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Hi How Are You Project is proud to bring you HI HOW ARE YOU DAY 2020 presented by American Campus Communities. This third annual celebration of the life and legacy of the late great Daniel Johnston is both a tribute and a call to action to remove the stigma around mental health, and to encourage conversations about well-being.

Confirmed band list:

Cage The Elephant

White Denim  

Jason Falkner

Tunde Adebimpe (TV on the Radio)

Katie Schecter

More to be announced soon!

Special thanks to Hi How Are You Day hero sponsor American Campus Communities, along with Regions Bank, Giant Noise, and Odessa Marriott Hotel & Conference Center.

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Los Lobos is unlike any other band, so it’s not surprising that the group’s first-ever Christmas album – Llegó Navidad – would break the holiday-album mold too.

Instead of relying on over-played seasonal standards for its latest album, the band, along with some friends, started out by researching and collecting nearly 150 different traditional (and not-so-traditional) Christmas songs from North, Central and South America. After narrowing down the list to 11 songs – and then adding their own original to the mix – David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin recorded them on their home turf in East Los Angeles.

The band set out to sing new life into these old songs and make the kind of fresh and vital holiday album that only Los Lobos could make. You’ve probably never heard 10 of the songs (“Arbolito de Navidad” and “Regalo de Reyes”); one you’ve absolutely heard (“Feliz Navidad”); and one you’ve definitely never heard (“Christmas And You”) – which was written especially for the album.

Llegó Navidad opens with Rosas singing “La Rama” (the branch), a lively song played in the regional folk style known as son jarocho, which is popular in the Veracruz region of Mexico. La Rama is also the name of the traditional Mexican holiday custom where the community adorns branches from a tree and displays them in a nightly procession through the neighborhood.

Hidalgo sings lead on “Christmas Time In Texas,” a track made popular by Tex-Mex legend Freddy Fender. Lozano’s distorted upright bass keeps time with his son Jason Lozano on drums, who makes special guest appearance on the song.

“Dónde Está Santa Claus” fires on all cylinders like a lowered Chevy Impala cruising Whittier Boulevard on the weekend. Berlin’s warm Vox Continental organ and Perez’s potent drumming create a head-nodding groove that’s miles away from the 1958 original, which was a novelty hit for 12-year-old singer Augie Rios. His version featured a full orchestra and poppy background vocals.

One of the interesting things about Llegó Navidad is that the rancheras, salsas and son jarochos on the album would sound right at home on the group’s 1978 debut, Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles. It’s a rare full-circle moment for the Grammy®-winning band, which has prided itself on never covering the same ground twice while making music for nearly 50 years. 

Their journey began in 1973, when Hidalgo (vocals, guitar, and pretty much anything with strings), Perez (drums, vocals, guitar), Rosas (vocals, guitar), and Lozano (bass, vocals, guitarrón) earned their stripes playing revved-up versions of Mexican folk music in restaurants and at parties. The band evolved in the 1980s as it tapped into L.A.’s burgeoning punk and college rock scenes. They were soon sharing bills with bands like the Circle Jerks, Public Image Ltd. and the Blasters, whose saxophonist, Steve Berlin, would eventually leave the group to join Los Lobos in 1984.

Early on, Los Lobos enjoyed critical success, winning the Grammy® for Best Mexican-American Performance for “Anselma” from its 1983 EP …And a Time to Dance. A year later, the group released its full-length, major-label debut, How Will the Wolf Survive? Co-produced by Berlin and T Bone Burnett, the album was a college rock sensation that helped Los Lobos tie with Bruce Springsteen as Rolling Stone’s Artist of the Year.

A major turning point came in 1987 with the release of the Ritchie Valens biopic, La Bamba. The quintet’s cover of Valens’ signature song topped the charts in the U.S. and the U.K. Rather than capitalize on that massive commercial success, Los Lobos instead chose to record La Pistola y El Corazón, a tribute to Tejano and Mariachi music that won the 1989 Grammy® for Best Mexican-American Performance.

That kind of sharp artistic turn has become Los Lobos’ trademark, serving to both fuel the band’s creativity and keep its fans engaged. In 1992, that willingness to defy expectations led them to record Kiko, an adventurous album produced by Mitchell Froom that’s considered by many to be one the band’s very best.

Since then, Los Lobos has continued to deliver daring and diverse albums such as Colossal Head (1996), Good Morning Aztlán (2002), The Town and the City (2006), Tin Can Trust (2010) and Gates of Gold (2015). On top of that, the band’s live shows never disappoint, as documented on the recent concert recordings Live at the Fillmore (2005) and Disconnected in New York City (2013). Through the years, they’ve managed to keep things interesting with unexpected side trips like an album of Disney songs in 2009, along with countless contributions to tribute albums and film soundtracks. One of those – “Mariachi Suite” from the 1995 film Desperado – earned the band a Grammy® for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Los Lobos has sold millions of records, won prestigious awards and made fans around the world. But perhaps its most lasting impact will be how well its music embodies the idea of America as a cultural melting pot. In it, styles like son jarocho, norteño, Tejano, folk, country, doo-wop, soul, R&B, rock ’n’ roll and punk all come together to create a new sound that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

  

 

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Multi-platinum and Grammy-nominated, British singer-songwriter David Gray has added a second Austin show at ACL Live at The Moody Theater on August 5^th as part of his 2020 North American tour to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of his seminal album, White Ladder. The “WHITE LADDER: THE 20^TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR” produced by Live Nation will kick off on July 13^th at Artpark Mainstage Theater in Lewiston, NY. The North American tour announcement follows on the heels of Gray’s upcoming UK, Ireland and EU tour. He recently added his third 3Arena show in Dublin and is on pace to sell out the tour in these countries overall. David will be performing the multi-Platinum album, White Ladder, in its entirety as well as greatest hits. This will be a once-in-lifetime tour that fans won’t want to miss.

In conjunction with the tour, David Gray has announced the February 14^th release of the White Ladder: The 20^th Anniversary deluxe edition (IHT Records/ AWAL), to celebrate the trailblazing album’s 20-year anniversary. The global multi-platinum selling album, and one of the greatest, most heart-warming word-of-mouth successes in music, will be released on 2xCD, 4xLP, and digital formats. This will include a special remastered edition of the iconic album plus White Ladder era previously unreleased rarities, B-sides and demos.

Says David Gray, “What happened with White Ladder involved more than music. It was a sort of heart and soul moment of total surrender for everybody involved, for me and the audience. That was it. It doesn't get any better than that.”

Upon its 20^th anniversary, it’s interesting to consider the extraordinary aftermath of White Ladder. Its success spawned a new wave of singer-songwriters in an acoustic boom that resonates to this day, a soul-baring lineage that can be directly traced from David Gray to the all-conquering Ed Sheeran. Indeed, Ed is a fan, known to cover ‘This Year’s Love’ live. Fellow world beating British superstar Adele is also an admirer, citing ‘This Year’s Love’ as one of her all-time favorite break-up songs.

www.davidgray.com

https://www.facebook.com/davidgray

 www.instagram.com/davidgray

https://twitter.com/DavidGray

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRealDavidGray

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The Society for the Preservation of Texas Music and The Austin Chronicle are proud to present the 38th annual Austin Music Awards on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020, at Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater. Hosted by comedian Chris Cubas, and 2019 Best Guitarist winner, Jackie Venson.

Founded in 1983 by The Austin Chronicle, Austin Music Awards annually recognizes the accomplishments of local artists and industry professionals who have forged Austin’s international music reputation.

For 37 years, Austin music fans have chosen the Chronicle’s Music Poll and Austin Music Awards winners, but for the 2020 AMA’s, votes will also determine the performance line-up!

Vote for the line up you want to see and fill your ballot out here: https://www.austinchronicle.com/vote-austin-music-awards/

About the Society for the Preservation of Texas Music
The Society for the Preservation of Texas Music, a non-profit organization, is focused on preserving, archiving and celebrating Texas music, film and culture while supporting Texas projects and events, most prominently, the Austin Music Awards.
www.societyforthepreservationoftexasmusic.org

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Get in the holiday spirit with a special evening of seasonal classics!

One of Austin’s most celebrated musicians, Bob Schneider, released his 2018 album, “Blood and Bones” – his 7th studio album since his 2001 solo debut Lonelyland – via his Shockorama Records imprint. “Blood and Bones” captures Schneider at a unique, and distinct place. “Most of the songs are about this phase of my life,” he admits. “I’m re-married, I have a 2-year-old baby daughter who was born over two months premature because my wife had life threatening preeclampsia. So dealing with that traumatic event while getting older and looking at death in a realistic, matter of fact way, experiencing the most joy I’ve ever experienced along with feelings of utter despondency in a way that would have been impossible to experience earlier in my life, all comes out in the songs. My relationship with my wife is the longest committed relationship I’ve ever been in, so there was a lot of unchartered territory there to write about.”

The songs on “Blood and Bones” reflect this. Recorded quickly with producer Dwight Baker, who has worked with Schneider on 6 of his previous releases, the album highlights the chemistry that Schneider and his backing band of Austin’s very best musicians have developed while relentlessly playing live, most notably at the monthly residency Schneider has held at Austin’s Saxon Pub for the last 19 years. “I didn’t want to overthink the songs,” Schneider says. “I really respect Dwight’s ability to make great calls when it comes to what works and isn’t working when we are recording the songs. I felt pretty good about the quality of the songwriting, so I figured that would come through in the end if we just went in and played them the way I do live.”

While the performance and production are stellar, the songwriting finds Schneider in a particularly reflective mode. Sure, there are live favorites like “Make Drugs Get Money” and “Texaco” that will get even the most reserved crowds dancing. But more often the album finds Schneider reflecting on marriage, parenthood, and mortality. “I wish I could make you see how wonderful everything is most of the time, but I’m only blood and bones,” he sings on the title track, a meditation on the beauty and the limits of marriage. Later, on “Easy,” he tells his daughter “it’s always been a scary thing to do, to let my heart fall down into the endless blue, but it’s easy with you.” Through it all, there is a clear sense of mortality, of just how fleeting all of this is. “The hours and days stack up in the mirror,” he sings on “Hours and Days”. “We’re just snowmen waiting for the summer” he sings on “Snowmen”, before adding “we can’t bring them back, can’t bring nothing back.”

One thing Schneider has excelled at in his career is bringing audiences back. Though he has received little national press or major label support, he has managed to become one of the biggest acts in Austin, if not in Texas. His fans, who often discover him from being brought to his shows by their friends, are fiercely loyal. Many have attended dozens or even hundreds of shows. Thanks to these fans, Schneider has won more Austin Music Awards than any other musician, including Best Album, Best Songwriter, Best Musician, and Best Male Vocals, rounding in at 59 total awards to date.

In retrospect, it appears inevitable that Bob Schneider would become an artist. He was born in Michigan and raised in Germany, where his father pursued a career as a professional opera singer. As a boy, Schneider studied piano and guitar, often performing at family parties and backing his father on drums at nightclubs throughout his youth in Germany and Texas. He went on to study art – his other primary passion and avocation – at the University of Texas El Paso, before moving to Austin and establishing himself as a musician. He performs relentlessly, creates new music compulsively, writes poetry, and regularly shows his visual art in galleries around Austin. With “Blood and Bones”, Schneider further cements his reputation as one of the most versatile, inventive, and engaging songwriters working today. 

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Darold D. Brown Ferguson Jr., known by his stage name, A$AP FERG is an American artist from Harlem, New York most known for his rapping and songwriting abilities.  Ferg was born on October 20, 1988, in Harlem, NY to Trinidadian parents. His father, Darold Ferguson, owned a Harlem boutique and printed shirts and designed logos for record labels; including designing the Bad Boy records logo.  Before starting his music career, A$AP Ferg was heavily into Art and Design.  Inspired by his father, who died of kidney failure, he ended up studying fashion and fine arts at the High School of Art & Design. While in school, Ferg began launching his ”Devoni Clothing", through which he designed and distributed high-end belts, which had been worn by Chris Brown and Swizz Beats before his rap fame. 

A founding member of Harlem’s A$AP Mob, A$AP Ferg and A$AP Rocky were originally planned to be the dynamic duo from the A$AP Mob, but they found more success as solo artists, beginning with Ferg’s first major hit “Work” landed as the main single for the A$AP mob tape “Lords Never Worry”.  After signing with RCA in 2013, “Work Remix” debuted featuring Schoolboy Q, Trinidad James and French Montana.  The Platinum record “Work Remix” and “Shabba Ranks” were Ferg’s stand out songs for his debut Project “Trap Lord” that was mostly composed of a dark cinematic sound that he created with his longtime producer Frankie P. His first album also allowed him to pay respect to his fashion roots as he collaborated with Bape and Trap Lord, (his clothing company that carries the same name as his debut album, that he started from saving up his per diem money from his his first tour he was on with the A$AP Mob and Drake) to create a Bape Trap Lord T-shirt in commemoration of the album dropping.  2014 brought the arrival of his new mixtape Ferg Forever hosted by DJ Drama which had the 2015 hit “dope walk” on it.  A year later New level feat Future debuted as the lead single for his next project “Always Strive and Prosper”, the record ended up going platinum and solidified A$AP Ferg’s penchant for making hit records.  Following the success of New level, his next record off of “Still Striving” would be his biggest solo record to date,  Plain Jane released in 2017 and has got 3x platinum.  2018 saw the release of A$AP Mob’s Cozy Tapes, Vol. 2, which landed number six on the billboard 200 with A$AP Ferg playing a key role on the compilation album.  In 2019 A$AP Ferg has been flexing his business muscle as he’s recently released a Bicycle with Redline Bikes, Signed deals with Tiffany & Co., Hennessy, Adidas, G-Shock, and Revlon, all while prepping for release of two new projects on the way.

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Mix 94.7 invites you to celebrate the season at Merry Mix Show 2019, starring X Ambassadors, Walk Off The Earth and Dean Lewis!

X Ambassadors

2019 has arguably been the biggest year yet for Sam, Casey and Adam.  The guys put out their new album “Orion” in April and have been on the road ever since.  You know them from such smash singles at “Renegades” and “Unsteady”, and their new single “Hold You Down” is sure to be another fan favorite for years to come.  These central New Yorkers are thrilled to be back in Texas for Merry Mix Show 2019!

Walk Off The Earth

At first glance, there’s a chance you might not recognize the name Walk Off The Earth.  However, there’s a good chance you’re already a fan of their work.  Their YouTube covers of popular songs such as Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” and Lil’ Nas X’s “Old Town Road” have literally been viewed hundreds of millions of times over the years.  This Canadian band also began working on their own original music years ago, even winning an award for Canada’s best group.  Their new single “I’ll Be There” gives us just a glimpse into what’s next for them.  See it all for yourself at Merry Mix Show 2019!

Dean Lewis

Dean Lewis will be the first to tell you how his world has been turned upside-down in the past few years.  Less than four years ago, he was in search of a way to get his music to the masses.  A songwriting deal followed, but Dean wanted more control…namely, he wanted to sing his songs himself.  He finally got his big break and he didn’t disappoint.  The powerful breakup anthem “Be Alright” became a worldwide sensation, starting in his native Australia before hitting number one in the United States with over 84 million YouTube views!  Dean spent the summer touring the country and is back in Austin to celebrate the holidays with you for Merry Mix Show 2019!

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Il Divo has always stood out for its peculiar mix of opera and pop in songs of different genres, and is the most important reference in the world of the crossover groups of classical music. Since its debut in 2004, IL Divo has triumphed on the most important venues around the world, and has sold over 30 million records throughout its career.

First discovered and mentored by Simon Cowell in 2003, the group composed by the Spanish Carlos Marin (baritone), the Swiss Urs Buhler (tenor), the Frenchman Sebastien Izambard (tenor) and the American David Miller (tenor), became a pioneer of a musical genre unknown until that time when in 2004 they released their debut album “IL Divo”.

Since then, the international four-member group has become the world leader in its genre, and has achieved a second to none success around the world, performing before personalities like as former US presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama , or the Queen of England.

With hits like “Regresa a Mi” (Unbreak My Heart), “The Time Of Our Lives” (“The Official Song of the 2006 FIFA World Cup),” “I Believe In You” (Je crois en toi) a duet with Celine Dion, or now in his latest album “Hola” (Hello) version of the worldwide success of the singer Adele, have achieved to sell over 30 million records, 50 No.1, 160 gold and platinum records in more than 33 countries, and six world tours with all the tickets sold out in the most important venues around the world.

Il Divo has published eigth studio albums so far. After his debut album that bore his name (and whose sales resulted their first Platinum album), his later albums – “Ancora” (2005), “The Christmas Album” (2005), “Forever” (2006), “The Promise “(2008) and” Wicked Game “(2011) – have managed to repeat the perfect formula between pop music and the vocal virtuosity of the opera, which has given them such popularity these years. With their recording in 2013 of “A Musical Affair”, they celebrated the classics of Broadway and the West End. Later in 2015 they released their album “Amor y Pasion” compiling the best Latin songs, with which they managed to reach number 1 on the Latin Albums Chart in their first week.

In addition to his studio albums IL Divo has published a special album of Christmas songs in 2005 “The classic Christmas album”, a compilation album “The Greatest Hits” in 2012 that released 4 new songs, as well as has published 2 more albums live: “An Evening With Il Divo: Live In Barcelona” (2009) and “Live in Japan” (2014), as well as numerous special editions, duets and collaborations with other artists such as Celine Dion, Tony Braxton, Kristin Chenoweth or Michael Ball among others, and numerous DVDs of their live concerts all around the world

IL Divo is now releasing “TIMELESS”, its 10th studio album and first with Decca Gold (Universal Music), an album full of songs from the 20′ to the present, which has already achieved in the first week from its release, get into the first place of sales in countries like Japan and the United Kingdom, and that they will be touring all over the world in 2018, hoping to once again delight their unconditional legion of fans.

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The current cast members of the Emmy-nominated TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? are proud to present their new improv tour: WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY?

WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY? is 90 minutes of hilarious improvised comedy and song all based on audience suggestions. Cast members Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray will leave you gasping with the very witty scenes they invent before your eyes. Audience participation is key to the show so bring your suggestions and you might be asked to join the cast onstage! WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY? showcases some of the improv games made famous on the long-running TV show as well as some exciting new ones, featuring musical direction by Bob Derkach.

All ages are welcomed, but please note that some “PG-13” language will be used during the performance.

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Icelandic rock band KALEO – led by frontman/songwriter JJ Julius Son - quickly rose to the upper ranks of contemporary alternative rock with the global success of their 2016 breakthrough album, A/B - which went on to be certified Gold in the U.S. with its trio of hit singles - the chart-topping, 2x Platinum-certified “Way Down We Go,” Gold-certified follow-up “All The Pretty Girls”, and Grammy-nominated “No Good”. Known for their electrifying live performances, KALEO completely sold out their first U.S. headline tour and was a standout at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo. Amassing over 1 Billion global streams, 39 international certifications, and countless sold-out headline shows spanning from London to Moscow, KALEO has proven to be a worldwide phenomenon. Since the band wrapped up a nearly non-stop 3-year touring schedule in support of A/B in October 2018, Julius Son has been in the studio working on the highly anticipated follow-up, due out in 2020.

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"The road goes on forever..."

It's not always easy to sum up a career -- let alone a life's ambition -- so succinctly, but those five words from Robert Earl Keen's calling-card anthem just about do it.

You can complete the lyric with the next five words -- the ones routinely shouted back at Keen by thousands of fans a night ("and the party never ends!") -- just to punctuate the point with a flourish, but it's the part about the journey that gets right to the heart of what makes Keen tick. Some people take up a life of playing music with the goal of someday reaching a destination of fame and fortune; but from the get-go, Keen just wanted to write and sing his own songs, and to keep writing and singing them for as long as possible.

"I always thought that I wanted to play music, and I always knew that you had to get some recognition in order to continue to play music," Keen says. "But I never thought of it in terms of getting to be a big star. I thought of it in terms of having a really, really good career and writing some good songs, and getting onstage and having a really good time."

Now three-decades on from the release of his debut album -- with nineteen records to his name, thousands of shows under his belt and still no end in sight to the road ahead -- Keen remains as committed to and inspired by his muse as ever. And as for accruing recognition, well, he's done alright on that front, too; from his humble beginnings on the Texas folk scene, he's blazed a peer, critic, and fan-lauded trail that's earned him living-legend (not to mention pioneer) status in the Americana music world. And though the Houston native has never worn his Texas heart on his sleeve, he's long been regarded as one of the Lone Star State's finest (not to mention top-drawing) true singer-songwriters. He was still a relative unknown in 1989 when his third studio album, West Textures, was released -- especially on the triple bill he shared at the time touring with legends Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark -- but once fellow Texas icon Joe Ely recorded both "The Road Goes on Forever" and "Whenever Kindness Fails" on his 1993 album, Love and Danger, the secret was out on Keen's credentials as a songwriter's songwriter. By the end of the decade, Keen was a veritable household name in Texas, headlining a millennial New Year's Eve celebration in Austin that drew an estimated 200,000 people. A dozen years later, he was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame along with the late, great Van Zandt and his longtime friend from Texas A & M, Lyle Lovett.

The middle child of a geologist father and an attorney mother, Keen was weaned on classic rock (in particular, the psychedelic blues trio Cream) and his older brother's Willie Nelson records -- but it was his younger sister's downtown Houston celebrity status as a "world-champion foosball player" that exposed him to the area's acoustic folk scene. By the time he started working on his English degree at Texas A&M, he was teaching himself guitar and setting his poetic musings to song. That in turn led to a college fling with a bluegrass ensemble (featuring his childhood friend Bryan Duckworth, who would continue to play fiddle with Keen well into the '90s) and front-porch picking parties with fellow Aggie Lovett at Keen's rental house -- salad days captured in spirit on the Keen/Lovett co-write, "The Front Porch Song," which both artists would eventually record on their respective debut albums.

While Lovett's self-titled debut was released on major-label Curb Records, Keen took the road less travelled, self-financing and producing 1984's No Kinda Dancer and leasing it to the independent label Rounder Records, which issued it on its Philo imprint. "It was difficult, because I didn't know what I was doing ... I literally opened up the phonebook and looked for studios," Keen recalls. "I basically put it all together through brute force and ignorance, but I was shocked with how well it worked out and very happy with it. We had a release party at Butch Hancock's Dixie Bar and Bustop, and Lyle and Nanci Griffith and a lot of those people who were a part of the Austin folkie scene came out."

Keen himself had already started to make quite a name for himself on that scene, thanks to four years of constant regional gigging and winning the Kerrville Folk Festival's prestigious New Folk songwriting competition in 1983. After his debut's release, he began touring more and more outside of the state lines, eventually moving to Nashville in 1986. Keen's stint in Music City, U.S.A., lasted just under two years, but he returned to Texas armed with a publishing deal, a new label (another indie, Sugar Hill), and a national booking agent. He closed the decade with 1988's The Live Album and the following year's West Textures, the album that marked the debut of "The Road Goes on Forever" and, consequently, kicked his career into high gear.

With hindsight, Keen admits he no idea at the time of writing it that his song about a couple of ill-fated lovers running afoul of the law would have the legs it did, but he readily points to the forward thinking of DJ Steve Coffman of San Antonio radio station KRIO for helping to start the fire. "He talked the station into doing sort of a free-form programing format, basically anything he liked, which turned out to be some Texas music along with a lot of cool sort of pop music," he says. "So all of a sudden, I heard my song back-to-back with the Sheryl Crow song that was popular at the time, and that was the first time that I really felt like I was a real part of the music business, despite having been in it already for a pretty long time. And right after that, I went to a show in San Antonio and there were 1,500 people there -- whereas up to that point I'd been playing to, max, maybe 150. That was the real ah-hah moment for me that really got me going and kept me going, because before that I'd been doing this for eight or 10 years and had a lot of rejection but very little success."

After that, though, success came in spades. Although he continued to steer clear of the Garth Brooks-dominated waters of the country mainstream, the perfect storm of Keen's literate song craft, razor wit and killer band (more on that in a bit) stirred up a grassroots sensation in Texas not seen since the '70s heyday of maverick "outlaw country" upstarts Willie, Waylon, Kris Kristofferson and the afore-mentioned Guy Clark. Armed with two more albums (1993's A Bigger Piece of Sky and '94's Gringo Honeymoon) brimming with instant classics like "Corpus Christi Bay," "Whenever Kindness Fails," "Gringo Honeymoon," "Dreadful Selfish Crime" and "Merry Christmas From the Family," he began packing dancehalls, roadhouses, theaters, and festival grounds with diverse crowds of rowdy college kids, serious singer-songwriter fans and plenty of folks who, like Keen himself, had been around the Texas music scene long enough to remember Willie's earliest 4th of July Picnics. And the phenomenon was not confined to the Texas state lines. Famed producer and pedal steel ace Lloyd Maines (Joe Ely, Terry Allen) helped Keen and his band bottle lighting on 1996's No. 2 Live Dinner, a next-best-thing-to-being-there concert document that remains one of Keen's best-selling albums, and the burgeoning Americana music scene (bolstered by AAA radio stations across the country and magazines like No Depression) embraced Keen as one of its prime movers. In the wake of albums like 1997's Picnic and '98's Walking Distance (both released on major-label Arista), one would have been hard-pressed to tell the difference between a rabid Robert Earl Keen crowd at Texas' legendary Gruene Hall and those at New York City joints like Tramps and the Bowery Ballroom. Little wonder, then, that when the songwriter-revering "Americana" style was officially recognized by the industry 1998, Keen was the genre's first artist to be featured on the cover of the radio trade magazine Gavin.

The '90s may have been a boom period for Keen, but his momentum hasn't ebbed a bit since then -- nor has his pursuit of continued growth as a writer and artist. If anything, his output from the last decade has been marked by some of the most adventurous music of his career. "Wild Wind," an unforgettable highlight from Gravitational Forces, his Gurf Morlix-produced 2001 debut for the Nashville-based Americana label Lost Highway, captured the character (and characters) of a small Texas town with a cinematic eye reminiscent of The Last Picture Show; but the album's title track also found Keen wryly experimenting with spacey, beatnik jazz. For the freewheelin,' freak-flag-flying Farm Fresh Onions (2003, Audium/Koch), Keen and producer Rich Brotherton (his longtime guitarist) took the band into the proverbial garage to knock out their most rocking set of songs to date -- most notably the psychedelic rave-up of the title track. Brotherton also produced the more rootsy but equally playful What I Really Mean (2005, E1 Music), but Lloyd Maines was back at the helm for 2009's eclectic The Rose Hotel and 2011's spirited Ready for Confetti (both released by Lost Highway). The later was especially well received by fans and critics alike, with AllMusic's Thom Jurek raving, "Ready for Confetti is, without question, Keen's most inspired and focused project in nearly 20 years." Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions, released in 2015, was a straight -ahead "love postcard to bluegrass." This was something Keen had wanted to do for a long time and it was now or never. Keen ranked Billboard's No. 2, 2015 Bluegrass Artist of the year. Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions, charted as 2015's Top 5 album at Americana Radio and Billboard's 2015 No. 2 album on the Bluegrass Albums chart.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the milestone album No. 2 Live Dinner, Keen returned to the legendary John T. Floore's Country Store in the Texas Hill Country town of Helotes in the fall of 2015 where he recorded his latest project, Live Dinner Reunion, and upped the ante by inviting Joe Ely, Bruce Robison, Cory Morrow, Lyle Lovett and a few other friends and fellow Americana and Texas Music stars to sing along. Some 5,000 fans added their voices to the historic occasion.

The result, the rousing double-disc celebration Live Dinner Reunion, released in late 2016 on Dualtone Records, an Entertainment One company. The repartee of Keen and the other artists, the crowd's response, the songs, and inspired musicianship combine to magically create the album's you-are-there experience. It's these many special musical moments that propel Live Dinner Reunion into the stratosphere of live albums.

This brings Keen's career to now. In honor of the 25th anniversary of Robert Earl Keen's iconic album, A Bigger Piece of Sky, Keen and Dualtone will be releasing it on vinyl for the first time. Scheduled for release on November 16, 2019, A Bigger Piece of Sky is available now for advance order at DualtoneStore.com.

"A Bigger Piece of Sky was the most thrilling, hair-pulling, penny-pinching, cliff-hanging, scariest record I've ever made," says Keen. "I love every song on BPS."

A breakthrough album for Keen, A Bigger Piece of Sky and its songs, such as "Amarillo Highway," "Whenever Kindness Fails," and "Corpus Christi Bay" are mainstays of his live set. The album was recorded in Nashville, TN, produced by Garry Velletri, and mixed by Velletri and Jeff Coppage. The project features an amazing lineup consisting of Garry Tallent (E Street Band) on upright and electric bass, Marty Stuart on mandolin, Dave Durocher on percussion, Jay Spell on accordion, Jonathan Yudkin on violin, and Maura O'Connell on vocals. It also features guest musicians George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt) on harmony vocal and electric guitar, Tommy Spurlock on guitar, Michael Snow on tenor banjo, Bryan Duckworth on violin, Dave Heath on upright bass, and Jennifer Prince on harmony vocals.

In the midst of the vinyl re-issue, Keen is as busy as ever touring. Though Keen has played sold-out theater dates with icons such as Willie Nelson, the lion's share of his concert schedule still finds him playing full-tilt with his seasoned road and studio band: Brotherton on guitar, Bill Whitbeck on bass, Tom Van Schaik on drums, and Marty Muse on steel guitar, Kym Warner on mandolin and electric guitar and Brian Beken on fiddle, acoustic and electric guitars. "Some of my band members have been with me more than 20 years now," Keen says proudly. "I used to think that was just sort of an interesting fact, but now it's almost a total anomaly -- that just doesn't happen much. I always felt like once you lock into the right bunch of people, you try to do the best by them that you can. So, we've been able to stay together a long time, and I think one thing that makes it worthwhile for people to come see us as an act." Keen's act and stage presence more than attest to his career's longevity and its subsequent opportunities.

REK has had the honor of performing with fellow superstars George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton and Lyle Lovett on the Hand in Hand benefit telethon which raised more than $55 million for hurricane relief efforts in Texas. Keen was featured on a benefit concert hosted by the five former living presidents of the United States in 2017. Keen has been involved in many benefits and charity events for communities in his home state of Texas with his main focus of these organizations being the Hill Country Youth Orchestras in Kerrville, TX. Over the course of the last eleven years he has raised more than $500,000.00 for the organization. Add that to his legendary status in the lone star state, and it is no wonder REK was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012.

REK's philanthropic and charity work, along with his legendary music career lead him to be presented with the Distinguished Alumni award from Texas A&M University this fall. Awarded jointly by the university and The Association of Former Students, this honor recognizes those Aggies who have achieved excellence in their chosen professions and made meaningful contributions to Texas A&M University and their local communities.

The recognition of his legendary career doesn't stop there. In March 2015, Robert Earl Keen was distinguished as the first recipient of BMI's official Troubadour Award. The Troubadour Award celebrates songwriters who have made a lasting impact on the songwriting community. The award honors writers who craft for the sake of the song and set the pace for generations of songwriters who will follow. To protect songwriters, Keen was a member of the delegation that lobbied US Congress to support musicians' rights, specifically the "Fair Pay for Fair Play Act" which was promoted to the recently passed Music Modernization Act. Keen's career proves him to be a true trailblazer.

Troubadour Robert Earl Keen has made many meaningful contributions in both his surrounding Texas communities and in the music industry nationwide. As more projects and opportunities come down the pike, and as Keen continues to tour extensively with his band and in acoustic tours with Lyle Lovett, one thing remains the same: Robert Earl Keen loves what he does.

"It's just like, man, I'm lucky to still be hanging out here and doing this," he says. "I feel like everything came full circle in a wonderful way."

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