&I: So this is quite a package, eh?
Keen: Yeah, absolutely. It’s been a project we started two and a half years ago, at the outset of COVID. When that happened, I decided to keep the entire company and the band intact. And after about a month of not touring or doing anything, I thought, well, let’s just get together and play. So they came out to the place that we have in Medina, Texas, which is west of San Antonio, about 70 miles. And we did some rehearsal. Actually, we just played for a couple of days. And then I said, well, you know, let’s just rehearse some of the stuff that we played over the years and kind of polish it up. And everybody was in on it, because it was so relaxed, and there was no timeframe really.
And while we were doing some of these rehearsals, I wrote ... Well, I actually wrote, like, five songs in one night. And the first song I wrote was this one called “Western Chill.” It’s more or less a talking blues song. And it really became the prologue to the entire project in that it lays out the vibe and the idea of just taking it easy and sitting back and just watching the sunset. Or just enjoying the air.
C&I: How did the band respond?
Keen: When they came back the next time, I said, “Here’s what I want to do: I want to take this particular song” — and I played it for them, and we rehearsed it a little bit. And then I said, “What I’d like to do is this: All you guys write songs, and you’re great players. Really great players. So bring your songs in, and we’ll do those, we’ll work those up, and see what we can do.
And they said, “You mean we bring our songs in, and you learn them, and then you sing them?” I said, “No, no. This is everybody’s thing, everybody’s in it. Bring your songs, you’re going to play them, you’re going to sing them, we’ll all learn them together.” So we did that, and then we decided that well, what we’re going to do is just record it and make a video of it, and put it out there in the world.”
C&I: And then?
Keen: So we had great audio, great video. And from there, I thought, “Well, hell, I’ll just make a record out of it.” So we made a record, and then someone suggested well, you know, you should have some kind of companion piece. And someone suggested doing a graphic novel. And I thought, well, that’s a pretty big undertaking. But we started in on that, found somebody that would do it. Got some great artwork on the LP that we produced, and it just became this thing that I call The Hill Country Multi-Media Project Lifestyle Experience.
C&I: Well, if it’s a graphic novel, are we going to see you in a cape and a superhero outfit?
Keen: [Laughs] No, not really. On the other hand, I might be self-aggrandizing a little bit, but I would have to say, in terms of making a project, it was the most fun I ever had. And you can see on the DVD, everybody’s just really relaxed and just sort of just taking it easy. And these songs — magically, they all came together. The songs that these guys brought in really fit the project perfectly, and everything just dovetailed into another song and another song so well that there is a little narrative that goes on there. Like, boy loses girl, boy meets girl, everything works out in the end kind of thing. If I’d have gone any longer, I would’ve written a musical play behind it. But maybe I’ll save that for
another day.
This article appears in our August/September 2023, available on newsstands now or through our C&I Shop.