Email Author Roy Kasten

2011 Stories by Roy Kasten

• S. Carey

  published March 31, 2011

  As the classically trained percussionist for Bon Iver, S. Carey has been relegated to the lo-fi shadows. As captured on last year's... More >>

• Review: Wanda Jackson and Dex Romweber Duo at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, Sunday, March 27

  published Mar 28, 2011

  "There's no room to dance!" repeated the girl with the double vodka cranberry beside me. No, there wasn't, and getting to the bar wasn't a cake walk either. Blame Jack White or blame one of the great ... More >>

• James McMurtry/Bottle Rockets

  published March 24, 2011

  The only thing surprising about a St. Louis date with James McMurtry and the Bottle Rockets is that it didn't happen sooner.... More >>

• Margot and the Nuclear So & So's

  published March 24, 2011

  When a band with a silly and pretentious name emerges from Indianapolis and starts to take over MySpace, the industry drools. But the... More >>

• Willie Wright's Telling the Truth finds a new life thanks to the Numero Group

  published March 24, 2011

  On the phone from his home in Providence, Rhode Island, Mr. William Gathright sets the ground rules. That's to be expected for one of the most... More >>

• SXSW Days 3 and 4: Dum Dum Girls, Joy Formidable, La Sera, The Vaccines, Josh Ritter, Lucinda Williams, Venice Is Sinking, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Asobi Seksu, Hurray For the Riff Raff and Twangfest Party, Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19

  published Mar 20, 2011

  At the end of the final night at South By Southwest 2011, I walked down 6th Street, a scene you can surely picture without my assistance. But I have this press badge to earn, so: By 1 a.m. on Saturday... More >>

• SXSW Day 2: Toro Y Moi, The Civil Wars, The Baseball Project, Bob Geldof, Vandaveer, Abigail Washburn, Charles Bradley, Ron Sexsmith and Surfer Blood, Thursday, March 17

  published Mar 18, 2011

  12:24 In the South By vortex, all news - or at least news not related to Jack White pop-up performances, Cee-Lo Green cancellations, Kanye gossip and R.E.M. show rumors - gets obliterated. Japan's nuc... More >>

• SXSW Day 1: The Head and the Heart, Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Trishas, Gayngs, John Vanderslice, The Antlers and Vetiver, Wednesday, March 16

  published Mar 17, 2011

  (RFT freelancer Roy Kasten is at SXSW through Saturday. He'll be checking in with A to Z about what he sees. Here's the first installment.)11:45 I've returned to my hotel after stopping at Maria's Tac... More >>

• Eli "Paperboy" Reed

  published March 17, 2011

  In the preppy-chic soul revival sweepstakes, Eli "Paperboy" Reed outpaces the likes of better-known band leaders such as Mayer... More >>

• John Hammond/David Lindley

  published March 17, 2011

  John Hammond and David Lindley go back a ways, at least as far back as the green rooms of the '70s, when the dope was sweet and... More >>

• Review + Setlist: Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson at the Fabulous Fox Theatre, Wednesday, March 9

  published Mar 10, 2011

  At 9:30 p.m. or so on Wednesday evening at the Fabulous Fox, the band was playing the crowd out with an instrumental reprise of "Okie From Muskogee." The house lights came up, the singers had gone and... More >>

• Jaill/Obits

  published March 10, 2011

  Save your drummer jokes for another ne'er-do-well Midwestern rock band, as Milwaukee's Jaill pays for drummer Austin Dutmer's pizza,... More >>

• Bluegrass Ball

  published March 10, 2011

  The oxymoronic "Bluegrass Ball" — bluegrassers are often sharp-dressed men and women, but coats and tails aren't country —... More >>

• Cotton Jones

  published March 3, 2011

  When ex-Page France leader Michael Nau shortened the painfully cute name Cotton Jones Basket Ride to just the first two words, he put a... More >>

• Kings Go Forth

  published March 3, 2011

  Kings Go Forth is built on a simple proposition: the more the funkier. The ten-member, Milwaukee-based band throws itself into a... More >>

• Show Review and Setlist: Rodney Crowell at Blueberry Hill Duck Room, Monday, February 28

  published Mar 01, 2011

  Story time with Uncle Rodney Crowell is a heartwarming way to spend the evening. Once upon a time, in a land called Southeast Texas, there were demonic possessions, grand mal seizures, bottles busted ... More >>

• Country-music legend Kris Kristofferson talks about touring with his "hero," Merle Haggard

  published March 3, 2011

  For many, country music is just twang and tradition, good ol' boys and wayward girls, Bible belts and trucker songs, an endless highway... More >>

• Interview: Rodney Crowell on Memory and Country Music

  published Feb 28, 2011

  There are lots of reasons to hate Rodney Crowell. He's had scores of country hits and penned definitive progressive country anthems such as "'Til I Gain Control Again" and "Old Home Place Revisited." ... More >>

• Jon Langford & Skull Orchard

  published February 24, 2011

  What exactly does an ale-addled, agitprop, borderline-Communist punk of Welsh heritage have to say about country music? In Jon... More >>

• Country-music star Rodney Crowell traverses Chinaberry Sidewalks

  published February 24, 2011

  With her award-winning memoir Just Kids, godmother of punk Patti Smith recently set the standard for what a musician can do with an... More >>

• Review: Jonathan Richman at Off Broadway, Wednesday, February 16

  published Feb 17, 2011

  "There I was in Harvard Square," began Jonathan Richman at Off Broadway last night. There we were as well, a respectable crowd, paying our respects to one of the oddest, strangely charismatic performe... More >>

• Eisley

  published February 17, 2011

  The three sisters, one brother and one cousin who make up the Tyler, Texas, rock band Eisley have their sights set on the post-emo... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Review: Fitz and the Tantrums at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, Saturday, February 12

  published Feb 13, 2011

  Saturday afternoon and evening in the Delmar Loop, the icepocalypse was finally subsiding after weeks of sadistic winter. Gutters and parking lanes yet proved treacherous, but the scene at the sold-ou... More >>

• Interview: Kid Congo Powers on Recording in a Kansas Gym and How Jeffrey Lee Pierce Taught Him Guitar

  published Feb 11, 2011

  You've heard of garage rock. But Kid Congo Powers - co-founder of the Gun Club, guitarist for the Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and prolific, eccentric, solo rock & roll maestro -- doesn't p... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Interview: Fitz and the Tantrums Leader Michael Fitzpatrick on Crafting Modern Soul and Eschewing Guitar

  published Feb 10, 2011

  (Note: Fitz & the Tantrums' Saturday, February 12, show at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room (6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City) is sold out. However, the group is doing an in-store performance at Vinta... More >>