Feelin' Good Again (Mostly) at Robert Earl Keen's Farewell to Arkansas

Julian Spivey Photo

by Julian Spivey
A few months ago, when Robert Earl Keen announced his farewell I’m Comin’ Home Tour I knew I’d have to see him one last time if he came to my neck of the woods. Keen has been one of my favorite singer-songwriters of the last decade when I truly became aware of much of his discography, after knowing stuff like “Merry Christmas From the Family” and “The Road Goes on Forever” previously. He announced a show for Little Rock’s Robinson Center and tickets were immediately purchased.

Keen’s Arkansas stop was Sunday, July 31 and it was nice to see him for the third time, though he’s obviously slowed down a bit in the three years since I last saw him and now performs completely seated.

His setlist was a mixture of what one might call his “greatest hits” and some deeper album cuts strewn about.

One of those deeper cuts is “The Man Behind the Drums,” off his 2009 album The Rose Hotel, which is a tribute to one of Arkansas’ greatest born musicians Levon Helm of The Band. I figured he’d play the song being in Arkansas, as I’ve seen him do it before, but it was an interesting choice to kick off a show. He would then play the title track off that 2009 album next. Keen told the audience he was a big salesman for Arkansas and had loved the state ever since he was a young boy fishing on Bull Shoals Lake in northern Arkansas with his grandfather. Arkansas would come up in song once more during his set in “Here in Arkansas,” off 2004’s A Bigger Piece of Sky.

Among the greatest of Keen’s songs that really got the crowd into the show early was “Corpus Christi Bay,” a song that’s just synonymous with Keen’s wry humor, mixed with raucousness.

I really enjoyed hearing Keen perform “Think It Over One Time,” off 1994’s Gringo Honeymoon, one of his catchiest songs and one I don’t believe I’d seen him play the two previous times I’d seen him. The title track off that 1994 album is always a hit with Keen’s audience, as is the story song “Shades of Gray,” off 1997’s Picnic.

“The Five Pound Bass” and, particularly, “Copenhagen” were very popular among the Robinson Center crowd, though I could’ve taken or left them honestly. I know “Copenhagen” is massively popular, but it’s honestly not one of his greats. The fact that it got maybe the most uproarious response of the entire evening was somewhat obnoxious, but that’s kind of what the venue’s audience was in general.

Among my favorite performances of the evening were songs I’ve heard Keen perform every time I’ve seen him and are among the best in his repertoire, including my ultimate favorite “Feelin’ Good Again,” off his 1998 album of the same name. There were also fantastic performances of “What I Really Mean” and “I Gotta Go,” before a terrific, rousing performance of “The Road Goes on Forever” to end the set.

Keen returned to the stage for an encore that included his massively popular Christmas song “Merry Christmas From the Family,” hey, Christmas in July is a thing! It’s such a big song in his career that he pretty much must play it at every show despite the season.

Keen told humorous stories throughout the night, and one came during his encore about some bad advice he’d once gotten from Steve Earle about moving to Nashville, which didn’t work out well for the natural born Texan. He then covered Earle’s “My Old Friend the Blues,” a nice performance, but honestly I’d just prefer to hear Keen songs during a farewell tour.

Keen obviously finished his show with “I’m Comin’ Home,” off Gringo Honeymoon, to end his show. It was a great moment and he got off of his seat toward the end of the show to point the microphone out toward the audience to let the crowd sing-along.

Keen will continue his farewell tour across the country over the next month with his final show scheduled for Sept. 4 at Floore’s Country Store in Helotes, Texas.

I’ve been to a few concerts now at Robinson Center in downtown Little Rock, this was my second since the venue was remodeled a few years ago. The venue is nice enough looks-wise with good views of the stage and the sound is fine, if not great, but the place has no heart and soul, and it truly comes out in the audiences that attend shows there. Live music is supposed to be a fun experience. Folks are supposed to get on their feet and dance and groove and sing along, but the audience in my experiences at Robinson Center seems they’d be more at home watching the opera, which is freakin’ weird for an audience that loved a song so much about a man’s date accidentally drinking out of his dip cup. I just don’t understand this venue and its audience when it comes to concerts.

Country singer-songwriter Brent Cobb opened up the evening for Keen and performed a truly solid hour-long set featuring most everything I wanted to hear from him, though his thick Georgian accent does make it hard to comprehend him live at times. Songs like “Diggin’ Holes,” “Solving Problems,” “Shine on Rainy Day,” “Keep ‘Em on They Toes” and “Shut Up and Sing” all show off Cobb’s terrific songwriting talent.

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