Texan Robert Earl Keen [ tickets ] writes songs for barren front porches or crowded barrooms, songs meant for careful introspection and tunes that improve when everyone sings along. In a few instances--"The Road Goes on Forever," for example--celebration and observation are synchronized and the party's chronicler becomes the man in charge of getting the shebang started. As he starts yet another lengthy tour, Keen is well aware that the better the party, the better the show.

Touring in support of "The Rose Hotel," his first album in four years, Keen emphasized songs that speak of good times, beer-fueled escapades and heroism, with a few detours to notice oddities and tender moments. Hardly a showman, Keen plays the role of tour guide, incorporating a fair number of "Rose Hotel's" tunes, the highlights being his ode to The Band's Levon Helm, "The Man Behind the Drums" and the hangover-paced "Goodbye Cleveland."

The ace band behind him provides steady support; solos from the electric guitar and pedal steel are spry homages to the early days of country rock. But without the banjo and mandolins that give the new album its earthen hues, a predictability sets in that prevents Keen from flashing signs of versatility.

The downside is that Keen's adept use of influences outside the standard Lyle Lovett-Joe Ely model of Texas music-making get swept into a corner, allowing a nuance-free Jimmy Buffett element to overwhelm the proceedings. It works to get a raucous response to the better-known tunes such as "Gringo Honeymoon," but leaves the insightful "Furnace Fan" to plow through crowd indifference.