From the good folks at IVPR: Half of the fun of Robert Earl Keen’s latest musical output, “Western Chill,” is just how much his long-beloved band members have been involved in the album. It’s always been a family affair with Keen, but “Western Chill” ups the collaboration; feeling as if it’s a bunch of old friends sitting around the studio sharing songs to tape. And that’s because, well, it was. Released in physical form only last spring, “Western Chill” is set to make its internet debut on June 7, available for download or to stream. “The fans spoke and we listened: you want ‘Western Chill’ on-the-go so we’re releasing this labor of love, and given that it’s digital, I trust you’ll share it!” exclaims the man himself. For those not lucky enough to have purchased the all-encompassing “Western Chill” box set — which included a 92-page graphic novel inspired by the album, a play-along/sing-along songbook for all fourteen songs and a DVD of the Robert Earl Keen Band performing the entire new album at Keen’s Snake Barn studio space — REK and his band are releasing a few singles to preview exactly what “Western Chill” sounds like.  Today, Keen released “Waves,” written and sung by Robert Earl Keen Band fiddler, Brian Beken. In Keen’s exact words: “Brian Beken is a major talent and a really great frontman! His song ‘Waves’ is about this guy who has just been jilted…or who’s about to be jilted. And he hasn’t quite felt all of the loneliness and betrayal of somebody leaving him yet, but he knows it’s coming. He can hear the waves crashing and he feels it fixing to just fall down on him.”  Beken and the band revisited “Waves,” a tune from one of his past bands, with a whole different feel than it originally carried. “It was originally very fast and upbeat, almost unrecognizable from how it ended up on Western Chill. I slowed it way down and that really brought the melancholy, reminiscent vibe out of the lyrics which I felt would work well on Western Chill,” Beken says. “I wrote it alone in an old apartment in downtown Austin one night, which was perched over a pretty busy street they were re-paving. If you imagined enough, the sound of the traffic from inside the apartment almost sounded like waves crashing.” Fans can stream or purchase “Waves” today at this link, hear the previously-released “Western Chill” single, “Let’s Valet” at this link, and pre-order or pre-save “Western Chill” ahead of its digital release on June 7 right here. Beginning on June 7, individual pieces of the “Western Chill” box set will be available “a la carte” at REK’s web store.  Those keen-eyed fans will have already seen a short, sweet list of REK full band shows announced in recent weeks, but for those who may have missed them, Keen and the band will be hitting the road in very short spurts this summer to perform 1998’s Picnic and 2003’Farm Fresh Onions front to back in their entirety. “To keep it lively, we’ll alternate each record…Picnic one night and Farm Fresh Onions the next,” says Keen. But first, the Robert Earl Keen Band will take the stage at Round Rock, Texas’s Lone Star Jam at Round Rock Amphitheatre on May 26th. A full list of upcoming dates can be found below or at robertearlkeen.com/tour. Catch Robert Earl Keen On Tour: May 26 – Round Rock, TX – Round Rock Amphitheatre Lone Star Jam June 1 – Knoxville, TN – Tennessee Theatre June 2 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium* June 3 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre June 5 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall June 7 – Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre June 8 – Winston-Salem, NC – The RamKat June 9 – Rocky Mount, VA – Harvester Performance Center June 14 – Grand Prairie, TX – Texas Trust CU Theatre Aug. 6 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere Aug. 7 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere Aug. 8 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere Aug. 9 – Richmond, VA – The National *Kaitlin Butts opens

More about “Western Chill:” As befits the occasion, the “Western Chill” vibe is soulfully laid-back—especially compared to the crowd-amped rush of 2016’s “Live Dinner Reunion” or the spry, virtuosic kick of Keen’s 2015’s “Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions.” This new album is packed with enough surprises to keep even the most seasoned fan guessing what’s coming next. The opening title track—an instant Keen classic in the easy-loping vein of “The Front Porch Song,” “Gringo Honeymoon,” and “Feelin’ Good Again”—sets the mood for the whole album, followed by back-to-back original stunners sung and written by fiddle/guitar player Brian Beken (“Waves”) and bassist Bill Whitbeck (“Bluelight”). If variety is the spice of life, “Western Chill” is the Silk Road to chill with more contributions are heard from Beken and Whitbeck, as well as compositions by the rest of the band. This has all been documented on the accompanying video because true to the “featuring” tag on the album cover, this really is a REK Band affair.