Robert Earl Keen fans came perilously close to spending their holidays without ever belting out “Make bloody Marys ’cause we all want one” and other irresistible lyrics from “Merry Christmas From the Family.”
When Keen started noodling around with the classic-to-be a few decades ago, he was goofing around. He had been working on songs for the album that became “The Party Never Ends” a few weeks before Christmas and started thinking about his family’s holiday celebrations in Houston.
“We literally experienced some years 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity, and no one knew what a chestnut was, certainly, and the only open fire you’d have would be burning a barrel of trash in your backyard,” he recalled in a telephone interview. “So I thought, no one’s ever written a Christmas song for me that really reflects my upbringing.
“So I started writing that. I’m by myself, and I was really entertaining myself. And laughing at this line, laughing at this line, and thinking the whole thing was just hilarious, but I thought it was a joke, so I put it aside in a drawer and didn’t think about putting it out or even recording it. I was just having fun with it.”
About eight months later, he played the songs he’d written for the album for a producer, who then asked if he had anything else. Keen mentioned the Christmas song, and the producer asked to hear it. So Keen played it, and the producer surprised him by insisting that he record it.
“I’ve never been really great at judging my own work,” Keen said. “And it was kind of an immediate hit the first time I played it, even before the record was out. From then on, it just took off.
“It’s amazing how many people relate to it. And they don’t have to be from Houston. It goes from Portland, Oregon, to Portland Maine, really. I have people send me all the time items that are mentioned in the song or they tell me how that’s the song that they theme their whole Christmas around and all sing it together as if they were singing ‘Jingle Bells’ or ‘Silent Night.’ It’s hard for me to imagine sometimes that that happens.”
“Merry Christmas From the Family” inspired Keen’s annual slate of holiday shows. This year’s run gets underway Dec. 4 in Kerrville and ends Dec. 21 in Houston.
The theme this year is “The Greatest Christmas on Earth.” It will include circus-themed set as well as a bunch of holiday and other tunes.
Kerrville is as close to San Antonio as the tour is coming, though Keen will play the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo in February. He’ll also play Dallas, Tyler and Austin on the holiday tour.
The tour comes a few months after Keen’s Aug. 28 benefit to help those impacted by the July 4 flooding in the Hill Country. The star-studded show at Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels raised more than $3 million.
“It all went to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, which I think is a really good group, and I think they’ve put it in the right places,” said Keen, who lives on a ranch in Kerrville. “It’s small comparatively, but spending as much of my life as I have in Kerrville, I feel very close to the people here and the community at large. I love being out here.”
Keen’s property is on high ground and wasn’t impacted by the storm.
He’s been impressed by how quickly a sense of normalcy has returned to the area.
“It’s astounding,” he said. “It was as if an entire army moved in here right after, and people worked … to get things fixed up and they made a significant difference in the cleanup effort and they’ve done things to improve the water system.
“It’s amazing that it’s gotten taken care of in such a short period of time.”
Keen travels away from home from time to time to perform. He had announced his retirement from live shows in 2022, but it didn’t take.
“All of the sudden, I lacked a purpose,” he said. “I got invited to do a couple of little cameo things and got up there was like, ‘Whoa, wow, this is great! ’ I enjoyed the time days before the show and then really enjoyed the whole show afterwards.
“And I realized that I’m lucky enough to be someone who had a vision about their life and it’s worked out really well for me, and it has given me purpose. And I think every one of us needs purpose in life. And I don’t think everyone gets that. So I feel very fortunate. I’m very grateful.”
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