Email Author Roy Kasten

2004 Stories by Roy Kasten

• Dick's Got the Beat

  published December 15, 2004

  "I like Nelly. He's from St. Louis. He's a very good rapper. I like Eminem.... Oh, I don't listen to the lyrics. I just like the music. I like the... More >>

• Paul Burch

  published December 8, 2004

  Try to calculate the influence of Bob Dylan and you're in for a long night with quantum physics. The industry gushes out Dylan book after Dylan... More >>

• Betty Dylan

  published December 8, 2004

  There's no Betty and no Dylan in this Nashville-based duo, and there's really no explaining the name. Straight-up, parodic alt-country like they... More >>

• Dierks Bentley

  published October 27, 2004

  Time was, country singers had country names: Tammy, Hank, Kitty and Waylon. Now we have Tracy, Ty, Shania and Toby. These aren't the names of... More >>

• Two Cow Garage

  published October 20, 2004

  You can tell a lot about rock bands from their idols, the bellwethers by which they measure their own visions: Uncle Tupelo had Neil Young, Tom... More >>

• The Legendary Shack Shakers

  published October 20, 2004

  Psychobillies get no respect, but most haven't earned it. Playing up the tired affectations of punk and rockabilly -- we-so-crazy tattoos,... More >>

• The Incredible String Band

  published October 13, 2004

  The Incredible String Band is the Velvet Underground of psychedelic folk rock (no, it's not really a genre, but humor me). Not many bought... More >>

• Keep It Real

  published October 13, 2004

  Reality TV has ruined enough lives. From The Apprentice Rebel Millionaire Benefactor to Amazing Real Big Surreal Idol Life Race, the... More >>

• Moot Davis

  published October 6, 2004

  New Jersey-born actor gone hard-as-coffin-nails country heads to Nashville, scores record deal with legendary producer and is quickly anointed... More >>

• The Silos

  published September 22, 2004

  In the great underground assimilation of the late '80s, the Silos never fit in with the other indie rockers (Hüsker Dü, Throwing... More >>

• Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

  published September 1, 2004

  For years most everyone got everything wrong about Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, or so their last two records, Time (the... More >>

• Better to Flame Out?

  published September 1, 2004

  Marah plays Off Broadway Thursday, September 2. More >>

• The Patsys

  published August 25, 2004

  Like most garage bands worth their grease, the Patsys dig their vintage gear and vintage yelps and yeahs, but they also attack songs like... More >>

• Tres Femmes

  published August 18, 2004

  Although the three women of Tres Femmes -- Kellie Lin Knott, Victoria Vox and Stolie -- have their own histories as solo... More >>

• Robbie Fulks

  published August 11, 2004

  Robbie Fulks isn't one to bite the hand that feeds him. He'll have the whole arm, thank you kindly. His early song "Roots Rock Weirdoes"... More >>

• The Waxwings

  published August 4, 2004

  Cool kids will tell you there's nothing like Detroit garage rock, and the Waxwings are nothing like Detroit garage rock. Or are they? After... More >>

• Jolie Holland

  published July 21, 2004

  Raised in Texas and New Orleans and translocated to San Francisco and Canada, Jolie Holland found a dark, folksy warmth by way of... More >>

• Richard Buckner

  published July 14, 2004

  Once upon a time, Richard Buckner seemed like a singer-songwriter savior, an heir to rootsy poets like Townes Van Zandt, Bob Neuwirth and... More >>

• Jon Dee Graham

  published June 30, 2004

  If you've found yourself in Austin on a Sunday night, maybe you got lucky and some local tipped you off to the Saxon Pub, where a band of... More >>

• Richmond Fontaine

  published June 23, 2004

  Since the winter release of Post to Wire, British magazines such as Uncut and Mojo have been going ga-ga over Portland's... More >>

• Patti Smith

  published June 16, 2004

  Has there ever been a more dated, indulgent, pretentious and yet incontestably compelling and (it's been almost 30 years now) enduring rock & roll... More >>

• Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men

  published June 16, 2004

  Like Richard and Karen Carpenter and Metallica founder James Hetfield, Dave Alvin grew up in the '60s in the middle-class, LA suburb... More >>

• Tommy Womack with Mike Ireland and Holler

  published June 2, 2004

  "I'm from Kentucky, born and raised, on the outside," Tommy Womack writes in a memoir of high school. "But I'm Arkansas as hell inside. I'm... More >>

• Dale Watson

  published May 26, 2004

  If attempts to define alternative country as a genre are mostly futile, the critics, fans and bands loyal to the music share a single ideology:... More >>

• Chloe Day

  published May 19, 2004

  The songs on Chloe Day's first record, The Return of... , could have been rendered as jammy acoustic folk, conventional alt-country,... More >>