Robert Earl Keen – Can you patch together a feeling that’s going to stick with somebody ten years from now?

ND: Who in the Texas creative community do you feel a kinship with?

REK: Well, of course, I definitely feel connected with Lyle. Last year we did a bunch of shows with the Greencards, who I love. That’s a great band, and I got to be friends with them in a real oddball way, and we did a bunch of shows together. [The Greencards, ironically, have themselves relocated to Nashville recently.]

A lot of times in Austin even, I’m sometimes out of the loop. There’s a lot of stuff going on there. I’m pretty good friends with Bruce [Robison], but he’s even a generation removed from what’s going on right now.

ND: Do you ever feel like you fell between the cracks generationally, younger than the Townes Van Zandts and Guy Clarks, but older than the Pat Greens and Kevin Fowlers of the Texas musical world?

REK: Who knows, man? I just always felt like it would work out, so I don’t really know. I know one thing — I’ve had an odd career, if you break it all down. It really doesn’t resemble anybody else’s. Bits and pieces resemble anybody’s, but as a whole, damn it’s weird. I could not have designed it.

What I found out, particularly in the songwriting world, looking at Tom Waits or John Prine, these people were doing OK, but they became almost funded by getting a hit or two, because they’re artists, right? Things rolled on for them and they were able to get over their lack of broad appeal and stay on the road and be recognized as great artists and great writers.

I’ve never had that. Never had the big hit, for myself or from anybody else. I’ve chugged along and made my way and fought with record companies and come out all right. I’ll tell you what, it’s definitely not the path to follow because it’s a tough one. If someone compliments me on my success, well thank you, ’cause I’ve walked every step of it.

ND: Where would you be now if you had been an overnight sensation?

REK: Aw, I don’t know. I’m probably too emotionally retarded to handle it. I would be best friends with Roky Erickson.

V. GO GET A PIECE OF PAPER!

ND: Have you ever served as mentor to younger guys coming up?

REK: Oh, yeah. I have guys call me pretty often. They want to know what to do and how to do this or that. Here’s my little quote on that: “It’s amazing how little young people know!” [Laughs].

I know there’s no ignorant questions and all that, but God, you just go, well have you done this? “Well…no…” Have you written it down on a piece of paper? “Well…I have a pencil…” Well, go get a piece of paper! I mean, really, it’s shocking. Some of these people are really smart, but they just don’t know.

ND: In another interview, you referred to the current crop of Texas country musicians as “button pushers” — people who can push the right emotional buttons in their songs without working the spaces in between. Is that still your take?

REK: I don’t really pay much attention to it. It seems like the people that I have the sensibility to like kind of drift toward me anyway, or I hear some of their music or something. The “button pushing” part comes from knowing all those buttons. Any pretty savvy guy knows how to push those buttons.

But we try to skip them as best we can in the interest of making a song interesting and not just like a kid’s game all the time. When I was a kid, I used to draw, and it got into me that I couldn’t draw from a picture; I had to draw from my own mind. And I think that the effort for some kind of originality and the effort of reaching that audience without pushing those buttons is what we’re trying to do.

And that other stuff is getting out of hand. That’s not how you get better; you get worse. Some people are just flat charismatic and affable, and they can get out there and do that. And they’re exactly the people that shouldn’t. But if you didn’t have those people, you wouldn’t have any televangelists.

ND: So how do you perceive yourself?

REK: I am the real guy. I AM the real guy. I don’t want to sound like Muhammad Ali here. It’s a hard line to walk. But I will say this: I have heard all my life about guys who abandon their bands and step on their mothers…and as far as I know, I haven’t stepped on anybody. Like I say, I’ve done this day to day, made enough money to get to the next day. And we have this incredible band and we do a great show.

I think the only downside is that I’m not really a great singer. But I think I’ve always moved on as a writer. I’m not just imitating myself time and time again. There’s always growth, and I always believe, just as a human being, that that’s exciting — to see somebody regardless of what their age is, to keep on growing and growing.