Robert Earl Keen at Paramount Theatre | May 26, 2026
Robert Earl Keen has been on the road for more than 40 years, and his Then and Now tour is not a curtain call — it is a doubling down. He brings his career-spanning show to Paramount Theatre in Rutland, VT on Tuesday, May 26, with Austin newcomer Coleman Jennings opening.
About Robert Earl Keen
Keen came up on the Austin club circuit in the early 1980s, already writing the kind of songs that would outlast the decade. At Texas A&M, he and a fellow student named Lyle Lovett co-wrote “The Front Porch Song” — a track that ended up on both of their debut albums. His signature “The Road Goes on Forever” first appeared on West Textures in 1989 and has been a crowd staple ever since. “Merry Christmas from the Family” has earned a permanent place in a lot of holiday rotations, too.
With 21 albums behind him and a touring calendar that regularly runs 180-plus days a year, Keen is among the most road-tested songwriters in Texas country and Americana. He is a Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association Hall of Fame inductee, the inaugural BMI Troubadour Award recipient in 2015, and he recently made his Grand Ole Opry debut — all while pulling off Hollywood Bowl and Red Rocks dates on the same tour. A new studio album is also in progress.
The Then and Now tour sets his 2022 release Western Chill alongside the catalog classics. Opening the night is Coleman Jennings, an Austin-based Texas country-folk singer-songwriter who signed to Big Loud Texas / Mercury Records in September 2025. His debut EP, Wildflowers & Tears, draws from Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, and classic rock — a sound that fits this bill without much convincing.
About the Venue
The Paramount Theatre is an 830-seat restored historic theater in downtown Rutland, originally opened in 1914 and back in full operation since 2000. This stage has seen Will Rogers, Sarah Bernhardt, and Houdini — the kind of history a room carries into every show. For a night with Keen, a theater this size gets the intimacy right. Lobby doors open at 6:00 PM, seating at 6:30 PM, showtime at 7:00 PM. If you are making the trip from elsewhere in the North Country region, build in time — Rutland is worth the drive.
Tickets
Tickets are available at $40, $50, $60, and $100, plus tax and fees. Get tickets for Robert Earl Keen at Paramount Theatre.