Sean Keel unveils 'melon' - second glimpse of the new album 'ferals welcome', a single that feels a little like a lost track from the Basement Tapes

The whole thing was a freak accident,” Sean Keel said about the unlikely set of circumstances that led to the release of the Austin-based singer-songwriter’s raw, starkly evocative record, 'a dry scary blue', with the independent Stockholm-based label, Icons Creating Evil Art. Now, one year later, Sean Keel together with Icons Creating Evil Art introduces the next step in the Sean Keel saga – the new album 'ferals welcome' to be released June 5th. The album is preceded by three singles with exclusive b-sides, now continuing with the second single 'melon' on May 10th. Once again we're invited into a collection of raw, starkly evocative emotionally complex songs in the tradition of Townes van Zandt, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. If you've heard anything that punches at this weight and sounds a whole lot like it, it probably means someone more mainstream (a very easy standard) had the good luck to hear Keel and the good sense to rip him off.

'melon' is a collaboration between Keel, who wrote the words, and his son in law, Ben Montaño, who wrote the music. Ben was born in the 90s, but one can tell he digs the country rock of the 1970s – 'melon' feels a little like a lost track from the Basement Tapes. Keel adds, "This song is very (very) loosely based on the 1970 bombing of a building at the University of Wisconsin".

'baptism brandy' is a sweet serving of Americana; a tiny little tale about what's gone and what remains, told in the voices of a farming couple and their son. According to Keel, "What happens to the guy in the story happened to me, but in a different way and in a different place."

The multi-talented Gabriel Rhodes is once again the producer for this single. The son of famed singer Kimmie Rhodes and step-son of the influential DJ Joe Gracey, Gabe is alt-country royalty, having worked with a wide assortment of artists including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Emmylou Harris.

“Gabe’s pretty amazing,” Keel notes. “I had all the songs written before we ever met. I recorded scratch guitar tracks and then vocal for each on garage band and sent them to Gabe, to do with them whatever he thought would be cool. I was really surprised by the results. What Gabe makes, his best stuff, they are musical movies. He got what was going on in my songs, and he made musical movies about them. Its a really cool collaboration. We are both really proud of the record. In part because it’s nothing like anything either of us would do on our own.”

Keel is not your ordinary outsider. In his 60s, the long-time University of Texas professor, is well-known in the world of research mathematics. He has written a sword and sorcery novel, lots of short stories and poetry. He’s made three folk/jazz records with his family band, Bill the Pony, and one album of “super bare-bones folk-country music.” All self released, and all in complete obscurity. On the suggestion of a music friend he decided to have his latest record produced by a professional. Surprised by the results, he sent the first mix of the first song to Icons Creating Evil Art, hoping they would post it on their Youtube channel (The 'Discovered by ICEA' series). By happy chance, the label’s founder and owner was the one who listened. Impressed, and in an odd mood, he decided it was time to act on his long brewing scheme of giving a promotional push to a complete unknown.

The release of 'a dry scary blue' in the end of 2022 was the first step in the experiment, which got great reviews and landed Sean Keel an invitation to come plat the Live At Heart Festival in Örebro, Sweden - where he played several shows to full houses, both on his own and with his family in different settings (including a Bill the Pony show).