{"id":450351,"date":"2026-09-28T19:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/450351\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T19:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:06:08","slug":"robert-earl-keen-texas-music-scene-rally-for-guitarist-with-als","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/450351\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Earl Keen, Texas Music Scene Rally for Guitarist With ALS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMusicians throughout Texas are rallyng around one of the most popular guitar players of the Austin music scene. Rich Brotherton<\/a>, best-known as Robert Earl Keen<\/a>\u2019s longtime guitarist, confirmed a diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, commonly called Lou Gehrig\u2019s Disease) on social media<\/a> in August 2025. The 13 months since have become a collective effort to lift the spirits of Brotheron, who has also played alongside artists like Patty Griffin, Caroline Herring, Rodney Hayden, and Andy Hedges.<\/p>\n

\n\tKeen, especially, has been leading the charge. In late August, the songwriter organized a fundraiser concert for Brotherton through the same Applause for the Cause<\/a> program he debuted during a concert for Texas flood victims in 2025. The show was held at the Devil\u2019s Backbone Tavern in the Texas Hill Country, with all proceeds going directly to Brotherton.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn September, San Antonio songwriter John Baumann followed suit, releasing a tribute to Brotherton, who was both a mentor to Baumann and the producer of his 2012 debut EP, West Texas Vernacular. The song, titled \u201cBrotherton<\/a>,\u201d is Baumann\u2019s recollection of working with the guitarist on that project.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRich Brotherton might be the reason I have a career in the music business,\u201d Baumann tells Rolling Stone. \u201cHe welcomed me into his studio when I was 24 years old and totally clueless. I didn\u2019t know the difference between an XLR and a quarter inch cable. But he liked my songs and believed in them and took a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBrotherton\u201d is a simple acoustic track that features an emotional Baumann singing about being both young and na\u00efve, and discovering that he had a champion in Brotherton. \u201cThank you, Brotherton,\u201d he sings in the refrain. (The song, which also references Keen, elicited a tribute<\/a> from Brotherton on social media.)<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI learned a lot about making records with him, but I also saw someone who is a true ray of light in a dark business,\u201d Baumann says. \u201cAlways kind, positive, without ego, a friend to all. Just a really wonderful soul. I\u2019m super grateful to have recorded with him and gone on the road with him. The little EP we made is still my most well-received work to date.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tKeen brought Brotherton into his band in 1994, just as Keen\u2019s crowds started growing, particularly among the early-20s set in college towns like College Station, Stephenville, and Lubbock. Brotherton added depth to Keen\u2019s live show, which had previously been a four-piece, with Keen playing acoustic guitar along with a fiddle, bassist, and drummer. Brotherton was gifted at both flatpicking acoustic and electric lead and his addition gave Keen\u2019s sound a rock edge. Keen recalls Brotherton playing a cover of Jimi Hendrix\u2019s \u201cHey Joe\u201d on a guitar that was to be auctioned at a charity benefit, and the guitar ultimately selling for $35,000.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRobert Earl Keen with Rich Brotherton and his wife Kathy Brotherton at a benefit show for Brotherton this summer. Photo: Cameron Gott*<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two shared a life-changing moment when they recorded Keen\u2019s 1996 LP, No 2. Live Dinner, live at John T. Floore Country Store in Helotes, Texas, and the Cactus Cafe in Austin. On the album, Brotherton along with steel guitar player Lloyd Maines and fiddle player Bryan Duckworth can be heard swapping extended solos on Keen\u2019s signature song, \u201cThe Road Goes on Forever.\u201d By the end of the decade, Keen was regarded as the biggest name in Texas music<\/a>, and his crowds in the Lone Star State frequently numbered in the tens of thousands. In the years that followed, Brotherton would also try his hand as a producer for a pair of Keen records.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHaving Rich on board, we were able to approach several folk or Americana-styled original recordings with nuanced sophistication,\u201d Keen says. \u201cIn retrospect, Rich and I shared a journey through records from my early sound into the unfamiliar undertakings of our electric-driven newer recordings.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRich produced two of these with bombastic energy and encyclopedic mixing knowledge. In fact, the first production he championed for me, Farm Fresh Onions, was met with surprise and disdain by a significant number of print and radio supporters. That record now ranks among my lifetime best. Contrarily, in light of his acoustic influence, when it came to choosing cover tunes and playing and singing on my bluegrass album, Happy Prisoner, Rich was invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBrotherton left Keen\u2019s band in 2019. The reason the two men gave at the time was irreconcilable differences. Reflecting now, Keen says the onus of reconciliation fell to him, yet he never did.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI labor over that mistake,\u201d Keen says. \u201cAlthough one can\u2019t overcome irremediable episodes, there are bridges to start anew, and most of my fans are Rich\u2019s fans. The Devil\u2019s Backbone concert was a testament to the longevity of Rich\u2019s immeasurable contribution to our band. Rich and I were able to build a new bridge with that effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuckworth is largely retired from music, but he showed up at the benefit Keen organized at Devil\u2019s Backbone Tavern and played a few songs with Keen. The benefit was livestreamed on Keen\u2019s YouTube channel, where the full show remains.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe total amount raised at the show is something Keen and Brotherton kept to themselves. The only public donation to Brotherton came in late 2025, when a group of artists including Patty Griffin, Charley Crockett, and Lyle Lovett organized \u201cA Night for Rich Brotherton<\/a>\u201d at Austin\u2019s Paramount Theatre, raising nearly $80,000 in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBrotherton also resisted Baumann\u2019s efforts to share in the song that bears his name.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI tried to get him to take the proceeds from the song I wrote,\u201d Baumann says. \u201cHe refused.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJosh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose upcoming book, Sonoran Sounds<\/a>, is set for release in March 2027 via Back Lounge Publishing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Musicians throughout Texas are rallyng around one of the most popular guitar players of the Austin music scene.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48360,154896,39966,27,29,51058,28],"class_list":["post-450351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-red-dirt","tag-rich-brotherton","tag-robert-earl-keen","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-music","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}