Pro Ecclesia * Pro Familia * Pro Civitate: Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

Friday, February 20, 2009

Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

UPDATE
REK puts a face on the immigration debate with "Mariano":

UPDATE #2
An "unplugged" version of "The Road Goes On Forever":

UPDATE #3
And you can listen to "Swervin' in My Lane" (a MUST listen) here.

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

Jerry Jeff Walker

Homesick

... and the Boys

... and Willie ...

Waylon ...

The King of Western Swing

Willie & The Wheel

Not-So-Random Thought on a Saturday Afternoon While Listening to a Bob Wills Tribute Album With My Kids ...

Labels: Music, Texas Our Texas

5 Comments:

At 2/20/2009 1:38 PM, Terry said...: Perhaps one of the most unheralded great songwriters of any genre in America. Interesting trivia is that he was the aforementioned Lyle Lovett's roommate in Aggieland, and his best man when Lovett married Julia Roberts.

Mariano is probably my favorite song. During the height of the immigration debate, I thought it captured it perfectly: yes you have to follow laws, but when all was said and done, we aren't dealing with a morass or a mob, but individuals with a story, a family, and the same struggles and fears that we all have.

I've really been enjoying these posts.
At 2/20/2009 1:45 PM, Pro Ecclesia said...: I like Mariano as well. I'll see if I can find a YouTube version of it and post it here.

Let me know if there's a Texas artist you'd like me to feature over the next week or so. I'm planning posts on Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt, Joe Ely, Billy Joe Shaver, and a few others. If there's someone that I miss, let me know.
At 2/20/2009 2:29 PM, Anonymous said...: I absolutely love REK's music! I saw him several times in College Station, TX (a.k.a. Aggieland). One of the shows was real treat, albeit for a somber occasion: it was the Bonfire Memorial Concert in 1999, with REK and Lyle Lovett. Didn't know much about Lyle, except the Julia Roberts thing. Love his music too. If you've never seen a cello solo in a country band, you're missing out!
At 2/20/2009 2:45 PM, Anonymous said...: I love the "Bluegrass Widow". Funny song. I also like the "Front Porch Song" from the Live Album. Great story about Gospel music and Presbyterians. :-)

Other faves not mentioned yet:
Gringo Honeymoon
The Raven and the Coyote
Paint the Town Beige
Sonora's Death Row
Levelland
Then Came Lo Mein
Tom Ames' Prayer
Swervin' in My Lane
At 2/20/2009 3:05 PM, Pro Ecclesia said...: I can't believe I forgot "Swervin' in My Lane". That used to be my absolute favorite REK song.

Now I'm going to have to look to see if I can find it on YouTube.

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: Name: Pro Ecclesia; Location: Ohio, United States

A convert to the Catholic Church who became Catholic because of a belief in and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. * A graduate of Baylor University and the University of Virginia School of Law. * Former Mayor of the Town of Columbia, Virginia. * Married with four children: two boys and two girls. * Primary interests include the Catholic Church, family, Early American History, and law/politics * Primary purpose of this blog is fostering enlightened discussion about the roles played by the institutions of religion, family, and state in our daily lives. * Under the protection of St. Thomas More, martyr, and patron of lawyers, judges, civil servants, politicians, statesmen, and large families (not to mention troubled marriages).

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Thomas More, counselor of law and patron of statesmen, merry martyr and most human of saints:

Pray that, for the glory of God and in the pursuit of His justice, I may be able in argument, accurate in analysis, keen in study, correct in conclusion, loyal to clients, honest with all, courteous to adversaries, trustworthy with confidences, courageous in court. Sit with me at my desk and listen with me to my clients' tales. Read with me in my library and stand always beside me so that today I shall not, to win a point, lose my soul.

Pray that my family may find in me what yours found in you: friendship and courage, cheerfulness and charity, diligence in duties, counsel in adversity, patience in pain -- their good servant, and God's first. AMEN.

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Prayer to St. Thomas More for Lawyers and Judges

Dear Scholar and Martyr, it was not the King of England but you who were the true Defender of the Faith. Like Christ unjustly condemned, neither promises nor threats could make you accept a civil ruler as head of the Christian Church.

Perfect in your honesty and love of truth, grant that lawyers and judges may imitate you and achieve true justice for all people. AMEN.

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Lawyer's Prayer

"Give me the Grace Good Lord, to set the world at naught; to set my mind fast upon Thee and not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly company but utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of the business thereof."

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Litany of St. Thomas More, Martyr and Patron Saint of Statesmen, Politicians and Lawyers

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Novena to St. Thomas More

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~ Quoth St. Thomas More ~

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."

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"What does it avail to know that there is a God, which you not only believe by Faith, but also know by Reason: what does it avail that you know Him if you think little of Him?"

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"The things that we pray for, good Lord, give us grace to labour for."

*****

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Friday, February 20, 2009

Robert Earl Keen [UPDATED]

5 Comments:

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