Preacher Keen

Preacher Keen's earliest musical influences came from the church--not the traditional kind of organist and choir, but the all-out, over-the-top, hell-fire and brimstone, emotionally charged, hillbilly gospel kind served up in the fundamentalist churches attended by Keen's family. His first musical instrument was a lap steel at age six, but the rigidity of formal music lessons didn't agree with him.

However, on a spur of the moment whim, he purchased a harmonica and found that he liked teaching himself to play. His father's employer noticed his interest in guitars and suggested a surprise on Christmas ---- a new guitar. It was a very successful surprise gift (he thought the package was a robe for his mother). He taught himself some chords from a Mel Bay Guitar book and was off. He had already been writing poetry, so the transition to songwriter was a natural progression.

Preacher Keen was raised in oil country in West Texas, he was surrounded by church music and the ubiquitous Country and Top 40 music played on the local radio stations. After his mother took him to a gospel musical performance at a predominantly black Baptist church when he was five years old, he was taken in by the soulful singing style of the call and response vocals of that branch of the gospel tree. Years later a college friend bought a record by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, and after hearing that record he quickly developed a passion for the soulfulness of the blues. The rock songs of his early playing career quickly made room for more blues on the playlist.

Preacher Keen moved to Fort Worth to find more musical opportunity and played the clubs of the Metroplex until he moved to Austin at the suggestion of former band members. In 1987 he began using Preacher as his performing name as a way of giving a nod to his musical heritage from the church. His new band, the Prodigal Sons fulfilled his dream of having a band that emphasized blues and original material. A demo tape lead to his first recording, ?Twentieth Century Man? which lead to a video of the song ?All Good Criminals?.

Preacher Keen returned to the recording studio for ?Preachin the Blues?, his first blues record released on the Angelwing label out of Houston. These days Preacher is busy singing the blues, stirring the pot of musical influences with a new band, and winning converts at every show. Just the kind of thing you would expect from a soul man.