Email Author Roy Kasten

2001 Stories by Roy Kasten

• Devil in a Woodpile, Jay Bennett and Edward Birch, and Nadine

  published December 26, 2001

  As subgenres of country music go, the jug-band sound is second only to clogging in terms of obscurity and neglect. Jim Kweskin and the Holy Modal... More >>

• Marty Stuart

  published December 12, 2001

  What to make of Marty Stuart? With his Marty Party TV variety shows, his obsequious duets with Travis Tritt, his spiked and moussed... More >>

• Trailer-Park King

  published December 12, 2001

  It's another Wednesday-night open mic at the Stagger Inn ... Again in Edwardsville. A lanky guy in a leather jacket, his face rough from razor... More >>

• Split Lip Rayfield

  published December 5, 2001

  When Bill Monroe died in 1996, he had never heard Split Lip Rayfield, and if he had, he probably would have caught a faster flight to... More >>

• Bruce Robison

  published November 28, 2001

  "Did you hear about big brother? He's the next big thing," sings Bruce Robison on "Valentine," one of Country Sunshine's many... More >>

• The Drapes with the Monroes

  published November 14, 2001

  If guitar/bass/drum bands seem, like, so 1992; if punk has been much co-opted by Game-Boy slackers; if Courtney Love is babbling about enlisting... More >>

• Sitar Star

  published November 14, 2001

  Ustad sits, legs crossed, on a blanketed dais in a softly lit basement. With lightness and speed, his left hand moves up and down the sitar's wide... More >>

• Iris DeMent

  published November 7, 2001

  Name that songwriter: "Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones/Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy." No, it's not Jello Biafra. "We kill for... More >>

• Ass Ponys and Bob Reuter

  published November 7, 2001

  Hailing from Cincinnati, the Ass Ponys tow one of the wickedest rhythm sections in the Midwest, guitar effects from B-grade sci-fi flicks... More >>

• Kevin Gordon

  published October 31, 2001

  Opening with a soul-deep condemnation of rock & roll, Kevin Gordon's Down to the Well somehow saves it, if only where it counts --... More >>

• Welch the Revelator

  published October 24, 2001

  Who has a right to sing country, to sing the blues? Even after decades of the commercialization of rural Southern traditions, the questions... More >>

• Peter Rowan, Tony Rice and Vassar Clements

  published October 10, 2001

  With the arrival of this holy trinity of American music, the wise critic should pass over it in silence because the music the three have produced... More >>

• Bobby Rush with Mel Waiters

  published October 3, 2001

  Like a lot of R & B men in the '70s, Bobby Rush caught a dose of the James Brown funk and fashion and never looked back. Rush (born Emmett... More >>

• O Brother, Here Art Thou

  published September 19, 2001

  From the first bars of Lonesome Pines' debut, After Sundown, you know this is more than good bluegrass. Sandy Weltman cracks a... More >>

• Bobby "Blue" Bland

  published September 12, 2001

  The history of R&B and soul music is, of course, the story of rhythm -- the slow-burn blues, the moneymaker-shaking strut -- a physical... More >>

• Slew's Next

  published September 5, 2001

  New West. Lost Highway. Hightone. Hayden's Ferry. Freefalls. Bloodshot. Trailer. Does the world need another alternative-country label releasing... More >>

• Everton Blender

  published August 29, 2001

  The latest release from Jamaican dancehall veteran Everton Blender bears the title Visionary, which, after a few spins, turns out to... More >>

• Spin Cycle

  published August 29, 2001

  You don't know Jeff Price, but there's a good chance you've fantasized his life. Ten years ago, Price and a high-school friend started a record... More >>

• American Icon

  published August 8, 2001

  How can I go about getting honest criticism on my singing and playing style? I am not interested in becoming a professional, but I do enjoy... More >>

• Mary Janes with Larissa Dalle

  published July 18, 2001

  Fronted by one of the most seductive singers in rock music, the Bloomington-based Mary Janes approach alternative country with an... More >>

• Farshid Etniko

  published July 18, 2001

  After a brief prelude, delicately, almost toyingly played on classical guitar, the percussion, drums and bass swell up, churning and churning,... More >>

• An Essence Rare

  published July 11, 2001

  This much was clear: She wasn't coming back on her own. "Where's Lu?" a woman, apparently a manager, was asking. "We're late." Lu was last seen... More >>

• Rhonda Vincent

  published June 27, 2001

  The best female vocalist in bluegrass today, maybe the best in country music, is Rhonda Vincent. Don't believe it? Take 30 seconds with her... More >>

• George Jones

  published June 6, 2001

  In his celebrated 1994 essay on George Jones, Nick Tosches just can't shake the feeling that the Possum is, in truth, dumber than a possum,... More >>

• Twang Time

  published June 6, 2001

  Twangfest, the four-night Americana music festival held annually in St. Louis, is practically an institution, widely hailed as the best showcase... More >>