I just returned from an almost four thousand mile adventure through this great United States including one twenty hour straight stint averaging 80 mph through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee. And while there was 93 Octane running through the flat six the real fuel for the road is music, I don't feel sheepish saying that it was one hell of a playlist. I discovered some songs I never knew and others I have totally forgotten about, songs that, to my amazement, stayed on the edge of my consciousness.
My brother is six years my junior and because of this there were times where we never really hung out and raged, we always got along well but when I was twenty one he was fifteen and not staying out till eight every morning like I was. Our relationship was a product of our time in life and unlike some of my friend's brothers we just never were that close in a friendship kinda light. Today we are pretty close however he lives on the opposite coast and it is rare when we can get together. The relationship I was always thinking about is displayed perfectly in "Corpus Christi Bay" and after a few listens you'll know exactly what I am talking about.
Robert Earl Keen Jr. is a songwriter for the ages, his persona, story and lyrical craftsmanship will see to it that he is known well beyond his death. Maybe I think this because the lifestyle he writes about is one I have embraced over the years. As per this song I have gotten stoned along a sea wall, rolled a car drunk, had a tab at every bar in various areas of the United States and threw a bunch of my ex-wives's shit into the ocean in forgetting about her and what we had.
But it is more than that, and this song is more than the exploits of a rig worker on the southeast coast of Texas. It is the bond of two men growing older through the years, the cyclical nature of life and making the same mistakes over and over again. Most importantly it illustrates, for better or worse a time in my life in which I had great friends but always wished there was someone there connected to me via blood. Someone whom no matter how fucked up I eventually became would be there unquestioningly on my side. In these character's lives I see myself in both of their experiences and my brother as well. Maybe we should write our own song (he is a far superior guitar player than myself), maybe one of these days if we are not too old we can rage around for a year or two, I certainly hope so.
And the summation of Robert Earl Keen Junior's message is that it is never too late and you are never too old. Dig into his catalogue and the messages of his songs, whether you are nineteen or fifty nine it is never too late to head out into that world and find contentment. Whether that is in another person or the bottom of the glass is not any of our business, and that is the business of this country, a business that has spurned such great, open, full throttle song writers as old Bobby Keen.
