Robert Earl Keen

Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library

Robert Earl Keen sauntered slowly onto the stage at The Birchmere, waved to the crowd, and proceeded to say that he “didn't have any answers” for his appearance at the venerable Northern Virginia club last week.

The Texas troubadour makes a sentimental and satisfying stop on what he says will be his final tour.

Robert Earl Keen and Waylon Payne at Lincoln Theatre 12/6

Robert Earl Keen came through and played a fun show at the Riverwind Casino Showplace Theatre this past Saturday. It was like seeing that old friend you haven't seen in years, and trying to remember exactly why you haven't seen them in so long.

In the mid 1980s, I was a reporter at my hometown newspaper in the refinery town of Texas City, Texas, and commuted to school at the University of Houston. For the most part, I worked the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, although the days often started early and the nights rarely ended before bars closed at 2.

Snider, coming off the fall release of his rock n’ roll party album Eastside Bulldog, came out armed with his acoustic guitar and a harmonica and engaged the crowd immediately with “Ballad of The Kingsmen.