Bledsoe: Robert Earl Keen satisfies; Mark Mulcahy tribute is fascinating

Robert Earl Keen

Robert Earl Keen

"The Rose Hotel," Robert Earl Keen (Lost Highway)

There are few more personable voices in music than that of Robert Earl Keen. A contemporary of Lyle Lovett (the two wrote the great "The Front Porch Song" while they were both students at Texas A&M) and championed by Nanci Griffith (she recorded his "Sing One for Sister" early on), Keen got his real shot at fame in the mid-1990s when morning radio began playing his lovably irreverent "Merry Christmas from the Family."

For a little while it seemed as if the morning radio push might have just pushed him over the edge. Keen has always been made of deeper stuff than the yuck-happy radio performances (good as they were) would've indicated. Keen is, in fact, one of the those rare entertainers who can charm the fan operating on the lowest level of consciousness (think about the drunkest frat boy you've ever sat beside) and the deeper thinkers in the crowd - no small feat.

Keen's latest, "The Rose Hotel," satisfies both audiences.

There's a sing-along quality to many of the numbers. "Something That I Do" is little anthem for laziness. He celebrates The Band's legendary drummer Levon Helm in "The Man Behind the Drums" and puts the Keen treatment to Townes Van Zant's "Flyin' Shoes." "The Laughing River" is a bluegrassy take on a Greg Brown song (with Brown himself singing along) that flows as easy as the river being sung about, and Billy Bob Thorton guests on the goofy "10,000 Chinese Walk Into a Bar."

"Wireless in Heaven" fills the bill for a catchy little novelty song (and ends with a fun picking party instrumental).

Add to that the deeper-than-it-sounds title cut and you have a good picture of what Keen is all about.

Keen is typically labeled as an Americana artist, but he's really what country music ought to be.

"Ciao, My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy," Various Artists (Shout Factory)

It was tragedy that brought this album about. Melissa Rich, wife of Mark Mulcahy (former leader of both Miracle Legion and Polaris) died suddenly in 2008. Leaving Mulcahy to raise the couple's pre-school age twin daughters. Friends and fans banded together to record an album of Mulcahy's songs so that Mulcahy could afford to continue to make music and still be able to raise his children. The result is a tribute to Mulcahy, his wife and the simple idea of true love, but picking up the album is anything but an act of charity. Mulcahy has always been an underappreciated songwriter (anyone who caught Polaris' tracks for the wonderfully existential kids show "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" would understand) and hearing Radiohead's Thom Yorke, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, The Pixies' Frank Black, Fountains of Wayne's Chris Collingwood, Vic Chesnutt, Elvis Perkins, Sean Watkins, Dinosaur Jr., Ben Kweller, Josh Rouse, Rocket from the Tombs and 10 other artists interpreting Mulcahy's songs is a treat.

Mulcahy's work can be lovely (David Berkley performs a sweet version of "Love's the Only Thing That Shuts Me Up") or bleak (Black is almost scary on the song "Bill Jocko").

Several of the songs sound as if they were written after Rich died. Chesnutt's "Little Man" and Perkins' "She Watches Over Me" both ache with the pain of loss. Still, there's a hopefulness to most of the disc. Mulcahy's friends and admirers are a varied lot and it makes for fascinating listening.

Wayne Bledsoe may be reached at 865-342-6444 or bledsoe@knews.com. He is also the host of "All Over the Road" midnight Saturdays to 4 a.m. Sundays on WDVX-FM.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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