Keen Peels Back The 'Onion'

Texas singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen will on Oct. 7 release a new studio album, "Farm Fresh Onions." The set is his first for Audium/Koch and features 11 new tracks, as well as guest appearances from Shawn Colvin and the Small Faces' Ian McLagan.

The album was recorded in Austin, Texas, and produced by Keen guitarist Rich Brotherton. It was recorded live in the studio with Keen's core band of Brotherton, bassist Bill Whitbeck, percussionist Tom Van Schaik and pedal steel player Marty Muse. Multi-instrumentalist Riley Osbourn, accordion player Claude Bernard and string player Eamon McLoughlin are some of the others who appear on "Farm Fresh Onions."

"Farm Fresh Onions" sports one song written by fellow Texan James McMurty, "Out Here in the Middle," which features Colvin. Keyboardist McLagan also appears on the track, as well as on the album's "Beats the Devil."

Keen stays on the road for about 130 days a year, and has already begun lining up a number of dates in support of "Farm Fresh Onions." Updates will be posted on his official Web site.

Keen's 2001 album "Gravitational Forces" was released by Lost Highway. It debuted at No. 10 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and has sold 92,000 units in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.