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 | Robert Earl Keen plays the Concert Hall Jan. 8
| by Chris Aaland Let’s get one thing straight: I like Texas music.I might not like much else about the Lone Star State. I do like their cooking, from Tex-Mex to BBQ to chicken-fried anything. And I’ll root for the Longhorns, Aggies and Red Raiders in bowl games. Unless they wear white helmets with the red “N” for knowledge, I always cheer for the Big 12. But you can keep your Red State justice and Bluebonnet slogans. To me, Texas means music. From Wink’s Roy to Lubbock’s Buddy, from Abbott’s Willie to Littlefield’s Waylon, and from Navasota’s Mance to Houston’s Lightnin’, no state represents American music quite like Texas. And no Texan this side of the Red Headed Stranger quite represents their motherland like Robert Earl Keen. The Houston-born, A&M-weaned and Kerrville-mellowed troubadour is quintessential Lone Star State. He has 14 albums to his credit, about half of which are studio efforts and the other half live memories from whatever tour he was on at the time. I’ve heard fellow critics dismiss him as a “yuk-yuk, pluck-pluck” kind of guy and musical contemporaries call him the “Jimmy Buffett of folk music.” While neither is totally inaccurate, both miss the point. He’s genuine, and he’s a genuinely nice guy who cares about his mentors, his contemporaries and his fans. Robert Earl Keen also saved my life in the mid ’90s. I was coming off a divorce and had one hand wrapped around the bottle and the other around a trigger. Robert’s music, his personal words of encouragement and his friendship walked me off the cliff. From what I’ve heard from musicians struggling with their own demons of bad record deals, bitter relationships and career suicide, Robert was there for them, too. See the best of Texas at the Community Concert Hall at 7 p.m. tonight (Thursday). Check out (semi) free blues at the Ska Brewing World Headquarters at 3 p.m. Saturday as Colin Lake & Alex Weed play a DAM member’s concert. If you’ve joined DAM during the 2008-09 season, enjoy two complimentary tickets. For everyone else, admission is $5. Lake is best known for winning the Telluride Acoustic Blues competition at 2007’s Brews & Blues Festival. Colin plays a wicked Weisenborn guitar, a la Ben Harper. He’s also a former FLC student who later moved to Oregon. Catch Colin en route to New Orleans for a musical internship with the subdudes. The Summit welcomes Durango rock band Aftergrass on Friday and local jam, rock and funk of the How Now Trio on Saturday. DJ Spark Madden keeps you dancing at Moe’s Starlight Lounge on Saturday. Aftergrass’ Eric Kiefer plays a solo set on Tuesday at Moe’s. The Starlight’s big news: Wednesday sees the grand opening of Moe’s new bourbon bar, with Colorado’s largest and finest selection of whiskeys. Complimentary tasting happens from 5-8 p.m. I suggest you call in sick next Thursday – I hear the flu is going ‘round. Bigfoot Bridges & Posh Josh bring house, funk and dance to Steamworks tonight, while Oatie Paste plays ska, punk and crunk at Steamworks on Saturday. Tonight sees the glorified national championship game. My hopes: Oklahoma beats Florida in a nail-biter. Utah edges out Oklahoma in one of the polls thanks to their undefeated season and stunning win over Alabama. And Urban Meyer is so homesick that he returns to the Rockies as the next Denver Broncos head coach. Thank you, Mike Shanahan. You’ve earned your Pro Football Hall of Fame bust. But the orange & blue needs a change, and Urban needs some new orange & blue. In honor of Robert Earl Keen’s concert, this week’s Top Shelf list acknowledges my Top 10 Texas troubadour albums. This one was tough: I could easily have done a Top 50 in this genre. With apologies to Willie, Waylon, Bob Wills, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Archie Bell & the Drells, I limited it to twangy Texans yielding acoustic guitars. 10) Terry Allen, “Lubbock (On Everything),” 1979. You might not own this, but you’ve heard Little Feat and Robert Earl Keen do songs like “New Delhi Freight Train” and “Amarillo Highway.” 10) Terry Allen, “Lubbock (On Everything),” 1979. You might not own this, but you’ve heard Little Feat and Robert Earl Keen do songs like “New Delhi Freight Train” and “Amarillo Highway.” 9) Billy Joe Shaver, “Old Five and Dimers Like Me,” 1973. Thirty-four years before he shot a man in the face in a Texas bar, Shaver released the definitive outlaw country record. 8) The Flatlanders, “More a Legend than a Band,” 1972. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and a guy who plays the musical saw. Need I say more? Lubbock’s finest hour, post-Buddy’s plane crash. 7) Jerry Jeff Walker, “Viva Terlingua,” 1973. Yeah, Ron Crosby was born and raised in New York. But he’s a born-again Texan, as evidenced by his tenure at the Armadillo World Headquarters and this classic, which put Luckenbach on the map. 6) Robert Earl Keen, “West Textures,” 1989. Sure, you know his songs about big fish and never-ending roads, but check out “Mariano” and “Love’s a Word I Never Throw Around.” 5) Steve Earle, “Guitar Town,” 1986. Take your pick from Steve’s first three albums, classics each. I’ll opt for his debut, not for the rockers, but for introspections like “Little Rock & Roller” and “My Old Friend the Blues.” 4) Willis Alan Ramsey, self-titled, 1972. Who needs an entire catalog when one album will do? The Alabama-born, Dallas-raised Ramsey’s lone record has been covered by Waylon Jennings, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jimmy Buffett, Sam Bush, Jerry Jeff Walker and Captain & Tenille. 3) Lyle Lovett, “Pontiac,” 1987. Creepy songs come and go, but the title track to Lyle’s sophomore effort creeps with the best (or worst) of ’em. “If I Had a Boat” and “L.A. County” don’t exactly suck, either. 2) Townes Van Zandt, “For the Sake of the Song,” 1968. Steve Earle once said something to the effect that Townes was the greatest American songwriter and he’d stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in his cowboy boots and tell him so. I’m not sure if I totally agree with Steve’s proclamation, but no two songs smacked listeners squarely in the thinking cap like “Waitin’ around to Die” and “Tecumseh Valley” from Townes’ debut. 1) Guy Clark, “Old No. 1,” 1975. The yardstick by which all others are measured. • Talkin’ ‘bout until the day they lay you in the ground? E-mail me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net. | 
