New Video: Star Anna

From her album Go To Hell, here's Star Anna with "For Anyone" (written by our old pal Kasey Anderson). RIYL: Kasey Anderson, Lucinda Williams, Miranda Lambert, Steve Earle.

"For Anyone" by Star Anna (official music video) from Coalter Digital on Vimeo.

Star Anna and a Voice From the Past

I recently received a review copy of Star Anna's forthcoming ten-track album, Go To Hell, and was so impressed with her voice that I did some YouTube surfing. There, I came across this great live cut of "Only Guessing" (not on the new album) with our old buddy Kasey Anderson. Hmmm, where'd that guy go?

Bad Luck Brian Got Swindled

Let the Fraudy Moon Rise: The Odd Case of Kasey Anderson

I've known Kasey Anderson, as much as you can "know" someone you meet on the internet, for probably 10 years now. I first came into contact with him on the message board at altcountrytab.ca as he began his songwriting/recording career. He always came across as a funny, bull-headed, eccentric self-promoter, but his posts were always interesting. His music was a little too raw for me at first, but it began to catch my ear as he grew as a writer and performer.

Kasey's first solo albums were uneven, but passionate and showing all the creative spark and hard fundamentals required for a budding music career. Nowhere Nights started fulfilling his promise with "catchy alternative pop rock Americana goodness" and slotted at FTM's #8 album of 2010.

When he took on The Honkies as a backing band, his music really took off. Anderson's first release with new backing band, Heart of a Dog, nearly cracked the FTM 2011 top ten albums. The desolate ballad "Exit Ghost" from that album was FTM's #2 song of that year. Let the Bloody Moon Rise, which was a short-time release (originally slated for physical release this year), finished at #54 in FTM's Top Albums of 2012 list. Clearly, Kasey was right in the pocket creating the kind of honest music I dig and that FTM promotes.



The band even made some headway in the commercial world, scoring an opening slot with Counting Crows on a European tour. The Crows also covered Anderson's "Like Teenage Gravity" on last years covers album, Underwater Sunshine.

Kasey's wit and dry approach also brought him some notoriety on Twitter. He gained thousands of followers and became fast contemporaries with professional comedians like Rob Delaney (even doing a show with Delaney) and Harris Wittels. Not bad for an alt-country singer/songwriter.

Cut to August or September of last year when Anderson began vague talk of retirement on Twitter and in his email newsletters. Then came the October Tumblr announcement that he was in fact giving up writing and performing for financial reasons. I didn't give it much thought, other than hating that a good young alt-country voice was going to be silenced for a time.

The Honkies disbanded and Kasey disappeared from my radar completely at this point.

--------------------------------------

This is where it gets weird. I'll let the professional writers do most of the talking from here. This story came out in December.. I somehow totally missed it. Wow.

And yesterday it got much worse.
Make sure you read at least this link... then you might want to go back and read the other one for more insight.

Holy shizz. Well, that escalated quickly. Or maybe it didn't. I don't really KNOW Kasey. Sure, he kicked off the FTM Interviews feature with this winning self-Q&A. Sure I've conversed with him on Twitter and altcountrytab.ca many times ...but I don't know him.

I just thought Kasey was a little askew, but maybe I should have seen the signs. There were always complaints of fans not receiving albums and merchandise they purchased from him. His self-promo on ACT was a little grating at times and Anderson became seen as kind of flaky amongst regular contributors.

Oh and then there was this one instance in 2009 on the message board where he sought legal advice because "i am facing erroneous charges of insurance fraud and falsifying documents." Uh oh! Kasey claimed he was held overseas for an allegation that "involves an insurance claim that was filed in america for a large sum of money - about 150k." According to Anderson's posts, his case was eventually thrown out by the prosecutor. Scarred but whole, Kasey persevered. Not that big of a deal in a vacuum, but in the light of this new, much larger situation... certainly interesting.

I don't know what to think. While I, as someone with not exactly perfect mental health, can sympathize to some degree with someone suffering from bi-polar disorder, I can't make the jump from drinking/druggin/financial woes to HALF A MILLION DOLLARS IN FRAUD. And the names involved and the excuses made and the self-delusion. I just don't know. I didn't even want to bring that last paragraph's information to light because of some sort of loyalty I can't explain. Kasey may be a con-man. He may be a troubled individual that got in comically over his head in a ridiculous scheme that even the investors should have seen through from the get-go. Probably both. He's a talented dude either way and I wish the best for him.

This case, regardless of its outcome, may have killed his music career. Perhaps if Anderson gets out of this hole, he can use his comedic talents and this whole new wealth of content to create a new, legal way to make a living. It's got to pay better than the (alleged) failed-fraud racket.

YouTube Gems: Counting Crows

Counting Crows, covering FTM pal Kasey Anderson's Like Teenage Gravity. From their album Underwater Sunshine. Cool.

YouTube Gems: Kasey Anderson & The Honkies

From their awesome new album Heart of a Dog (running neck and neck with Hayes Carll's new one for my favorite of '11 so far), here's Kasey Anderson and the Honkies with "Wrong Light." This isn't an official video; it's more of a bizarre piece of video art set to the song. Very cool and 120 Minutes-esque.

YouTube Gems: Kasey Anderson

Kasey Anderson (Recommended if you like: Todd Snider, Lucero, Replacements, Steve Earle, older Jack Ingram) has a rocking new album with his band The Honkies, called Heart of a Dog coming out soon. More talk about that later, but for now, here's an excellent Music Fog performance of "Don't Look Back." Does this guy sound great live or what?

FTM Interviews Kasey Anderson

FTM pal/ninebullets.net contributor Kasey Anderson's album Nowhere Nights hits shelves next week (it's already out at digital outlets, including iTunes) and FTM is there to ask some hard hitting questions about his influences and the new album.

For those who haven't heard him before, the music is good ol' roots rock with a broad everyman appeal. Kasey's voice is a mix of Jack Ingram, John Mellencamp and Cody Canada, in short, a perfect voice for this style of music. His music sometimes resembles Ryan Adams at his most interesting, The Replacements at their most straightforward and a dash of Gin Blossoms style pop rock. Bruce Springsteen, Will Hoge and Tom Petty also spring to mind. But while his music recalls all those sounds, this album is entirely Kasey. He's a great lyricist and his melodies and hooks will burrow into your brain.

You can download the title track for free right here: Nowhere Nights.

Now let's get to know Kasey a little better in FTM's very first Farce the Music Interview, as the singer/songwriter is interviewed by... himself.

Kasey Anderson's Convenient Truths: The Farce the Music Interview

FARCE THE MUSIC: Alright, tape is rolling so everything from here on out is on the record.

KASEY ANDERSON: You don't own a tape recorder.

FTM: It's a figure of speech.

KA: No, it isn't.

FTM: You've built a reputation as being quite eccentric. Why do you think that is?

KA: It could be the amount of asparagus I eat - there's that smell about me, it confuses and arouses people. It could be my penchant for taking a six-hour nap immediately after waking up in the morning. It could be the fact that I own seven copies of every film Nick Nolte has ever appeared in. There's something about that number. Seven. People can't get their minds around it.

FTM: It does have a sort of mystical, biblical connotation to it.

KA: Right. Seven books of the Bible...

FTM: There are 66 books in the Bible.

KA: Which is divisible by seven. You get a remainder, but...

FTM: Moving on. You've been quoted as saying your first album, Dead Roses, was you "learning how to write songs while tape rolled." How did that experience shape your writing?

KA: That was a literal statement. I had never used paper and pen to transcribe lyrics prior to those sessions. The walls of my apartment were covered in crayon.

FTM: You wrote songs in crayon on your walls?

KA: What? No. I'm sorry. Those two statements were not related. I used body heat to write with my fingers on Hypercolor shirts. That's how I remembered songs.

FTM: Wouldn't that fade?

KA: Doesn't everything?

FTM: How profound. Your second album, The Reckoning, was largely political. How do you feel about what has transpired in the country since 2007, when The Reckoning was released? Have you seen changes?

KA: I have. We all have. You'd have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to. The 2008 election was a very proud moment for the United States but you start to wonder if electing a new president isn't a little bit like mopping the floor of a burning house. There's a lot of work still needs to be done. We'll get there, but we need leadership, not pandering.

FTM: Nowhere Nights is almost entirely autobiographical. What inspired you to write a record almost entirely about yourself?

KA: A friend was borrowing all of my mirrors.

FTM: The album follows you as you leave Bellingham, Washington, where you lived for ten years. Do you miss it?

KA: No. But the album is not so much about leaving a place as it is about leaving a life. There's that saying, "Wherever you go, there you are," which I really hate because a lot of those people, they move very slowly and they're in my way. I have errands, you know? I have to get to the post office before 3:00 P.M. or the best stamps are gone.

FTM: Right. Of course. How do you feel about "New Country," or "Young Country" music?

KA: A lot of it is catchy but then, so is syphilis.

FTM: A lot of songwriters have checkered pasts; yours is shrouded in mystery. Have you ever had any trouble with the law?

KA: Man's Law, God's Law, Seth's Law, Murphy's Law, Law and Order.

FTM: Isn't that a Zach Galifianakis bit?

KA: The guy from Out Cold?

FTM: Among others, yes.

KA: Never heard of him.

FTM: How do you write? Take us inside the process.

KA: Lately what I have been doing is spending most of the day at the DMV, transcribing people's conversations. Real, slice-of-life stuff. Like Carver.

FTM: Raymond Carver?

KA: I'm sorry, McCarver. Tim McCarver. The broadcaster. McCarver, Joe Buck, Joe Morgan. These are the true modern masters of the English language.

FTM: Anywhere else you find inspiration?

KA: Old shoes, picture postcards...

FTM: That's the title of Tom Waits song. You lifted that directly from Tom Waits.

KA: The guy from Mystery Men?

FTM: Sure. Pretty good songwriter, too.

KA: I don't know who that is.

FTM: Fine. Last question: You'll be on tour for most of 2010. Do you subscribe to the belief that a rolling stone gathers no moss?

KA: Oh, sure. But I have a lamp that's 50 years old that hasn't gathered any moss, either. So maybe I should just stand in one place and let my light shine.

FTM: Wow. That's pretty deep.

KA: I think it's from an old Carrot Top bit.

FTM: The guy from Chairman of the Board?

KA: Exactly.