Email Author Roy Kasten

2011 Stories by Roy Kasten

• Slaid Cleaves

  published June 16, 2011

  Of all the pill poppers, free-basers and strung-out shooters that have ever littered popular music, Slaid Cleaves is the least likely... More >>

• Company of Thieves

  published June 16, 2011

  This year the Chicago-based Company of Thieves followed up its intriguing but erratic debut album Ordinary Riches with the... More >>

• Robert Plant

  published June 9, 2011

  All heavy metal and classic-rock sex symbol roads lead to Americana. Wait long enough and David Lee Roth will call up Emmylou Harris for a... More >>

• Willie Nelson's Country Throwdown

  published June 9, 2011

  The longevity of Willie Nelson's career isn't hard to fathom. The tours, albums, parties and film roles have rolled and tumbled one... More >>

• Mumford & Sons

  published June 2, 2011

  Hollywood lies again: One can get to 1.6 million Facebook friends (or "likes" to be precise) without making a few enemies. The endlessly... More >>

• T-Model Ford

  published May 26, 2011

  They don't make bluesmen like T-Model Ford anymore, but there's no need for nostalgia. The nonagenarian (if his officially released date... More >>

• Sunshine politics: An interview with folk icon Jonathan Edwards

  published May 19, 2011

  Folk troubadour Jonathan Edwards is a master of the less-is-more approach - so much so that his best known song, "Sunshine," still sneaks up on listeners as a catchy, acoustic pop ditty, and then, on ... More >>

• Holly Golightly and Lawyer Dave on their sparse and not-so-southern sound

  published May 17, 2011

  In this week's RFT, we interviewed singer, songwriter and one-woman, country-blues-punk wrecking crew Holly Golightly. But, in truth, she's not a solo artist, as her most recent album No Help Coming a... More >>

• The Growlers

  published May 19, 2011

  In Costa Mesa, California, the Growlers have a lock on the country-surf-rock-mariachi scene, and once you get past the unalloyed... More >>

• Jonathan Edwards

  published May 19, 2011

  Jonathan Edwards understands that the two minutes and seventeen seconds of fame behind a hit like "Sunshine" is no way to build a... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  "You can't drink when you're dead": An interview with Steve Earle

  published May 16, 2011

  "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" is the title of a beloved Hank Williams Sr. song. It's also the title of Steve Earle's new novel, as well as his newest album, and if it's not the motto tacked... More >>

• Holly Golightly on writing songs and her pet chicken

  published May 12, 2011

  Musical amateurism is largely the domain of punk rock and bored celebrities. But for British-born, rural Georgia-based singer and songwriter... More >>

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  Ted Leo at Off Broadway, 5/8/11: Review and Setlist

  published May 09, 2011

  Ted Leo/Title Tracks/The Blind Eyes Off Broadway Sunday, May 8, 2011 Few axioms in live music are as rigid as the Law of the Solo Headliner: Never put two loud and catchy power-pop bands on before him... More >>

• Tobacco

  published May 5, 2011

  Tobacco is Thomas Fec, a.k.a. Maniac Meat, Black Moth Super Rainbow maniac in chief. He's an unapologetically obscurantist electronic... More >>

• More From the Kinky Friedman Tapes: On Heroes and Politics

  published Apr 29, 2011

  Kinky Friedman, the original Texas Jew Boy and salty king of the one-liners, makes a rare appearance in St. Louis tonight at Off Broadway. We're celebrating with a week of wisdom nuggets from our inte... More >>

• Kinky Friedman on Animal Rights

  published Apr 28, 2011

  Sharp-tongued Kinky Friedman is back in St. Louis for the first time in years, playing Off Broadway tomorrow night. We talked to Friedman about his music and his failed political ambitions. He also sp... More >>

• Tift Merritt

  published April 28, 2011

  Tift Merritt has never fit neatly in the career seams sewn for her. Too modest to be the next Shelby Lynne, too restless to find the... More >>

• Kinky Friedman talks politics and satire

  published April 28, 2011

  Consider Kinky Friedman the bizarro Bob Dylan. He's a Midwestern-born folk hero, steeped in country traditions and gifted with maddening powers... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Cee Lo Green at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, 4/20/2011: Review

  published Apr 21, 2011

  Cee Lo Green Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center Wednesday, April 20 Rare thing that it is, a Cee Lo Green show in St. Louis should be a party to wreck all parties. But location is everything, a... More >>

• The Joy Formidable

  published April 21, 2011

  The hardest-rocking trio to emerge from Wales, the Joy Formidable has drowned out any lingering UK press buzz with chemistry and guitar... More >>

• Jill Sobule embraces the past and soars into the future on a new tour with John Doe

  published April 14, 2011

  Jill Sobule is a treasure of American pop music, a witty and big-hearted songwriter, even when she's exposing her own ticks and fears. Best... More >>

• Franz Nicolay

  published April 7, 2011

  When keyboardist and mustache-twirler Franz Nicolay first appeared onstage with the Hold Steady, rooms full of... More >>

• Gold Motel

  published April 7, 2011

  Power pop is the domain of awkward white males, but Gold Motel traverses the turf like it has the keys to the sugary kingdom. Led by... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Review + Setlist: Destroyer and the War on Drugs at Luminary Center for the Arts, Monday, March 28

  published Mar 29, 2011

  A few years have passed since the last Destroyer date in St. Louis, 2008 if memory serves, during the exquisite tour for the Trouble in Dreams album. Dan Bejar, the band's singer and songwriter, did s... More >>

• Lydia Loveless

  published March 31, 2011

  Chicago insurgent country label Bloodshot may be grooming Lydia Loveless to pick up where twang angels Kelly Hogan and Neko Case left... More >>