On a warm summer night in Colorado, music emanates from a small bar in town. The sound comes from Bill the Pony, Sean Keel’s family band. Together with other relatives, Sean Keel, his wife Michelle Moore and their adult children Lukas and Rose Keel have three records, but they don’t play in the bar with hopes of fame — they just happened to wander in.

“For our family unit of musicians, the performance piece of it has never been a big deal,” Lukas Keel said. “There’s never been a Bill the Pony show. Playing in the backyard, playing as a group and showing each other the things we’ve made — that’s the heart of it.” 

While UT professor Sean’s love for math developed well before his passion for music, he said he now splits much of his time between the two. Sean said he became interested in music 18 years ago, around the time his then-six-year-old son began playing the guitar. The duo played music together and hasn’t stopped since, which Lukas said forms a special part of their relationship.

“We got to this point where it felt like we were friends and collaborators rather than a dad and kid,” Lukas said. “That was a really big deal to me and continues to be the case. It’s a really lovely piece of my relationship with my dad.”

Sean also plays as a solo artist. Although math and music contrast one another as disciplines, Sean said he draws connections and fascinating discoveries between the two.

While writing his own songs, Sean said his practice of math and music diverge, with his work in math taking much longer than his process of making music.

“This (math) problem I’ve been working on now, I’ve been working on it for 15 years,” Sean said. “(But) the music is in much smaller bites. … I usually write (songs) in about an hour and then I’ll come back to them. … I don’t sit there banging on them.”

Additionally, Moore said her husband shows a strong dedication and work ethic that translates well to both math and music.

“When he decides to take on something new, you’re really able to see how he became a mathematician,” Moore said. “I see him put that same skill to music. He just really knows how to think about what he wants to do and make it happen.”

After years of playing music for fun and recording his own music, Sean received his first record contract in 2021 from the company Icons Creating Evil Art. Sean said the music on his next record will consist of songs already written.

“By freak accident, I got this record contract,” Sean said. “The guy who runs (the record company) said ever since he got into the business, he’s had the idea of promoting a complete nobody. Somebody whose music he liked, but who was nowhere.”  

Sean said he didn’t hesitate to accept the deal. His record, A Dry Scary Blue, will come out in December. Sean said he initially aimed to just have 100 monthly listeners on Spotify, but his recent music video has amassed over 65,000 views since released by Icons Creating Evil Art. Nevertheless, Sean said he doesn’t intend to get swamped in ideals of money or fame.

“Still, it’s true — if there were 100 people who consistently listen to my music, I would be pretty happy,” Sean said. “I would like the (record producers) to make their money back, but I’m a math professor; I have a very easy life.”