Email Author Roy Kasten

2007 Stories by Roy Kasten

• Will Kimbrough

  published September 19, 2007

  If there's an Americana A-Team, Will Kimbrough is an all-star outfielder with a cannon for an arm. Guitarist of choice for Rodney Crowell,... More >>

• Glossary

  published September 12, 2007

  In one incarnation or another, Glossary has been rocking the twang or twanging the rock for ten years — which means they finally have... More >>

• La Mascara Mexicana

  published September 12, 2007

  Los Straitjackets, the lucha libre-masked surf instrumentalists from another planet (Nashville, actually, which is far-out enough) have... More >>

• Kim Richey

  published September 5, 2007

  In the mid '90s, Kim Richey was at the head of the Nashville-based country-folk class that included Mary Chapin Carpenter and Kathy Mattea.... More >>

• Casiotone for the Painfuly Alone/ David Bazan

  published September 5, 2007

  When the brothers Kashio started tinkering with the musical possibilities of calculator chips, they couldn't have predicted that Devo, the Cars... More >>

• Lost Bayou Ramblers

  published August 29, 2007

  Boogie-woogie isn't a French term, but try telling the Lost Bayou Ramblers that. The five young Cajun ass-kickers from Lafayette,... More >>

• Ben Kweller

  published August 22, 2007

  About this time last year, Ben Kweller — Brooklyn's greatest fake classic rocker not counting the Hold Steady — was shoving... More >>

• Hope Springs Eternal

  published August 22, 2007

  Betrayal of self and others, homelessness, regret and existential dread were once subjects not associated with Mark Olson. But the founder of the... More >>

• Under Spells

  published August 15, 2007

  On Spells, its first album for the punky label Vagrant Records, the Comas wake up from a way overstated stoner-rock reputation, look in the... More >>

• The Rentals

  published August 8, 2007

  When Matt Sharp split from Weezer to concentrate on the Rentals, he made a gamble that hasn't fully paid off. After two sketchy,... More >>

• The Holmes Brothers

  published August 8, 2007

  The next time you hear someone mention "the NPR set" and the Holmes Brothers in the same breath, reach for your piece — or just reach... More >>

• Funny Ha Ha

  published August 1, 2007

  Neil Hamburger is technically a comedian, but one whose best joke is his very existence. (OK, his best joke actually goes: "Why did God create... More >>

• Steel Pulse

  published July 25, 2007

  Over the course of thirty-plus years, Steel Pulse has released just one great album: its 1978 debut, Handsworth Revolution. But it... More >>

• Alina Simone

  published July 18, 2007

  Ukrainian-born, NYC-based singer and songwriter Alina Simone has been lighting up the blogosphere (mainly because said 'sphere thinks she... More >>

• Alison Krauss and Union Station

  published July 18, 2007

  As the only bluegrass artist in the known universe to tour arenas, Alison Krauss has cajones — and a track record. The same puerile... More >>

• Richmond Fontaine

  published July 4, 2007

  If you believe the European press, the Portland alt-country posse Richmond Fontaine is the second coming of the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the... More >>

• Emmylou Harris

  published July 4, 2007

  An NPR host recently flattered Emmylou Harris by comparing her appearance at a songwriting workshop to having Arnold Schwarzenegger as a... More >>

• Miranda Lambert

  published June 27, 2007

  The enemy lines of alt and mainstream country have been confounded at least since the Dixie Chicks cut Patty Griffin, and Bruce Robison and Brooks... More >>

• Stephen Stills

  published June 20, 2007

  For a guy who started out as an unreconstructed folkophile in a band called the Au Go-Go Singers, Stephen Stills has made a considerable... More >>

• Hank Williams Jr.

  published June 13, 2007

  The recent parade of impressionists on Letterman has nothing on Hank Williams Jr. When he was just a cub, he sounded more like his father... More >>

• Blue Mountain

  published June 6, 2007

  If you had to pick only one album to sum up the very best of alt-country's best decade — that's the '90s — you'd probably pick the... More >>

• Squeezing Out Larks

  published June 6, 2007

  Graham Parker isn't an angry young man anymore. He's an angry 56-year-old. One of the most independent and prolific voices in rock & roll,... More >>

• William Elliott Whitmore

  published May 30, 2007

  William Elliott Whitmore has the name of a poetaster, the voice of an old street singer, and a banjo in serious need of new strings and a... More >>

• 2007 RFT Music Showcase

  published May 30, 2007

  My second day in St. Louis after moving here to become the RFT's music editor happened to coincide with the 2005 Music Awards presentation... More >>

• Magic Slim

  published May 23, 2007

  Morris Holt, now known as Magic Slim, grew up in what should have been post-depression Mississippi, although economic change comes slowly... More >>