Robert Earl Keen – HuffPost 8.24.11
MR: Robert, what advice would you have for new artists?
REK: My advice is to write and work as much as you can. Work through all your demons as far as lack of confidence and your need to show people stuff — just believe in yourself. And if you’re a writer, write as much as you can. If you’re a singer, sing as much as you can, and do it every chance you get, because there’s a point where if you’ve become famous or if you’ve become popular or sought after, that time will never be there again and you won’t be able to continue to work on your art. And the art part is really what keeps everything going.
Mike Ragogna: It’s difficult as young people try to make it in art these days. With Facebook and Twitter and now Google+, it almost seems like for survival, young artists have to both create a body of work and keep up with social networking to accumulate a fan base at the same time, and I fear that the latter takes away from making the art as good as possible.
Robert Earl Keen: Well, it certainly takes away from that. I’m guilty of being a part of all the social media, but it doesn’t draw me in because I’ve been around for a long time and I’m not quite as enthralled with it. But in this day and time — and in this market — I think it is imperative that you’re part of those worlds of social media. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t turn off your computer and sit down with your keyboard or your guitar or your tap shoes or your singing voice and woodshed and get that experience in beyond just talking about it. I guess that’s the only real distraction with social media, that a lot of people spend a lot of time talking about stuff that they’re not really working on as hard as they would in a perfect world or as much as they would like to. So, you know, we’re somewhat distracted as a culture by some of that, and I’m fully guilty myself. However, I do know the value of really digging in and writing good songs and then writing another one. Just because you write a good song doesn’t mean you can’t turn around and write another one right afterward. You don’t have to sit there and pat yourself on the back for a year. You just keep on cranking.