Email Author Roy Kasten

2010 Stories by Roy Kasten

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  Deer Tick goes its own way on The Black Dirt Sessions

  published August 4, 2010

  At the age of 25, John McCauley shouldn't have all that much to live up to. But when you're the head hombre of countrified post-Replacements... More >>

• Memphis Pencils

  published July 28, 2010

  The sound of Crayon Jewels, the latest, not-quite-full-length album by Memphis Pencils, is Sufjan Stevens filtered through the... More >>

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  Pam Tillis

  published July 21, 2010

  Pam Tillis is second only to Patty Loveless as the finest female vocal stylist of the '90s. But Tillis almost never sang at all —... More >>

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  Plimsouls front man Peter Case emerges with one of his strongest solo albums, Wig!

  published July 21, 2010

  Songwriter, rocker, author, producer and bona fide bohemian Peter Case has had his share of accolades, including a Grammy nomination for 2007's... More >>

• Nathaniel Rateliff

  published July 14, 2010

  Nathaniel Rateliff has left his birthplace of Bay, Missouri — population: 60 — far behind. Still, the sound of small-town... More >>

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

  published July 14, 2010

  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has aged as well as any classic rock act has. This is because it's never veered from its musical... More >>

• Batusis

  published July 14, 2010

  Batusis is the plural form of Batusi, the ridiculous go-go dance last seen in a Batman episode circa 1966 or the last time Beatle... More >>

• The Right Now

  published July 7, 2010

  The Right Now evolved out of Eli Jones, a young Chicago R&B band that flirted with the jam and went all the way with the funk, riding a... More >>

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  Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles works on a new record, eschews convention

  published July 7, 2010

  Sarah Borges begins a set with sweet rasp in her voice and ends it with the vestiges of primal R&B howl therapy. With her band the Broken... More >>

• Joe Pug

  published June 30, 2010

  Joe Pug is an unlikely music-blog darling. With his harmonica rack, dreadnought guitar and busker's work ethic, he's a throwback to Phil... More >>

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  Susan Cowsill returns to form after Katrina with Lighthouse

  published June 30, 2010

  Though only 51, Susan Cowsill's musical life spans four decades — from her childhood with the family band, the Cowsills, to her solo... More >>

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  COVER STORY

  The 2010 RFT Music Award winners

  published June 23, 2010

  Voting for this year's music awards was as close as it's ever been. Several categories were decided by very, very few votes, even though... More >>

• Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears

  published June 23, 2010

  Pinpointing the birth of the soul revival is a mug's game, especially given that veterans such as Bettye LaVette and Solomon Burke have barely... More >>

• The Eagles/Dixie Chicks

  published June 23, 2010

  Contemporary country music wouldn't exist without the Eagles (or Lynyrd Skynyrd), so the pairing of the Dixie Chicks and the... More >>

• Wakey!Wakey!

  published June 16, 2010

  In Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne argued that a name was destiny — a theory that bodes ill for Michael Grubbs and his band,... More >>

• Jay Farrar

  published June 16, 2010

  St. Louis is home to the two finest rock & roll songwriters of their respective generations: Chuck Berry and Jay Farrar. Both are... More >>

• New Riders of the Purple Sage

  published June 9, 2010

  Science has demonstrated the health benefits of marijuana, but test results on its musical outcomes remain inconclusive. Think of the New... More >>

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  COVER STORY

  2010 Music Showcase: 1 night, 50+ bands, 5 bucks this Saturday on Wash. Ave.

  published June 2, 2010

  This year, the RFT Music Awards nominees include more acts than they have in past years. Part of this increase is a function of the... More >>

• The Mother Hips

  published June 2, 2010

  By the time grunge burned out and A&R creeps started cruising chat rooms scouting emo kids, the Mother Hips had missed its chance and... More >>

• Railroad Earth

  published May 26, 2010

  In case you're new to this planet, quasi-bluegrass, fully bearded jam bands are where it's at — if your destination is a festival where... More >>

• Martin Sexton

  published May 19, 2010

  Sugarcoated, Martin Sexton's seventh studio album, marks the Boston-based singer's transformation from blue-eyed-soul-searching... More >>

• The Orange Peels

  published May 19, 2010

  Sunnyvale, California's the Orange Peels starts with the gateway drug of power pop and ends up hooked on psychedelics, yet never quite... More >>

• Concert Review: Midlake Floods the Old Rock House with Old and New Folk Rock, May 15, 2010

  published May 16, 2010

  The weather was Midlakian, if ever weather was. Mist and cloud vapors, a drizzle that came and went, all left the streets around the Old Rock House shining. Midlake, a Denton, Texas rock band, ... More >>

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  Midlake's second album is worth the blood, sweat and tears it took to record

  published May 12, 2010

  The masterpieces of the British folk-rock movement — Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking, Steeleye Span's Parcel of Rogues... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Review + Setlist: Frightened Rabbit Enchants the Old Rock House, May 7, 2010

  published May 08, 2010

  It was the end of the week of the end of the world (to paraphrase Jon Stewart) and (to paraphrase Michael Stipe) everyone felt fine. More than fine, judging by the smiles, clapping hands and ... More >>