I mentioned in my last post that I have turned 50. A week before my birthday (and a few days after my wife's equally significant birthday), we hosted a celebration at our house, with friends and family invited to join us. The highlight of our party was local musician Kasey Rausch, who played a set on our back deck by the pool. We have been blessed with a very mild Summer here in Kansas City, so at showtime it was only around 80 degrees, perhaps only in the upper 70s, so we had a beautiful evening for outdoor music.
Kasey Rausch is a country-folk-roots singer-songwriter. I found her (like so may others) on
Kickstarter as a local musician funding a new album. I loved what I heard, and so I backed her. A little later, looking at her online profile and website, I saw that she performed at house concerts. The wheels started turning, and, to make a long story short, I booked her to come and perform at our birthday party.
When she arrived that evening following an afternoon gig at a nearby winery, I found that she redefined "local". She lived only a couple miles away, and her kids go to the same high school as mine. In fact, my son knew her son, as they had been in a class together! Talk about supporting your local musicians :-)
Kasey performed out on our deck for about an hour, and she was fantastic. She has an amazing voice - smooth yet with a touch of a rough edge (or maybe rough at the center and smooth all around?), perfectly suited for her roots/country music. She performed mostly original songs, including one about her grandmother, who had passed away at the fine age of 103. Simply beautiful. Kasey also sang a couple songs from great country songwriter Johnny Mullins, who wrote songs for Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, and many others.
Kasey is truly a hard working artist. She performs all over Kansas City, many times more than one gig per day, and almost always several times a week. She travels around Missouri and Kansas, and earlier this Summer did a mini-tour in South Dakota and Wyoming. She plays solo or with several incarnations of bands (including a weekly happy hour show with her group The Naughty Pines).
The best news is that Kasey has been signed to a record label!
MudStomp Records will be releasing her new CD, from the Kickstarter campaign, later this year. Having listened to any of her new songs live on my deck, I can hardly wait for the CD release!
In the meantime, I am hoping to get out to see Kasey perform a few more times as Summer turns to Fall, and then Winter rolls in. Local friends - go see her. It doesn't matter if you consider yourself a country music fan or not, get out to a local honky tonk and see Kasey! You will love her!
Friends across the globe - you can find Kasey Rausch on Spotify, and her albums
"Born Near the Waters" and
"Live How You Love" are on Amazon. And, follow
Kasey Rausch Music on Facebook to keep track of Kasey and her performance schedule. Oh yeah - she hosts radio show every Sunday morning, too -
River Trade Radio - listen in online to get your Sunday off to a great start!
It was a pleasure and privilege to have Kasey perform at our house for our birthday celebration. She is a talented musician and song writer, and is also an amazingly nice person (and neighbor!) We all truly enjoyed getting to know Kasey and hear her music on a beautiful Summer evening.
Now if I can convince her to record some Christmas songs!
