Before founding Lonesome Hollow Studios, Keith Ruether co-created and produced the sci-fi audio drama Caalo Xan with Jude Vivona. The series followed rogue smuggler Caalo Xan and a host of colorful characters in a fast-moving sci-fi adventure story that ran for four seasons and more than 50 episodes.

Caalo Xan was a free, independently produced audio drama podcast. The series is still publicly available without advertising, sponsorship, or subscriptions. Limited Patreon support helped offset some production costs for Seasons 3 and 4, and we sold some merchandise at conventions in the first 2 seasons, but the project was mostly self-funded. The experience was primarily in writing, production, casting, sound design, web presence, release management, and audience-building.

The production featured original music by Vivona, numerous voice actors, and original episode artwork by Scott B. Henderson and Daniil Kerenski. It accumulated over 140,000 downloads and reached listeners in countries around the world.

Caalo Xan was covered by the Houston Press, which called it “a wonderful way to pass the time and a solid piece of local art,” and by the Houston Chronicle. The team supported the show through grassroots outreach, convention appearances, podcast interviews, social media, and the project website, bringing the production directly to listeners across multiple years of active release.

The broader creative universe also included supplemental projects and experiments, including a spin-off series hosted by recurring character Rex Stargazer, a playable prototype of the in-universe game Klunker, and a short story collection by Jude set in the same universe.

Keith served as co-creator, voice actor, sound designer, script editor, and web producer throughout the series. In Season 4, he took on heavier production duties while Vivona focused more on writing and composing.

Caalo Xan was an education in what it takes to build and sustain an independent full-cast audio drama: the craft demands, the production discipline, and the genuine difficulty of growing an audience in a crowded medium without institutional backing. Lonesome Hollow Studios was founded to apply those lessons to future dramatic audio and story-driven projects, with a sharper focus on production quality, careful development, and storytelling that stays with listeners long after the episode ends.

→ Visit the Caalo Xan website at caaloxan.com