Robert Earl Keen
. We talked to Keen about those lyrics, the word he likes to avoid in his songs, and the “caste system” of praise that musicians are subject to.Your songs usually tell a story. Are those stories autobiographical or more for entertainment purposes?
I usually always try to start with some point of truth as a reference or cornerstone. And then I fictionalize everything from there. Then the idea is to either get a message across through the story or make people think about whatever I think they should be thinking about. There’s usually a message behind the story or sometimes it’s about how cool the story can be. Like for instance on this new record Ready For Confetti as the album title?
I like the title. I’m kind of a snob about titles. I think if you’re going to spend the time to write a really good song or make a really good record, it should have a good title. I thought that reflected the whole record. It’s a fun, colorful record. Musically, it’s somewhat different from track to track so it reflects what I was putting out. And I really like that song. I’m a pretty big snob about titles. I’m sick of these lazy ass titles like Horrible Bosses or Bad Teacher. Give me a break. You’re gonna spend 20 million bucks on a film and call it bad teacher? Give me a break. But people are always saying on my Facebook, “Come see me in Oregon, come see me in Michigan,” and we do get to see them, but the way that we get to do it is because we sell records, not because we sell records, so get out there and buy a record.
How has your approach to songwriting changed over the years?
I think it’s changed dramatically. At one point, I didn’t really know what I was doing. But I had an innate palette for words together and I’d had that from childhood. I always felt like that was my gift, as in I knew how to do it without anyone ever teaching me and without anybody giving me any direction. When I started writing songs, I was about 18, and I knew how to put all the words together, but I didn’t know how to put the words and the music together. So for years, it was just always somewhat of an experiment and I never really used anybody else’s format. I always thought in terms of what kind of story I wanted to get across though. So a song, time wise, could be 45 seconds or 7 minutes as far as I was concerned. And it may never have a chorus or it may never have a bridge, or maybe it’s all bridge. I never really had a template for songwriting and I never did care because I never thought of it in terms of getting on the radio so much. I was just trying to make good songs that worked when I was standing in front of a few people on the stage. Over the years, I found out that I could pretty much tackle anything that came around as far as what kind of song, and how to create a song and how to make a song jump out. I’ve grown quite a bit as a songwriter and I think I can do anything from commercial to an opera at this point.
A Train Record Album - News
What made you settle on Ready For Confetti as the album title? I like the title. I'm kind of a snob about titles. I think if you're going to spend the time to write a really good song or make a really good record, it should have a good title.
"I've been tour managing for the past 20 years," says McCart who has handled tours for the likes of Amy McDonald (his first tour), Mona (recently) and a singer named Adele after her "17" album. Now he works for Simon Fuller's 1X Management Company
Just days before the American Idols Live Tour officially ends, Alaina has a gab session with about life on the road, new songs — including an Underwood-penned track that'll be on her debut album 'Wildflower,' due out on October 11
The album's success pushed Maroon 5's record sales to the 14 million mark. The band plans to return to the studio after completing their current tour, which comes to the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre Wednesday. By ED CONDRAN | Tribune correspondent Train
Given “Back In Black's” status as the second-best-selling album of all time, and the fact that work on the album had begun before Bon's death, it would be easy to leap to the conclusion that its recording was a simple process. In fact, nothing could be
Train Primed to Record New Album, Ukulele Included | Billboard.com
Album "Save Me, San Francisco" (2009), Train is also "about 75 or 80 percent done with writing the next album," according to frontman Pat Monahan.
"As exciting as it is to be playing in front of tens of thousands of people every night," Monahan tells Billboard.com, "it's really exciting to know that we have an album that's kind of ready to go as soon as we get off tour. We all feel like it's an evolution from ('Save Me, San Francisco'). Definitely we're moving in the right direction, so we're really psyched. This is a great time for us."
Train Tour Mate Gavin DeGraw Attacked in New York City
Monahan says he and bandmates Scott Underwood and Jimmy Stafford will likely take "a little break" after Train comes off the road in mid-September and then start recording in November or December with Butch Walker producing. The group hopes to have a new single out in February, with the album to follow in March or April.
"I think we're cautiously optimistic that this will not just be a continuation but will be even better than" "Save Me, San Francisco," Monahan notes. "Before this it's always been the opposite; It was always a struggle of, 'Oh, no, we have to do better than 'Meet Virginia.' Oh no, we have to do better than 'Drops of Jupiter',' and then after that it was 'Calling All Angels.' I think we lost our confidence... and now we feel like we're following up our most successful work."
And, Monahan adds, after the success of "Hey, Soul Sister," the new batch of material already includes a ukulele part in the track "The Least I Can Do," though he acknowledges a bit of a split in the Train camp over whether the group should return to that particular musical well.
"The truth is that everybody has basically warned us, 'Please don't put the ukulele on the record,' but I struggle with that," Monahan says. "That song is super island-y and I love it, and (ukulele) just feels right for it. So I don't know what the rules are going to be with the ukulele, but you put on whatever feels right.
A Train Record Album - Bookshelf
A Christmas carol in prose, being a ghost story of Christmas
A CHEISTMAS CAROL. STAVE ONE. MARLEY'S ( GHOST. Marley was dead : to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his o burial was ...A streetcar named desire
A moveable feast, the restored edition
A restored edition of the posthumously published book eliminates changes that were made to the manuscript before its original 1964 release, in a volume that ...A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN " Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes." Ovid, Metamorphoses, VIII., 18. CHAPTER I Once upon a time and a very good ...A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court
I scanned a leaf particularly and saw that it was a palimpsest. Under the old dim writing of the Yankee historian appeared traces of a penmanship which was ...News Article Directory
Leon Russell Record Album Vinyl
Leon Russell and The Shelter People vinyl record albums. Catalogue for old, rare, promo and collectible vinyl records. Best selection and great prices ...
True North Records
Welcome to our website! True North Records is Canada's oldest independent record label and one of its largest. Founded in 1969 and with over 450 releases, 40 JUNO ...
Strangers on a Train (album) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Strangers on a Train (aka Voices Calling) is the third and final album by the American ... Two songs taken from the album recording sessions ("Queen of Paradise" ...
Waitin On A Train | Waitin On A Train | CD Baby
Listen to and buy Waitin On A Train music on CD Baby. Download or buy the CD Waitin On A Train by Waitin On A Train on the independent record store ...
Miscellaneous Artists 'P'" Record Album Vinyl
Miscellaneous artists 'P' vinyl records. Catalogue for old, rare, promo and collectible vinyl records. Best selection and great prices of collectible ...