Email Author Roy Kasten

2009 Stories by Roy Kasten

• Hype Machine: The ten most overrated albums of the decade

  published December 30, 2009

  For the past few months, people have struggled to capture the essence of the '00s. Social media, crowdsourcing, file-sharing, tweeting —... More >>

• Interview + MP3: Star & Micey, Playing at Cicero's and MoKaBe's This Week!

  published Dec 29, 2009

  Star & Micey are not a duo; they're not even Star and Micey. The young trio of Joshua Crosby (24), Geoff Smith (25) and Nick Redmond (26) took their name from a random encounter with a homeless man wh... More >>

• Bobby Bare Jr.

  published December 30, 2009

  The son of a Nashville legend, Bobby Bare Jr. spent his youth bucking his father's country legacy, recording under the name Bare Jr. and... More >>

• Electric Six

  published December 23, 2009

  Electric Six knows the Number of the Beast: In six years, the Detroit sextet has released six full-length albums. With each, the band... More >>

• 

  COVER STORY

  The Best of 2009 in Music

  published December 16, 2009

  I gave the RFT's freelancers very simple guidelines when assigning the following year-in-music pieces: In 300 words, tell readers what... More >>

• Bird Names

  published December 16, 2009

  In Bird Names and its 2009 album Sings the Browns, underground zeitgeists past and present get beaten and baked with a vengeance.... More >>

• Jamey Johnson

  published December 9, 2009

  The outlaw archetype in country music goes back to Depression-era string-band maniac Charlie Poole, evolves on through Hank Williams Sr., Jr.... More >>

• The Swell Season

  published December 2, 2009

  The best sequels stand on their own, in story lines and aesthetics. So it is with the Swell Season's 2009 album, Strict Joy.... More >>

• Jill Sobule

  published November 25, 2009

  Jill Sobule was kissing girls decades before Katy Perry even knew what lips were for, and her 1995 hit "I Kissed a Girl" remains witty,... More >>

• Weather With You: Elvis Perkins in Dearland continues to bewitch listeners with its second album

  published November 18, 2009

  Elvis Perkins is driving into Hurricane Ida outside Tallahassee, Florida. Across the scratchy cell phone transmission he sounds calm, open and... More >>

• George Jones

  published November 18, 2009

  George Jones is known as the Rolls-Royce of country singers, but his origins are anything but luxurious. Born in a log cabin to a poor... More >>

• The Boorays

  published November 18, 2009

  Like few bands from the early '90s rock scene in St. Louis, the Boorays sounds timeless — or as timeless as its obvious R.E.M. and... More >>

• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

  published November 12, 2009

  Since Jason Isbell split the Drive-By Truckers in 2007, at least one thing has become clear: He didn't leave over artistic differences.... More >>

• El Perro del Mar

  published November 12, 2009

  For all of its billowing synth pads, perfectly pitched harmonies, studio punctiliousness and Swedish sex appeal, El Perro del Mar... More >>

• Double Talk: The Watson Twins get comfortable stepping into the spotlight

  published November 4, 2009

  The first thing to say about Chandra and Leigh Watson is that they're identical twins. But they're also best friends and musical collaborators... More >>

• Son Volt

  published November 4, 2009

  Jay Farrar grew up in a world of music, surrounded by a talented family who played and sang and taught him well. His first gigs came as a teen,... More >>

• Brazos

  published October 28, 2009

  Adrienne Rich may be one of the more influential figures in contemporary American poetry, but until Martin Crane of the Austin band... More >>

• Matisyahu

  published October 28, 2009

  Matthew Paul Miller, a.k.a. Matisyahu, is both a devout, Hasidic Jew and a stone-cold, stoned reggae sensation. His combined identities... More >>

• Interview Outtakes: Tom Russell, Playing at Off Broadway on Friday, Turner Hall on Saturday

  published Oct 16, 2009

  This week in the RFT, freelance writer Roy Kasten interviewed Tom Russell about his creative process, especially for the new album Blood and Candle Smoke, which prominently features the sounds of Cale... More >>

• The Wooden Sky

  published October 14, 2009

  The song begins simply: A kick drum beats like a heart in a panting chest, one guitar sweats out one note, another plucks a rudimentary figure.... More >>

• The Song Remains the Same: Singer-songwriter Tom Russell might have released his finest moment with his new album, Blood and Candle Smoke

  published October 14, 2009

  Tom Russell is at home in El Paso, Texas, getting ready for another tour — to the East Coast and an appearance on The Late Show... More >>

• Local Harvest: For the first time ever, Farm Aid comes to St. Louis.

  published October 7, 2009

  Verizon Wireless Amphitheater closed out its 2009 season by hosting the 24th annual Farm Aid concert, the first time the event has been held in... More >>

• Bottle Rockets

  published October 7, 2009

  Lean Forward, the eighth studio album from the Bottle Rockets, isn't a greatest hits collection, though it often seems hell-bent... More >>

• Review + Setlists: Phosphorescent, Will Dailey, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses, Lukas Nelson, Jamey Johnson at Farm Aid, Sunday, October 4

  published Oct 05, 2009

  The 24th annual Farm Aid started with the old-school gospel quartet harmonies of the Blackwood Brothers and enough warm sunshine to persuade all the family farms in Missouri -- the Show Me State has t... More >>

• Review + Setlist + Videos: Neil Young at Farm Aid, Sunday, October 4

  published Oct 05, 2009

  John Mellencamp's introduction -- directed toward what still-sizable crowd remained after Dave Matthews had left the building -- reminded that Neil Young has been with Farm Aid since the start. He rem... More >>