Jackson Free Press

Over the course of his career, singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen has built a fan base that follows him no matter which genre he's taking on. If his latest album, "Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions," which the Houston native released in February 2015, is any indication, he's still finding new ground to traverse.

The album topped Billboard's bluegrass chart upon release and has remained on the list for 45 weeks, currently sitting at No. 13. The Americana Music Association also named "Happy Prisoner" on its annual "Top 100 Albums of the Year."

"I'm really stepping out with this record," Keen says in an interview with the Jackson Free Press. "I'm a longtime fan of bluegrass, and one of the great dichotomies of bluegrass is that ... the music is always happy, but the lyric is almost always tragic, and I thought, 'I've got to catch this somehow.' So the way that I came up with (the title) is that my family and I have pajamas that we spend the holidays in and sit around and watch 'Home Alone 4' and really terrible Christmas movies. Those pajamas are called 'happy prisoners,' and I thought, 'Wow, that's it!'"

Given that Keen has released music spanning multiple genres, including folk, Americana, country and country-rock, choosing to tackle bluegrass was about exposing more listeners to the genre as much as it was about his admiration for it.

"There are quite a few people who've had no encounter at all with this kind of music, and then they find out that they like it," he says. "I think if I really did it for any reason, it was for that."

Beyond the genre, "Happy Prisoner" differentiates itself from Keen's previous work in that this is his first release without music he wrote. Keen, who has years of experience and a slew of songwriting accolades under his belt, says he could have written another album of original material, but he wanted to pay homage to many beloved bluegrass songs.

"I've been writing songs since I was a child, so I didn't feel like there was any problem with me writing a bluegrass song, but I didn't want to compare myself to that," Keen says. "What I wanted to do was to really pay tribute to this music that I really love. So I didn't want to say, 'Oh, here's some really great bluegrass songs, and here's one of mine.' I didn't want people to think I was trying to put myself in those shoes, because I don't think in terms of that. I think in terms of these songs are iconic and beautiful, and I didn't want to muddy the waters, so I picked songs that were songs that I love."

While it's common practice in the music industry to have a rotating roster of musicians backing a fixed front man, Keen has played and toured with the same group throughout his 18 records and innumerable tours, including his sold-out trek to Jackson.

"I've been really fortunate to have people that I really admire and get along with to travel up and down the highways with, ride the same bus and borrow the same socks," Keen says. "... I've always had a real love for people that were great musicians. They don't play to be famous; they play because they love it."

Robert Earl Keen performs at 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 29, at Duling Hall (622 Duling Ave., 601-292-7121). For more information, visit robertearlkeen.com.