[Spotlight Post] Kasey Lansdale – Musican, Actor, Editor, and More

This week’s spotlight, Kasey Lansdale…one of the hardest working, most versatile young women I know. But that’s because her mom and dad raised her to be enterprising. For those of you who are horror readers (or fans of “Texas Weird”) and having been around the SF convention circuit, you’ve seen Kasey. She’s Joe R. Lansdale’s daughter and has been seen behind his tables selling books her entire life. Now she’s doing her own thing and keeping everyone on their toes.

Kasey’s first passion seems to be music. I say “seems” only because she’s involved in so many things, but this is the backbone of her talent. She’s a rising country singer and songwriter with a growing international fanbase. Italy loves her, and rightly so. I stopped working in Country Music years and years ago, and have never been the world’s biggest country fan, but Kasey’s first CD lives on my iPod. When she releases her next album late this year or early 2013, that one will live on my iPod, too.

She doesn’t sing “just country”, though it’s evident she’s been influenced by Reba McEntire (a woman I had the pleasure of working with a few times in my Country radio stint) both musically and personally. Reba is definitely someone worth having as a professional inspiration. Kasey has influences in Southern Rock and classic rock music. I’ve seen and heard her perform on small stages, where the audience is mostly people who’ve known her since she was born–which is (trust me) a much more nerve-wracking audience than strangers, and have seen her rock a room. I know she can dominate a big stage.

But that’s not all Kasey is doing. She’s moved into publishing–which isn’t surprising given her upbringing. Kasey has edited a couple of anthologies–and is currently working on a new one with Biting Dog Press (yes, this is a self-serving plug, I’m involved with this anthology). She’s finished writing the first draft of her own novel. AND, she’s just produced and starred in a production of the film version of one of her father’s works, Christmas with the Dead. And phooey, I missed the screening at ArmadilloCon.

This young woman is in a position to take multiple entertainment industries by storm, and if anyone can do it, it’s Kasey. She’s an inspiration to those of us who need that push to do more, better, and more efficiently. She’s someone to watch, because I’m telling you…she’s going to be HUGE in that “star” factor. And not just because she’s talented, she’s got the drive and the sense to not only make it happen, but to not let it mess her up. She’s going places, and it’s going to be an honor to say I knew her “when”.

Tags: anthology, Christmas with the Dead, Joe Lansdale, Kasey Lansdale, movie, music, Spotlight, Writing