I’m new to Robert Earl Keen as a performer, but like his music. His songs have been covered by Joe Ely, Lyle Lovett, Jimmy Buffett and others from the “americana” music genre. I had a chance to catch him last night at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and really enjoyed the show. This was the smallest crowd of the year at the zoo but had the highest % of Texans (Keen is from Kerrville Texas) and got his start strumming on the front porch with Lyle Lovett (so the story goes). Keen had a tight band of bass, rippin’ lead guitarist, slide/steel guitars + keyboard player and drums. Vocally, Robert sounded good – chatted with audience a bit and pretty much rocked out like a good Texas boy. The highlight of the show was his long rendition of “The Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends”. This song lasted 7+ minutes with many a fun guitar exchanges between the lead and the steel guitar.

Todd Snider opened the show with a really long set. He is a singer songwriter from Portland, Oregon who has a great sense of humour, clever songs and fabulous repoir with the audience. I would see him again in a New York minute. Check out Robert Earl Keen on Rhapsody at http://www.rhapsody.com/robertearlkeen