Robert Earl Keen has a personal connection to Kerrville, TX, the site of massive flooding on July 4 that authorities say resulted in the deaths of 111 people, with nearly 170 still unaccounted for at press time. Not only did the legendary singer-songwriter have a ranch just outside of Kerrville, but his two daughters, Clara and Chloe, both attended Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp where authorities say 27 campers and counselors were killed — and 11 are still reported missing — and he was scheduled to once again play the town’s Fourth on the River music festival before rapidly rising floodwaters devastated the area last week.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Keen, 69, said that he’s working on arranging a benefit concert and reminisced about the special beauty of the area, as well as the summers his kids spent at Camp Mystic. Keen had participated in the Fourth on the River event for 15 years, but after fast-rising floodwaters covered the festival grounds and swamped production equipment last week, the Arcadia Live Theater, which hosts the event, was turned into an emergency makeshift family reunification center and shelter.
The singer announced on Monday that he’s donating money from merchandise sales from his current tour to flood relief efforts as he recalled Kerrville’s long history with music and its ties to his own career. Keen said the Kerrville Folk Festival began in 1972, drawing fans including former president and Texas native LBJ, as well as musicians from all over the world while spotlighting new artists. He was one of those lucky singers, winning the “new folk songwriter” prize at the fest in 1981, when he still lived in Austin.
Keen headlined the Fourth on the River festival for 12 years in Kerrville before “retiring” from it a few years ago and returning in 2024 to help out. “And now, with it being washed out, I kind of feel like I was somewhat of a spearhead or a flashpoint, as far as the other artists who are now part of the whole tragedy,” he told RS. That’s why he is donating 100% of his merch sales to flood relief.
“We haven’t confirmed it yet, but we’re going to be putting on a show,” he said, promising a “real solid musical event” with details to be revealed later this week. In the meantime, the singer said his wife is back home helping first responders by handing over one of their rental properties for them to stay in. “It’s an entire family effort. You can’t take away what happened,” he said. “You can only go forward, and do as much as you can, for as long as you can.”
Keen and daughter Clara also talked about what Camp Mystic meant to their family, with the singer saying that though it was Christian, longtime camp directors Dick and Tweety Eastland “embraced everybody”; Dick Eastland, 74, died in the floods trying to save his campers. “I just found out that my youngest daughter, Chloe… a cabin that washed away was the cabin that she stayed in when she was first there,” Keen said. “And she has a definite visceral connection to this tragedy.” He said older daughter Clara attended Mystic for eight years and “just loved it.”
Clara recalled the camp’s “no-tech” policy, which encouraged campers to write letters home, something she still enjoys to this day because it reminds her of “hot afternoons in June, sitting on my bunk bed during rest hours just poring over letters from my parents and friends in the world beyond Mystic.” She said her dad would writer her letters called “The Farm Report,” where he would run down how all the animals on the family ranch were doing, missives her camp friends loved and would gather around to read.
“Mystic allowed me to grow into myself, on my own terms but with the help of good-natured guidance” said Clara, a self-described “weird kid” who sometimes struggled to make “real-life” friends outside of camp. She recalled that the nearly 100-year-old camp was “intertwined” with the nearby Guadalupe River, which rapidly overspilled its banks and swamped the campsite as floodwaters rose nearly 26 feet in just 45 minutes on July 4.
“The river was this constant, not only during the term, but over the years,” she said.
In addition to working on setting up the benefit show, Keen encouraged anyone who wants to send money, or who is putting together their own fundraising show, to send it to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country.
“I would really ask those who are willing to listen and to show kindness and grace,” added Clara. “Texas is not a monolith, and there are people here who have loved and lost on a level which is dark and incomprehensible. People, these people, deserve supportive love more than anything at this time.”
She quoted a saying Camp Mystic saying that the Eastland’s use to share with their young charges: “A bell is not a bell until you ring it. A song is not a song until you sing it. The love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay, love isn’t love until you give it away.”
In addition to artists including Billie Eilish, Shakira, Lana Del Rey, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Hilary Duff sending their love and encouraging donations, the impact of the flooding has hit home for some Texas-bred acts, including singer Pat Green. The Fort Worth native revealed on Monday that his younger brother John and his wife Julie, as well as two of their children were swept away in the flood.
Watch an Instagram video from Keen earlier this week in which he first announced his plans for a benefit below.
