Legendary Texas troubadour Robert Earl Keen plays the Calvin Theatre Sunday, September 7th at 8PM with special guest Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek.

For the last decade plus, if one were to say "Lone Star music," the name that frequently would come to mind is Robert Earl Keen. During the 1990s, the Houston native became a Texas favorite if not icon, thanks to songs that run from sharp humor to vivid stories to poignant emotional ruminations. Keen started playing music at Texas A&M University, hanging out on the porch of his off-campus rental house. Fellow Aggie Lyle Lovett would often drop by to play, as immortalized in the song Keen and Lovett co-wrote - called "The Porch Song" in Keen's zippy version of it and "This Old Porch" in Lovett's more ruminative take. He landed in Austin after college and began working his way up through the clubs, self-releasing his first album, No Kinda Dancer, in 1984.

In 1986, on the advice of Steve Earle - who warned him that in Austin the women are too pretty and the pot too cheap - Keen moved to Nashville, but unlike peers like Earle, Lovett and Nanci Griffith, he didn't win a record deal. Discouraged by the polish of the new country sound, he moved back to Austin. In 1989 he released his national debut West Textures. His 1993 release, A Bigger Piece Of Sky, gained wider acclaim, both amongst fans and critics. Over the next ten years, Keen would continue to write, record, perform and tour. His 1997 album Picnic features a picture of Keen's own car in flames at Willie Nelson's 1974 Fourth of July picnic/concert. He tells the story on the No. 2 Live Dinner album in the introduction to his signature song "The Road Goes on Forever."

This past January, artists converged at the MusicFest at Steamboat to honor Robert Earl Keen, performing interpretations of Keen’s influential material at the popular festival’s annual Tribute to a Legend gala. The evening’s stunning performances were captured and the resulting recordings compiled to create LIVE IS GOOD, comes out this Fall. Proceeds will aptly benefit The Center for Texas Music History.

Violinist Sara Watkins, a crucial 1/3 of Southern California’s Nickel Creek (along with her brother Sean Watkins and Chris Thile) opens the show. Her MySpace page reveals more about what Sara’s sole entity is all about.

Tickets are available at the Northampton Box Office @ 76 Main Street, order by phone @ 413-586-8686, or buy online @ www.iheg.com.