Abilene

Carol Ann and I are in Abilene, TX tonight. Abilene is 386 miles from our home in Nacogdoches (in east Texas), but is still not actually considered to be in west Texas. El Paso is another 450 miles west on I-20. We will be “dry camping” (no electric, water, or sewer) in our motorhome for the next four nights. It’s not exactly roughing it. We have our own generator, water tank, and waste tanks. We are here to attend the “Legends and Outlaws Music Fest,” three days of Texas music in an outdoor venue consisting of a large stage, plenty of open space for the audience, and RV parking in a lot behind the audience. There are a lot of trees, cottonwoods I believe, but there isn’t one leaf between all of them so they won’t be offering any shade. Shade would be good as it will be sunny with temps in the low 80’s. Fortunately the humidity is not high. It hasn’t rained an appreciable amount out here in years due to the extended drought.

There were a lot of little problems that seemed to plague us today. Before leaving this morning we were chasing cats around the house and in the backyard. We had planned to take three of our five cats with us but finally decided to make do with only one, Goblin. She is a bit overweight, tends to waddle when trying to run, and wasn’t fast enough to escape. The house sitter will have the other four plus our dog for company.

It was gray and overcast morning with a temperature of about 55 degrees when we finally got on the road. It soon began misting and then the rain poured down hard for a while. However, by the time we reached Dallas, the sky was clear and sunny with the temperature heading for the 80’s. West of Fort Worth the wind picked up as it often does out on the plains.  It wasn’t long before my neck and shoulders were aching from working so hard with the steering wheel to stay in my lane.

We stopped to top off our fuel and propane tanks when we were about 90 miles from Abilene. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of diesel for the generator and enough propane for the fridge, hot water heater, and heat if needed. Diesel fuel was no problem but the Flying J did not have the right kind of adapter to fit my propane tank’s fill valve so our propane tank is only about a third full.  That should be enough if we don’t need heat, and it doesn’t look like we will.

After we drove up the dirt road and across the red dirt RV parking lot our midnight blue tow car was completely red. The RV parking is in a field with very little vegetation but with a lot of red dirt. It was windy today so everything is coated with a fine, red dust. We disconnected the car only to find that it would not start.  Three guys helped me push it out of the way and after we got the motorhome parked and setup I got some help jumping the car off. 

If we need anything in the way of supplies we have to make sure we get them before 2PM tomorrow. That’s when the music starts and there will be no pass outs, which means we are locked in until Sunday morning. If the car doesn’t start in the morning I won’t be able to bet to the beer store!

Unless you are familiar with Texas music you probably wouldn’t recognize the names of many of the artists that will be performing over the next three days. I suppose the biggest name is Leon Russell. Unfortunately, he died a few months ago so will not be performing as scheduled. It’s unfortunate because Leon was a prolific songwriter, writing songs for the likes of Joe Cocker, Elton John, Tom Petty, J.J. Cale, Phoebe Snow, Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson, Christina Aguilera, and Michael Buble. Leon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

This is Leon doing one of my favorites, Delta Lady.

The others include:

·      Robert Earl Keene (this blog is named after one of his songs, The Road Goes On Forever)

·      Gary P. Nunn (he talks about one he wrote, Redneck Mother, and sings it at Up Against the Wall)

·      Ray Wylie Hubbard (one of his best is Screw You, We're From Texas)

·      Billy Joe Shaver (a good one is Live Forever)

·      Jason Boland (meet Jason and the band here, The Texas Music Scene)

·      Tommy Alverson (listen to Una Mas Cerveza)

The other dozen or more performers I have never heard of but am planning on enjoying them all. I’ll be sure and let you know all about it.

Post Script:  I have added a photo page (see right hand column) where I will be posting some of the picutres I take at the music fest.

Robert Earl Keen in Concert

Tonight I would finally get to hear Robert Earl Keen, Jr. in person.  Carol Ann and I left Nacogdoches at 6:00PM and headed West for the 7:30PM concert in Crocket, TX.  I had my iPhone connected to the car’s sound system and we listened to Robert Earl Keen songs during the drive.  We were getting in the mood.

We arrived about 7:00PM.  The parking lot was not very crowded at all.  We parked close to the door and went inside to the “Will Call” window for our tickets.  Robert Earl Keen souvenirs were being sold in the lobby so I had to buy a Robert Earl Keen “The Road Goes on Forever” T-shirt and a “Road Goes on Forever” bumper sticker.  The sticker is over two feet long and is asphalt black with white lines down the middle (like a highway).  On the left-hand side above the road are the words, “The Road Goes on Forever.” Guess I'll have to place on the rear of the motorhome.

We found our seats and although the scheduled start was only twenty minutes away, there were not very many people in the auditorium.  I was a bit concerned.  After we had been seated for perhaps ten minutes I looked up and was startled to see Robert Earl about six feet away from me saying hello to two elderly women sitting right in front of us.   He was wearing an old cowboy hat and shorts (well, he isn’t exactly mainstream).  I could have reached out and touched him.  Instead I immediately started shooting pictures of him.  I mean I almost had the camera in his face!  I was like the paparrazi!  I was thinking about whether or not to ask him for his autograph when all of a sudden I realized that the guy I was snapping photos of, was in fact, NOT Robert Earl Keen.  He was the right age and had a similar beard and did bear a resemblance to Robert Earl, especially if you had never actually seen Robert Earl in person before.  The man ended up sitting about three rows in front of us, probably thinking that I must be a really weird guy.  I was a little embarrassed about the whole thing but Carol Ann began to laugh and I couldn’t help but join her.  I am just so glad that I only took pictures and didn’t reach out and shake his hand or ask for his autograph.  How stupid I felt!

Robert Earl Keen, as I mentioned in my last post, is a Texas singer-songwriter.  I guess you could call his music “Alternate Country” with a little “Americana” thrown in.  Something like “Texacana,” except that makes it sound more like “Tex-Mex” and it’s not.  All of his songs tell a story of life.  They are not a conglomeration of nonsensical words that just happen to rhyme.  His songs might have eight to ten verses, plus chorus, with each verse like a chapter in a book.  He is a storyteller who tells his stories with songs.

7:30PM came and went and the seats began filling up.  The tickets and signs all said 7:30PM but it was 8:00PM when Robert Earl was finally introduced and welcomed to the stage where he was presented with a coonskin cap like Davey Crocket, hero of the Alamo and namesake of the town, wore.  Crocket is the fourth oldest town in Texas.  Nacogdoches happens to be the oldest.  Sam Houston lived in Nacogdoches for four years prior to the Texas Revolution.  A stone house that he built as a trading post is known as Old Stone Fort and located on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches.  The El Camino Real (now Highway 21) ran East-West through Nacogdoches.  Nacogdoches was the destination and marshaling center for many of the volunteers who came to Texas to fight in the Texas Revolution.  Enough history for now.  Back to Robert Earl.

Robert Earl has been entertaining for about 30 years and has always been, and still is, extremely popular on college campuses in Texas.  Especially his alma mater, Texas A & M.  A large part of the crowd tonight was composed of young people who probably were still in diapers, if they had been born, when Robert Earl's career started, yet they knew the words to almost every song and sang along much of the time.  It was a loud crowd.  A middle-aged woman sat on my left and yelled so loud that my left ear is still ringing.  She stomped and clapped and yelled through the entire performance.  A group of about eight young men were a few rows behind us and they knew exactly when to shout out the refrain or sing the chorus.  When they weren’t singing along they were hootin’ and hollerin’.  Robert Earl really seemed to be enjoying himself and having fun also.

One of the songs was “Merry Christmas from the Family.”  No matter that Christmas is still four months away.  It has always been one of his most popular songs and is really funny in a weird kind of way.  The first line is, “Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party.”  In an interview about a year ago he was asked about this song and he said that his mom didn’t like it very much, even though his mom and dad were both alcoholics.  I’m not sure if he was serious or joking.

He and his band played for about an hour and twenty minutes without a break.  There last song (before the encore) was “The Road Goes on Forever.”  I knew it would be last so before it started I left my seat and headed towards the front.  I got down on my knees between the stage and the front row and took some close-ups as he sang “The Road Goes on Forever” and the encore, Billy Joe Shaver’s “Live Forever,” which they did acoustically (no amps or microphones).  It was a really great show.  I wish it had been longer as there were more of his songs that I would love to have heard him sing.

On the drive back to Nacogdoches it was pitch black dark, no moon in the sky, and I missed a turn and we ended up in Lufkin, about 20 miles south of Nacogdoches.  We may have taken the scenic route but we couldn’t tell in the dark.

Robert Earl Keen in Concert

The Road Goes on to Crocket

Robert Earl Keen, Jr. is a Texas singer-songwriter and entertainer.  He got his start in 1984 and has recorded 18 albums.   His songs have been covered by artists such as George Strait, Joe Ely, Lyle Lovett, The Highwaymen, Nanci Griffith, and the Dixie Chicks.  Although a native of Houston, TX, Robert Earl now lives in the central Texas Hill Country and has long been a part of the Austin Music Scene.  He was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012.

Robert Earl is a graduate of Texas A&M University in College Station, where he earned a BA in English in 1980.  During his college years he became good friends with fellow Aggie Lyle Lovett.  The two of them spent many hours jamming together on the front porch of the house that Keen rented in College Station and together, they wrote “The Front Porch Song.”  After graduation he moved to Austin and began performing at various live music venues in the area.  He tried Nashville but his music wasn’t mainstream enough so he went back to Texas and stayed true to his music.

One of his songs, “The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends”, struck a chord with me early on.   When I started my blog a couple of years ago it just seemed a natural for the title of the blog.  Robert Earl wrote it 20 years ago and it has become his most popular song.  He plays it at the end of every show.

I’m finally going to see and hear Robert Earl Keen, Jr. in person.  On Friday, August 30, Carol Ann and I are going to Crocket, TX (about an hour’s drive) to see him in concert.  Can't wait.