1. So I Can Take My Rest
2. Whenever Kindness Fails
3. Amarillo Highway
4. Night Right For Love
5. Jesse With The Long Hair...
6. Blow You Away
7. Here In Arkansas
8. Daddy Had A Buick
9. Corpus Christi Bay
10. Crazy Cowboy Dream
11. Paint The Town Beige

One thing about this album is that it contains the song "Corpus Christi Bay." I was born in Corpus, so I've always liked it. It's a story about Robert and his time working on the oil rigs and living in Corpus with his brother Dan Keen who was quite a character.

Ben Rushing, Jr. has made this page complete and wrote a nice review of Bigger Piece of Sky which appears below in its original e-mail form.

Here goes:

It started in 1987 with the tail end of a radio song that sounded markedly like Jesse Winchester, a Tennessean who chose transplantation to Montreal rather than sharing in the jungle joys of Vietnam. Winchester had become the most influential singer/songwriter in my life. Considering that I had heard nothing from Jesse for several years, I increased my radio listening time to perchance discover that he had emerged from obscurity to hit the airwaves. I was somewhat disappointed to find that the song was entitled "Give Back My Heart" by a singer/songwriter named Lyle Lovett. I found in Lyle a current, active writer who wrote with a biting, lyrical depth that placed him beyond the normal, bland radio fare. The first "Lovett" song I learned to play and sing was "This Old Porch." Obviously, I didn't notice the co-writer noted on the CD. I faithfully purchased everything Lyle released, so when "I Love Everybody" hit the streets, I added to my collection. Two things caught my eye. First was the mention of Robert Earl in the opening line of "Record Lady." Second was kudos to Robert and Kathleen Keen. In an Acoustic Guitar interview, Lyle mentioned his association with Robert Earl from the TAMU days. I decided REK needed a listen. "Bigger Piece of Sky" was my first REK CD (quickly followed by all of the others). Here are my impressions. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide them as you see fit. These are only my opinions.

Overall, the CD is excellent with a bit more polish than some of the other ones, e.g., "The Live Album" and "No Kinda Dancer." Musically, the CD is tight, obviously well conceived and presented. Through much of the CD, there is a view of the dark side of life that inhabits all of us at times. Several songs have an underlying theme of loss and sadness. Individually, here are my impressions of the various songs (in no particular order.)

The intro to "So I Can Take My Rest" offers a clear vision to "Bigger Skies." One can breathe deep and smell the clear morning air of a Texas sky. The lyrical contrast drawn in this song is haunting. Maura O'Connell provides harmony that is subtle in the first line of the chorus and grows with each choral line to peak with the line "Tell me it will be alright." The understated drum background gives a sense of unsettled movement through the song.

"Whenever Kindness Fails" offers a simple "old west" solution to problems. "They said that I was just a dumb cowpoke, I didn't want to make a fuss. So I shot em down. . ." The final lines of the last verse outlines dichotomous view of life . . . "You can ride the wheels into the sun, Feel the wind upon your face, Or you can laugh into a loaded gun and you'll likely lose your place." The guitar in the outro reminds us of days when tremolo and Fender were king. Subtle.

"Blow You Away" offers a clear vision of the dark side of life. The first four verses of this cut are spoken over an acoustic guitar rhythm. At the beginning of verse three, there is a hint of the possibility that this song will become more musically active. We are not disappointed. Marty Stuart provides strong mandolin support beginning in verse four. The vocal highlights of this cut are Michael Snow and Maura O'Connell who take your breath away with their unexpected entry. Snow trades lines with RE in verse five. Snow's vocal falloff at "there's guards with their guns" if planned was brilliant, if unplanned was perfect. Both bring a strong contrast to the spoken lines and draw RE into vocalizing and by verse six, RE is trading strong vocals with both. He sings until the final verse and regains the spoken verse backed by Snow's tenor banjo. Snow closes the song with an appropriate tenor banjo solo.

"Here In Arkansas," mournfully speaks of wrongful death. This may be REK at his most brilliant darkness. The musical arrangement on this song perfectly accentuates the lyrical theme. This is the kind of song that would be diminished by adding or subtracting any thing. Interestingly, the solo drum at the end offers the perfect lead in to one of the more upbeat songs of the CD, "Daddy Had A Buick."

"Daddy Had A Buick," has a clean, clear jazz/swing flavor. Obviously REK can swing Texas style. Jonathan Yudkin does a marvelous job with smooth fiddle fills and subtle pizzicato interplay with the guitar and bass (listen carefully in the first verse after "California ocean. . ." ) For me, this song takes on a special meaning because of my own "younger days" cruising experiences with Bubba Adkins in his straight-8 Buick. It had real, not fake holes in the side. As a side note, when I took delivery of a Gateway 2000 P5-100, a music video of RE performing this song was included with the system CD. Gotta love those cow boxes.

"Amarillo Highway," has an accessible rock feel and has appeal for anyone who has sought the perfect southern or chicken fried. It offers the promise that we can find fulfillment of our dreams on "old eighty-seven." This is the only cut on the CD that RE did not write and he fact that he chose to include it it speaks of the strength of the song. I guess he could have written it had he had been so inclined.

RE cowrote "Time Right for Love" with Greg Trooper. This is a song for lovers. Possibly my favorite song of the CD. The first Robert Earl Keen song I ever learned to play and sing. This song intros with acoustic and electric guitar. The electric drops out for Maura O'Connell on the first verse and comes back in for RE's vocal entry on verse two. His second verse work demonstrates that vocally, RE can stay with the best. RE and Maura bring exquisite harmony to the bridge. On the final verse, we are treated to three part harmony, Maura, RE, and Jay Spell's accordion. Trust me, it works seamlessly.

With "Jesse With the Long Hair," RE plays balladeer. This classic story song tells of cheating, lawlessness, justice, revenge, loyalty, bravery, friends, and love. "And the greatest of these is Love."

"Corpus Christi Bay" has a singable quality. It speaks to anyone who has walked the beaches of the Gulf. Clearly, RE speaks from a knowledge base about the oil patch. If he didn't personally work the rigs, he knew those who did. This is a good song.

"Crazy Cowboy Dream" deals with the rambling spirit. This could easily be the theme for all of us who try to avoid adulthood, and want to hang on to our own dreams. Bryan Duckworth brings his fiddle to violin status in this one. Tommy Spurlock spices this with Tex-Mex flavor with his rich gut string guitar fills.

Something in "Paint The Town Beige" is reminiscent of the Bellamy Bros, "Old Hippies." There is a sense of Walden's simplified lifestyle. I guess this song is for all of us who don't act our age. We still paint the town but it is subdued. This song has strong lyrics. Keen saved some of his best one liners for this one, e.g., "It's then I get to thinkin', I must have gone insane."

The final "hidden" cut is untitled and returns to the theme of "Blow You Away" but RE presents it is a dee-daah manner as if to say to all, guess what listener, I was only kidding you about all of that darkness. The "gotcha" grin RE has on the back cover of the insert verifies that he took us for a ride through reality but we all escaped on the backside to realize an expanded vision of a "Bigger Piece of Sky."

So that's how "Bigger Piece of Sky" struck me. It certainly brought enough impact to bring me to buy all of the rest of REK CD's. I'm anxiously awaiting the next.

Review by

[ Ben Rushing, Jr.             % I speak for myself and not my     ]
[ NSU Division of Mathematics  % employer so when you listen to me,]
[ NSU Box 3192                 % know that I am the one expressing ]
[ Natchitoches, La. 71497-0012 % the opinion and not Northwestern  ]
[ (318)357-5054                % State University of Louisiana.    ]
[ brushing@alpha.nsu.edu