Gravitational Forces is an album by Texas-based country/folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen. It was first released in the United States on August 7, 2001 on Lost Highway.
One reviewer described this album, Keen's ninth, as being "just a hair more to the country side of the folk-rock-country axis than ever before." Indeed, producer and multi-instrumentalist Gurf Morlix, and the various long-time members of Keen's own road band did not shy away from including fiddle solos and steel guitars in the mix when they suit Keen's songs. "I wanted to keep a real natural, organic sound," says Morlix, "My job as producer varies from artist to artist. I help them find the sound they want and then do what it takes to get that on record."
As usual, Keen's songwriting is full of narrative stories and character sketches. Performing Songwriter described the characters found in Gravitational Forces as "everyday people pulled, led, and sometimes dragged by some outside strength." Billboard noted, however, that Keen's more recent tales avoid some of the violent imagery found in some of his earlier songs. Keen has admitted, "Yeah, the body count's a little lower this time."
Keen began recording the album after his previous label, Arista Austin had closed down, and before finding his new, albeit brief, home on Lost Highway Records. "When we started this project I hadn't made a deal with any record company," Keen says, "I just knew I would have a deal one way or another." The release arrived at a time when Keen was beginning to receive wider recognition outside of his home state of Texas. As of 2007, Gravitational Forces remains Keens highest charting album on several of Billboard's charts (see below).
Read more about Gravitational Forces: Song Selection, Track Listing, Chart Performance
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