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There are a variety of ways to look at country music, but the
simplest and truest way that I have found is to not differentiate
between country and rock, but to let all that great music commingle
in my heart and mind with disregard to separatist distinctions.
With that in mind, I'm here to tell you that Robert Earl Keen
writes and records some of the finest rock music ever recorded…
and all with that deep country soul for which he's been known
so long. Always surrounding himself with some of the finest musicians
around, each record is a work of art, each concert a pure and
lively experience. Farm Fresh Onions is certainly no exception
to this rule. A record born out of a challenge issued by his wife,
when one day REK brought home a bag of grapefruits from the market
in a bag labeled "farm fresh onions". And so the entire
record has a spirit of fun and light-hearted purpose that rarely
exists in this modern world of ours. Music for the joy of making
music and sharing it with others.
Kicking the album off in high gear is "Furnace Fan",
a song that has fast become one of my favorite songs ever. Maybe
it's the Arizona connections and the fact that I can empathize
with the song… or maybe it's just that the song is brilliantly
written and the melodies are distinctive and subtle. Shawn
Colvin lends her crystal vocal talents on the song "Out
Here In The Middle", a dazzling James McMurtry penned
song that seems to just be about a bunch of stuff that happens,
but each listen clarifies one or two of life's little truths.
On the title track, Robert sums up great mysteries in simple terms:
"Truth is all I'm looking for, town to town and door to door/
Happiness is nothing more than Sunday at the zoo/ Ridin' high
inside the wires, the sum of all my desires/ Earth and rain, all
it requires is love from and you". There are a couple of
very bluesy numbers, filled with excellent riffing and soul -
"Gone On" and "So Sorry Blues". And then the
record begins to make a turn… songs get a bit darker, take
on a more somber tone. The aching of "These Years" and
the dirgey simplicity of "Famous Words" are testament
to the endless dimensionality of Keen's songwriting. Winding up
the record is "Let The Music Play", which makes a perfect
resolution to the album, with its message of renewed hope and
life. Farm Fresh Onions is not simply an enjoyable record,
it is a journey, a roadmap of experiences that cradles delicately
learned lessons and truths… The rapture of love, the sorrow
of loss, the wonder of the world around us, and how it can all
be seen through eyes of joy and life.
And all of this from a kid that was college roommates with Lyle
Lovett? It boggles the mind. Not a day goes by that I don't
wish that I could have spent a week in that magical dorm room!
-Embo Blake
Track Listing:
1. Furnace Fan
2. All I Have Is Today
3. Out Here In The Middle
4. Train Trek
5. Farm Fresh Onions
6. Floppy Shoes
7. Gone On
8. So Sorry Blues
9. Beats The Devil
10. These Years
11. Famous Words
12. Let The Music Play
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Robert
Earl Keen
