By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
Robert Earl Keen considers himself a lucky and thankful man.
Keen, who has amassed 19 records and thousands of shows in his three-decade career, is scheduled to take the stage of the Stiefel Theatre, 151 South Santa Fe Avenue, at 8 p.m. Friday.
"I'm lucky to still be hanging out here and doing this. I feel like everything came full circle in a wonderful way," Keen told Salina Post. "You know, I've done a lot of things by the seat of my pants. I've always been driven by the fact that I've had very few opportunities as far as somebody stepping forward with a bunch of money to do something in the beginning. Everything that has happened is a result of that."
Keen said that he has tried a lot of ways to make music.
"I tried a lot of things. Tried going to Nashville. Tried a label. Tried independent. I think considering it all and my overall trajectory, I am very thankful for my opportunities past, present, and future," he said.
While Keen has accomplished much during his career, he still has something on his musical bucket list that he wants to do.
"I want to do a duet with Sade. I think if I say it enough times, maybe it will happen. I just love her. I love her songs. Her songs are really Spartan and beautiful, there’s no wasted words — it’s just amazing. And her voice! It’s an old cliche, but she really could sing the phone book," he told Salina Post.
Keen said he is "very visual" in his thinking when he writes a song.
"So I start with some sort of setting that I remember or had some impact, anywhere from sitting by a pond fishing or walking down a road, or what I am looking at that time," he explained. "I feel like the way to construct a song with some sort of narrative value is creating the setting. I am very visually oriented. I think the setting is just as important as anything else."
Although Keen is a prolific songwriter, he has a favorite song.
"I like 'Feelin' Good Again' because so many people have told me that it has helped them recover from hardships. That's magic in a song...nothing up my sleeve," he said.
It would seem, perhaps, that the musician himself has a bit of magic as well, judging by the audience response he receives.
"Touring is easy if you have a good audience. The key is the audience. We have fantastic audiences," Keen told Salina Post.
He said a friend had recently put him on the phone with a woman who had to tell her concert story.
"She had never heard of us, was mad at her husband for dragging her to the show and then told me that it was the best show she’d ever seen. She was so happy to talk about her discovery," Keen said. "Delightful discovery is better than free whiskey."
When he's not busy touring or writing music, Keen stays involved with philanthropic work.
"I am celebrating my 13th annual concert event for Texas’ own Hill Country Youth Orchestras. This year the money raised for the youth orchestras should reach $1 million. The Quebe Sisters will be joining me as the special guests at the Cailloux Theater in Kerrville, Texas, on March 7, 2020," Keen explained. "The youth orchestra is great. It provides the opportunity for children from first grade through 12th grade to participate in the only tuition-free youth orchestra music program in the country. It is the only thing like it around us."
As for the Salina concert, Keen said it's going to be a fun one!
"I have a killer band. Playing live is one of my favorite things to do. As a matter of fact it is the two best hours of my day," Keen said. "I write my setlist right before the show, so I don’t even entirely know what to expect. But it is going to be fun."