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It has finally happened. As college roommates, Lyle Lovett
and Robert Earl Keen would sit on the porch writing
songs and playing songs and, I'm certain, drinking some Lonestars.
The careers of the two friends have always run roughly parallel
in a lot of ways, but Keen always seemed just a touch behind Lovett.
I'm happy to report that REK has stepped it up on his new record,
and has not only matched Lovett, but finally and clearly surpassed
him. Keen is ahead in my imaginary race!
The songs on What I Really Mean are far from the beer
drinking anthems of "The Road Goes On Forever", thankfully,
and show real growth in the songwriting prowess of REK, a progress
that was evidently on its way on his last outing Farm Fresh
Onions. "For Love" kicks the album off in high,
twangy guitar style, melding country and rock in that way that
only REK can. Rich Brotherton supplies some amazing lead
lines, and the steel guitars lift the song into country music
nirvana. The mandolins come out on "Mr. Wolf and Mamabear"
to accompany an intricate and clever story about an animal town.
Not really the kind of song you'd play for a child, but an interesting
way to tell a story. The title track is filled with empathy and
longing. It is a beautiful song, possibly one of Keen's finest
and most heartfelt songs ever. I could do without the soprano
saxophone, but the strength of the song makes even that bearable.
Honky tonk was never more alive than in the story of "The
Great Hank" - A hazy downbeat country tune that accompanies
a story that could only spring forth from the mind of Keen. Breaking
out more of the folky-bluegrass sound on "Long Chain",
Keen tells the kind of dark story that makes truly great country
music stand out from the crowd.
"The Travelling Storm" features Northumbrian small
pipes that create an amazing mood of the old country, and accompany
a tale that would be right on par with the classic "Whiskey
In The Jar". It is a moody tale of betrayal and adventure,
filled with some of Keen's finest poetry: "Pity not the weary
traveler/ he lives in his mind/ he is friend of wind and weather/
and from fire is born/ Pity then the cool betrayer/ waiting patiently/
no precaution made will save him/ from the traveling storm."
The dark mood continues unabated on "A Border Tragedy",
but the song is filled with drunken Mariachi trumpets that attempt
to lighten the mood. Thrown in for good measure and to fulfill
the mood are a verse of "The Streets Of Laredo" and
a Mexican chorus. Rolling the album up with some fine fingerpicking
and a leaving story is the beautiful, light sounding "Ride".
The stories on What I Really Mean make the meat of the
record, and are what set REK ahead of LL. But the musicianship
is without equal, and there is more country here than you are
likely to hear in the near future. If you are looking for the
party songs that Keen has written in the past, you won't find
them here. What you will find is a collection of songs filled
with emotion, depth, strength, and unique character. This is what
makes music worth hearing.
-Embo Blake
Track Listing:
1. For Love
2. Mr. Wolf And Mamabear
3. What I Really Mean
4. The Great Hank
5. The Wild Ones
6. Long Chain
7. Broken End Of Love
8. The Dark Side Of The World
9. The Travelling Storm
10. A Border Tragedy
11. Ride
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Robert
Earl Keen
