Email Author Roy Kasten

2006 Stories by Roy Kasten

• Josh Ritter

  published September 20, 2006

  If scoring the opening slot on a Jamie Cullum tour suggests back-room deals to remake bookish troubadour Josh Ritter in the jazz gentry's... More >>

• History Never Repeats

  published September 20, 2006

  The Science of Jazz After interviewing dozens of musicians and spending countless hours scouring vintage... More >>

• Mellowdrone

  published September 13, 2006

  When Mellowdrone scored opening slots for the Killers and Johnny Marr, and leased a song to the Xbox game Project Gotham, people... More >>

• Howling Hex

  published September 6, 2006

  The Howling Hex is Neil Michael Hagerty, an experimental guitarist — and an experimental guitarist isn't supposed to groove like the... More >>

• Music Showcase Schedule

  published September 6, 2006

  Best Blues Artist Bennie Smith The royal pantheon of blues guitar is... More >>

• Amelia White

  published August 30, 2006

  A musical history of 2006 could track the year by songs too good for the anti-war tag: Graham Parker's "2000 Funerals," Michael Franti's "Time to... More >>

• Paul Burch

  published August 30, 2006

  Paul Burch's new Bloodshot album, East to West, reverses Nashville's musical geography. Like many of the country and rock... More >>

• Clare Burson/Richard Ferreira

  published August 23, 2006

  Nashville's Richard Ferreira earns comparisons to Elvis Costello so often that the association borders on reflex reaction. But to flip the... More >>

• Beep Beep, Yeah!

  published August 23, 2006

  Kirk Rundstrom, 37-year-old songwriter, singer and guitarist for the Wichita, Kansas, punk-grass band Split Lip Rayfield, has built a career on... More >>

• Eric Taylor

  published August 16, 2006

  When he died in 1997, Townes Van Zandt left behind an ever-expanding cult. Many believe he had no songwriting equal; even more wish they'd seen... More >>

• Yo Quiero Actual Musicians

  published August 16, 2006

  In one sense, Arizona nearly killed Alejandro Escovedo; but in another sense, it saved his life. In April 2003 he collapsed after a performance of... More >>

• Half Knots

  published August 9, 2006

  In the how-to manual of contemporary rock music, modesty and maturity don't merit a footnote. Narcissism and bravado guide the way, even if all... More >>

• Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys

  published July 26, 2006

  Retro rockers — whether they're on the country or garage side of the fence — are obligated to write at least one name-dropping anthem.... More >>

• Peter Rowan

  published July 26, 2006

  Peter Rowan lasted three years under the exacting tutelage of bluegrass deity Bill Monroe before falling under the spell of the left-coast... More >>

• Cheap Trick

  published July 19, 2006

  Nobody really wants or needs a new Cheap Trick album; their run from 1977 to 1980 had enough thrilling melodies, dynamic leaps and wipe-out... More >>

• The Ginn Sisters

  published July 19, 2006

  If Tiffani and Brit Ginn (pronounced with a hard "g") aren't better known in alt-country circles, it might owe to their decidedly... More >>

• Dave Alvin

  published July 12, 2006

  Dave Alvin's transformation from poet laureate of the LA punk-roots revival to grizzled country folkie marks less a decline into middle-age... More >>

• Jimbo Mathus

  published July 5, 2006

  For Jimbo Mathus, roots, chops and knowledge are the necessary preconditions for old-time music, the kind his band the Squirrel Nut Zippers... More >>

• Blast from the Past

  published June 28, 2006

  The last time Phil Alvin came through town, a decade or so ago, he visited with blues patriarch Henry Townsend in his East St. Louis home. They... More >>

• Gary Allan

  published June 21, 2006

  Next time someone tells you they hate new country (right before they tell you they hate rap), ask them about Gary Allan. They'll start... More >>

• Strays Don't Sleep

  published June 14, 2006

  Strays Don't Sleep is a collaboration between two of Nashville's most honest and secretive rock songwriters. Neilson Hubbard has long been... More >>

• The Plimsouls

  published June 7, 2006

  The Plimsouls are back. But why? "Basically, because we can," explains Peter Case, the band's founder and principal songwriter. "We did a... More >>

• Hackensaw Boys

  published June 7, 2006

  Swinging back and forth between wack hillbilly shtick and some red-hot bluegrass licks, Charlottesville, Virginia's Hackensaw Boys are six... More >>

• Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

  published May 31, 2006

  Emmylou Harris has made a career of saving the asses of lesser singers, but in Mark Knopfler she faces a Herculean task. He's not a miserable... More >>

• Dixie Witch

  published May 31, 2006

  With just bass, guitar and double kick-drum — oh, and vocals, not that lead singer and drummer Trinidad Leal conveys much beyond exhortations... More >>