Born in the Houston area, Brian began playing violin at age 8 then soon after switched to fiddle. He later began playing guitar, bass, mandolin, and other instruments in local Houston/College Station bands.
After high school, Brian moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas but was quickly sidetracked and joined the South Austin Jug Band and toured the U.S. and Europe for 5 years. After SAJB, Brian toured with the likes of Bruce Robison and a host of other Austin bands before striking out with a new project, Milkdrive. Releasing 3 studio albums and a live record, Milkdrive also toured Europe and the U.S. extensively and still play occasionally when the stars align.
In 2015, Brian started playing fiddle with Robert Earl Keen and took over acoustic and electric guitars in 2018 with the departure of Rich Brotherton from the band. Brian played with Robert for 8 years until his retirement from touring in 2022.
Now living west of Austin, Brian loves creating music in the studio in an abundance of genres and is an avid traveler and outdoorsman.
After being in other projects for 2 decades, Brian Beken took his many musical influences from jazz to rock and wrote, played all of the instruments and engineered his debut album New Geography (due out May 19th). Brian also wrote and sang 2 songs of Robert Earl Keen’s new album Western Chill.
Ahead of the album’s official release, Glide is premiering the standout track “Strangers’ Names,” a song that encapsulates the new direction Brian has been moving in with his solo work. With a touch of Tom Petty, a bit of Texas troubadour, and a quiet folk-rock sensibility, the song is a quiet yet uptempo rumination on anxiety. Warm harmonies weave around an airy electric guitar and a quickly shuffling beat to give the song a feeling of pensiveness.
Brian describes the inspiration behind the song:
“Strangers’ Names” is a look into anxiety and its dealings, but particularly that brief moment we all encounter when we’re driving in heavy rain and pass under a bridge and get that one quick moment of silence and clarity, and its significance as a reflection of life and reality.
LISTEN:
