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Culture
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[IN MEMORIAM]
For Those Who Paved the Way
St. Louis is naming a street in honor of local blues icon Kim Massie
Written by JAIME LEES
Kim Massie was a true queen of St. Louis soul and blues. When Massie passed away last fall, an already-devastated St. Louis music scene was brought to its knees. At the time, everybody swore that her life and legacy would continue to be celebrated, and that promise has been kept: The city is naming a street after her.
Kim Massie Way will be unveiled during a presentation on April 17. Massie’s birthday, April 19, has been declared Kim Massie Day. The new Kim Massie Way will begin at the intersection of South Broadway and Cerre Street and will run through the stretch of South Broadway where Massie performed for years in St. Louis’ legendary “Blues Triangle” — an area with a trio of blues clubs that ruled the scene for decades, including Beale on Broadway (which closed in 2019), Broadway Oyster Bar, and BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups.
Massie was a legend in St. Louis and beyond, able to harness both her unrivaled singing voice and her magnetic charm to thrill any audience in front of her. In addition to hosting intimate bimonthly gigs at small local clubs, she’d also play parties and headline music festivals.
“Through her years, Massie morphed from church singer to award-winning karaoke queen before scoring legit gigs singing with St. Louis blues icon Oliver Sain,” we wrote when she passed. “She hustled and struggled for decades to become one of the most respected and trusted artists in town. You knew if you hired Massie for a show that she would give it her all.”
Mayor Lyda Krewson will present the proclamation to Massie’s family during the sign unveiling and proclamation ceremony at 2:30 p.m. April 17, a Saturday, at the intersection of South Broadway and Gratiot Street. The ceremony will be open to the public, with the city’s COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions in place.
“We know that she would deeply appreciate this honor, love and above all else the respect she always desired and ‘dreamed’ of,” Autumn Massie, daughter of Kim Massie, says in a statement. “The entire Massie family are so thankful and grateful for this honor that helps her legacy live on in the beautiful city she called home forever.” Massie joins a proud collection of musical luminaries who have had streets named after them in the places they called home, including Bob Dylan Way in Minnesota, Flaming Lips Alley in Oklahoma, Sam Cooke Way in Illinois, Dave Grohl Alley in Ohio, Joey Ramone Place in New York and Run-DMC JMJ Way in New York. n
Kim Massie, who passed in October, lives forever in our hearts. | PRESS PHOTO
[SPLITSVILLE]
At the Crossroads
e Bottle Rockets, Americana torchbearers for 28 years, have broken up
Written by DANIEL HILL
The Bottle Rockets, the Festusborn, St. Louis-based band of alt-country stalwarts some 28 years running, have broken up.
The news came via a statement on social media. According to the post, guitarist, frontman and cobandleader Brian Henneman has decided to retire, and the group simply can’t go on without him.
“Although he’s in good health, he’s been feeling the passage of time and has lost interest in anything that distracts from or takes him away from home,” the post reads. “Unfortunately, this means the Bottle Rockets can’t continue as we know it. This is a difficult and emotional outcome for the band, and we share the sense of loss over this ending, but it can also be framed as an opportunity for new directions.”
Accompanying that post is a statement from Henneman himself that makes clear the decision was not made lightly.
“Been thinkin’ about it this entire time off,” Henneman writes. “I’m more certain of it than anything I’ve ever been certain of before. I’m turning 60 this year. Including my time with Uncle Tupelo, I have been doing this recording/touring thing for 30 years. I don’t consider myself too old to do it anymore, but I do consider myself too old to want to.
“Every musician has their own shelf life for doing what they do,” he continues. “Some go on into their 80s, some quit in their 20s and never look back. Ol’ Number 60, that’s me. 60 o’clock, that’s quittin’ time for this guy. Kickin’ off my travelin’ shoes and slippin’ on my house shoes. Home is where my passion lies these days. That excites me now the way the band used to.”
The Bottle Rockets formed in 1992 out of the ashes of outlaw country act Chicken Truck, and following a stint for Henneman as a guitar tech and additional musi-
BOTTLE ROCKETS
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cian for Uncle Tupelo. Henneman’s fellow Chicken Truck members Mark Ortmann (drums) and Tom Parr (guitar, vocals) would join him as founding members of the Bottle Rockets, alongside bassist Tom V. Ray. The band’s most recent lineup consisted of Henneman, Ortmann, guitarist John Horton and bassist Keith Voegele.
The Bottle Rockets released their self-titled debut record in 1992, following it up two years later with 1994’s The Brooklyn Side, which would catapult the band onto the airwaves and into the public consciousness. The band was soon picked up by Atlantic Records, which re-released the album, and the single “Radar Gun” hit No. 27 on Billboard’s rock chart.
But the Bottle Rockets would part ways with Atlantic within a few short years as relations between the band and label soured. The Bottle Rockets would go on to a career releasing albums through revered indie labels including Doolittle (now New West Records), Sanctuary Records and Bloodshot Records in the years since.
The band’s latest album, 2018’s Bit Logic, saw it proceeding down a more traditional country path than previous offerings. As RFT’s Roy Kasten noted, the record is “driven by phase-shifted guitars (an homage to outlaw hero Waylon Jennings) and its fullest embrace of straight-ahead country music.”
In an interview with Henneman and Ortmann, Kasten also noted that the band had seemed to have found itself a comfortable touring niche, which saw it sharing the stage with the likes of Marshall Crenshaw, Chuck Prophet and James McMurtry, popping up regularly on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country station and even landing a slot on 2017’s sold-out Outlaw Country Cruise.
But in the end, it’s just not what Henneman wanted for himself anymore.
“It’s all about where I’m at on the walk of life,” he writes. “I no longer want to travel, don’t really have any burning desire to write songs anymore either. I just want to be a good husband. A good neighbor. A responsible homeowner. A little dog’s daddy. A guitar repairman. A guitar player in my kitchen, and in some local country cover band whenever that scene comes back around. That’s how I want to spend the rest of my days.”
Fans may mourn that the COVID-19 health crisis robbed them of the chance for a proper farewell show, but to hear Henneman explain it, that’s partially by design.
“With a year off, and nothing on the books, this was the perfect intersection of time and timing,” he writes. “There would never be a time when leaving would disrupt less. That’s why I did it now. Didn’t wanna make a big deal outta my big deal. Wanted it to be as painless as possible.
“So this is where the cowboy rides away. Goodnight now ladies and gentlemen. It’s the end of the show, now it’s time to go,” he adds. “Maybe I’ll see ya at Home Depot or somethin’.” n
A er nearly three decades, the Bottle Rockets are packing it in. | CARY HORTON
