Gravitational Forces

Infobox Album | Name = Gravitational Forces
Type = studio
Artist = Robert Earl Keen


Released = August 7 2001
Recorded =
Genre = country, folk, singer-songwriter
Length = 49:42
Label = Lost Highway
Producer = Gurf Morlix,
Robert Earl Keen
Reviews =
*About.com (favorable)Jennifer Webb, [http://countrymusic.about.com/library/blgravitationalforcesrev.htm "CD Review: "Gravitational Forces" - Robert Earl Keen"] , Countrymusic.About.com]
* "Allmusic" Rating|4.5|5Scott Cooper, [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ypr9kemtsq7z "Review: "Gravitational Forces"] , "Allmusic"]
*"Austin Chronicle" (favorable)Christopher Gray, [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid:83370 "Phases and Stages"] , "Austin Chronicle", October 19, 2001]
*"Country Music" (mixed)Mitch Potter, "Review: Robert Earl Keen — "Gravitational Forces", "Country Music", 215, October-November, 2001, p.88]
*"Daily O'Collegian" (favorable)Josh Crutchmer, [http://www.ocolly.com/read_story.php?a_id=11273 "Keen's latest tour de "Force"] , "The Daily O'Collegian", October 4, 2001]
*"Dirty Linen" (favorable)Colleen Moore, "Linen Shorts: Robert Earl Keen - "Gravitational Forces", "Dirty Linen", 96 October-November, 2001, p.71]
*"Goldmine" (favorable)Fetzer Mills Jr., "New Releases", "Goldmine, "'27:20:553, October 5, 2001, p.20]
* "The Music Box" Rating|4|5John Metzger, [http://www.musicbox-online.com/rek-grav.html "Review: Robert Earl Keen - "Gravitational Forces"] , 8:11, November 2001]
*"NetRhythms" (favorable)Mike Davies, [http://www.netrhythms.com/reviewsk.html#keen "Robert Earl Keen - "Gravitational Forces" (Lost Highway)"] , "NetRhythms"]
*"New York Times" (mixed) [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/84916126.html?dids=84916126:84916126&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+19%2C+2001&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=T.07&desc=ROBERT+EARL+KEEN+%22Gravitationa+... "Robert Earl Keen - "Gravitational Forces"] "New York Times", October 19, 2001]
*"Performing Songwriter" (favorable)Clay Steakly, "Check it Out!:Robert Earl Keen", "Performing Songwriter", 9:56, September-October 2001, p.16]
*"Sing Out!" (favorable)Michael Tearson, "Off the Beaten Track: Robert Earl Keen - "Gravitational Forces", "Sing Out!", 45:4, Winter 2002]
Last album = "Walking Distance"
(1998)
This album = "Gravitational Forces"
(2001)
Next album = "Farm Fresh Onions"
(2003)|

"For the general property of mutual attraction between bodies of matter, see Gravitation."

"Gravitational Forces" is an album by Texas-based country/folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen. It was first released in the United States on August 7 2001 (see 2001 in music).

One reviewer described this album, Keen's ninth, as being "just a hair more to the country side of the folk-rock-country axis than ever before." Indeed, producer and multi-instrumentalist Gurf Morlix, and the various long-time members of Keen's own road band did not shy away from including fiddle solos and steel guitars in the mix when they suit Keen's songs. "I wanted to keep a real natural, organic sound," says Morlix, "My job as producer varies from artist to artist. I help them find the sound they want and then do what it takes to get that on record."Kerry Dexter, "Robert Earl Keen: Texas Rising", "Dirty Linen", 100, June-July 2002, p.21-23]

As usual, Keen's songwritng is full of narrative stories and character sketches. "Performing Songwriter" described the characters found in "Gravitational Forces" as "everyday pulled, led, and sometimes dragged by some outside strength." "Billboard" noted, however, that Keen's more recent tales avoid some of the violent imagery found in some of his earlier songs. Keen has admitted, "Yeah, the body count's a little lower this time."Compare these songs to e.g. "Whenever Kindness Fails" or "Blow You Away" from 1993's "A Bigger Piece of Sky"]

Keen began recording the album after his previous label, Arista Austin had closed down, and before finding his new, albeit brief, home on Lost Highway Records. "When we started this project I hadn't made a deal with any record company," Keen says, "I just knew I would have a deal one way or another." The release arrived at a time when Keen was beginning to receive wider recognition outside of his home state of Texas.Ray Waddell, "Keen Hopes His New Lost Highway Disc Will Defy "Gravity", "Billboard", 113:28, July 14, 2001, p.55] [http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/interviews/rkeen_interview.html "Austin City Limits Interviews: Robert Earl Keen"] , pbs.org, August 22, 2001] As of 2007, "Gravitational Forces" remains Keens highest charting album on several of "Billboard's" charts (see below).

Song selection

The songs on the album that Keen "didn't" write range from Johnny Cash's often-covered classic, "I Still Miss Someone" to Townes Van Zandt's more obscure "Snowin' on Raton". Keen and his band also cover the traditional blues, "Walkin' Cane" in what has been described as a "rowdy, back-porch take," and treat Terry Allen's "High Plains Jamboree" with a backdrop of "bar room party sounds."liner notes, "Gravitational Forces", Lost Highway Records, 088 170 198-2, 2001]

The cover that reviewers most recognize as a choice pick to match Keen and his career outside of mainstream music is Joe Dolce's "Hall of Fame". Keen sings::

Keen's own songs provide many of the albums highlights. "Wild Wind" is a harmonica-heavy minor key introduction to a series of tragic small-town characters, that will leave some listeners wanting to know more. Keen says that some of the characters that populate his songs are based upon "dead on real people" while others are composites. In "Wild Wind", he says, "there's a character that just sort of walks around town and sells papers. He's a mixture of about three or four guys that I know... In general I try to keep with real people, because I feel like you always want to have some hint of the truth where it makes it feel real to you."

"Not a Drop of Rain" is Keen's personal favorite from the album, "It's a very emotional song, written out of thinking what would happen if I lost everything I have." The song has a somewhat unusual guitar accompaniment played in DADGAD tuningLydia Hutchinson, [http://www.performingsongwriter.com/pages/home/shawn_2.cfm "Shawn COlvin exclusive web interview"] , "Performing Songwriter", web only, accessed Mar 29, 2007, see also: issue 96, September/October, 2006] and its structure eschews the traditional verse/chorus/verse song structure. Singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin fell in love with the song and began performing it. Her version was recorded in studio and released in 2002 on a compilation by radio station KGSR." [http://kgsr.com/broadcasts/index10.aspx KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 10] ", 107.1 KGSR-FM, Austin, Texas, 2002]

Keen's "Goin' Nowhere Blues" has been described as "chilling" and contains references to Langston Hughes, Woody Guthrie, Martin Luther King, Ceasar Chavez, and down-and-out union workers. Keen manages to connect the tragic aspects of all these disparate lives.

The title track, "Gravitational Forces", has been described as "sort of experimental" by some and "bizarre" or "hysterical" by others. Keen delivers a spoken stream of consciousness on the "temporal distortion of a four-hour sound check," complete with a free jazz accompaniment that caused one reviewer to liken it to Allen Ginsberg's reading of "Howl" backed by the Kronos Quartet.

Although one reviewer indicates that the closing track is Keen's first studio release of his own live signature song, "The Road Goes On Forever", Keen first recorded the song for his 1989 album "West Textures". In the earlier recording the track was five minutes long, just enough to relate the plot twists in Keen's story. This time it's a seven minute build-up to some intense and lengthly instrumental solos.

In an August 2001 taping of "Austin City Limits", Keen and his band gave a live performance including many of these same songs. This was released in 2004 as the album, "Live From Austin, TX".Jim Caligiuri, [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid:236033 "Texas Platters"] (review of several "Live From Austin, TX" releases), "Austin Chronicle", November 5, 2004]

Track listing

*All tracks written by Robert Earl Keen, except where noted.
#"My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame" (Joe Dolce) – 3:04
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic & electric lead guitars
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar & harmony vocals
#* Gurf Morlix — steel, electric & baritone guitars and harmony vocals
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums
#"Hello New Orleans" – 3:01
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic, electric & 12-string guitars
#* Ian McLagan — Hammond B-3 organ
#* Gurf Morlix — beer bottle slide guitar
#* Bill Whitbeck — upright bass & harmony vocals
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums
#"Wild Wind" – 5:12
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic guitar & harmony vocals
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar, harmony vocals, harmony concept & vocal arrangement
#* Gurf Morlix — acoustic & baritone guitars
#* Cody Braun — harmonica
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums
#"Not a Drop of Rain" – 4:09
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic guitar
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar & harmony vocals
#* Bryan Duckworth — mandolin
#* Gurf Morlix — beer bottle slide guitar
#* Ian McLagan — Hammond B-3 organ
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums
#"I Still Miss Someone" (Johnny Cash, Roy Cash) – 3:19
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic & electric guitars and harmony vocals
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar & harmony vocals
#* Bryan Duckworth — fiddle & mandolin
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums
#"Fallin' Out" – 3:25
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic guitar
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar & harmony vocals
#* Gurf Morlix — electric & lap steel guitars and harmonium
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums & percussion
#"High Plains Jamboree" (Terry Allen) – 3:10
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic, electric & baritone guitars
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar & tic-tac bass guitar
#* Tommy Delamore — steel guitar
#* Byran Duckworth — fiddle
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums
#* "Bar Room Party Sound" — Kathy Brotherton, Rich Brotherton, Gurf Morlix, Laurie Galbraith & Robert Earl Keen
#"Walkin' Cane" (traditional, arranged by Robert Earl Keen) – 4:43
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — slide, electric & National slide guitars guitars and harmony vocals
#* Bill Whitbeck — upright bass & harmony vocals
#* Bryan Duckworth — fiddle
#* Gurf Morlix — mandolin
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums & percussion
#"Goin' Nowhere Blues" – 4:47
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic guitar
#* Bill Whitbeck — upright bass
#* Ian McLagan — Hammond B-3 organ
#* Gurf Morlix — acoustic & electric guitars
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums & percussion
#"Snowin' on Raton" (Townes Van Zandt) – 5:01
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — electricguitar & harmony vocals
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar & harmony vocals
#* Marty Muse — steel guitar
#* Freddie Fletcher — pizza box percussion
#"Gravitational Forces" – 2:41
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — acoustic guitar
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass guitar
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums & percussion
#"The Road Goes On Forever" – 7:10 †
#* Robert Earl Keen — lead vocals
#* Rich Brotherton — electric & baritone guitars and mandolin
#* Bill Whitbeck — bass
#* Ray Kennedy — electric guitar
#* Marty Muse — steel guitar
#* Tom Van Schaik — drums

Credits

Production

* Produced by Gurf Morlix & Robert Earl Keen
** Recorded by Stuart Sullivan at Arlyn Studios, Austin, Texas
** Mixed by Gurf Morlix at Arlyn Studios, Austin, Texas
** Mastered by Hank Williams and Gurf Morlix at MasterMix, Nashville, Tennessee
*† "The Road Goes on Forever" produced by Ray Kennedy
** Recorded by Ray Kennedy at Arlyn Studios, Austin, Texas
** Additional recording at Room and Board Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
** Mixed by Chuck Ainlay in BackStage at Sound Stage Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
** Mastered by Hank Williams at MasterMix, Nashville, Tennessee

Management

* Management — Rosetta Management, Bandera, Texas
* Booking — Monterey Peninsula Artists, Inc. [ [http://www.montereypeninsulaartists.com/ Monterey Peninsula Artists, Inc.] , web site]

Artwork

* Art direction — Robert Earl Keen, Jim Kemp & Karen Naff
* Design — Karen Naff
* Photography — Glen Rose

Album charts

References