Hello and Happy May!
I think it’s really happening this time, y’all. The weather is looking pretty good with only a small chance of rain. The Country Duo finally celebrates the physical release of Little Lagoon Sessions, ten original songs I wrote and recorded with Marco Pascolini in Gulf Shores, Alabama in October of 2022. Wowza! This Friday, May 8th at Mod Gallery in KCMO! I’ll put all the details towards the end of this posting, or you can head over to KaseyRausch.com for info and advance tickets.
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Postponing the celebration from April due to the crazy Missourah weather was the right call, not only to keep everyone safe, but it gave me time to breathe and have an attitude adjustment. I don’t get out in public much these days and event planning is one of the things that can stress me the eff out. I dunno why. It’s a silly little thing but it’s the way I’m wired. But now, most of the prep work has been done and I’m in a lighter, more free headspace that will allow me to enjoy myself more. I will likely still be experiencing some social anxiety, but I’ve got tools in my back pocket to help me breathe through it and I’ll be so joyful to see all of your warm faces. Just, please give me some grace if I can’t fully carry on a conversation with everyone. 😊
One of the things I worked so hard on leading up to the initial date is a video of footage I took while on the Little Lagoon. Some while working in the studio and lots of beautiful nature scenes. I tried to sync it to each song, best I could with my limited video editing experience. It will be shown on a large screen behind us while we play live. I know that when we play live it likely won’t line up as well as it does to the recordings I used as a guide, but it’s still some lovely scenes.
Something interesting that happened as I was working through it all is the song “Simple Reflections.” Marco and I rehearsed the song out on the pier over the lagoon and a couple times I filmed the rehearsals. Our timing and temp of the song was so spot on, that the video closely lined up with the studio recording. I was kinda impressed by us! Hah! I’ve isolated this song from the hour long video for the release party and have uploaded it to the YouTubes. Please enjoy!
I started writing this song while sitting on the beach in Galveston, Texas in 2020. I was a caregiver for a wonderful woman living life with Alzheimer’s and her husband gifted to me a week in a beachfront house as a way to take a breather. It was the first time I had ever been alone that long in my life. I was also going through a heartbreaking dissolution of a long friendship. While sitting on the sand watching pelicans glide across the water, feeling the waves ebb and flow, contemplating friendship in general, the words and tune started coming to me. I didn’t have a guitar in my hand so I just played with the melody and lyrics, writing them in the journal that I did have with me.
Sometime later, I found myself sitting on the east coast near New Haven, Connecticut, again without a guitar in my hand. The sea has always had a way of instigating deep contemplation for me and the unfinished song came to mind. I finished it sitting among the horse shoe crabs and soft waves of cool waters.
That all sounds lovely, and it was, except I could not for the life of me figure out the right key and music for this guitar-less creation. I took a trip to Norman, Oklahoma to visit my Baby Siblings, an endearing nickname I gave to my dear friends Galadriel Alethea Lynn and Kyle Reid (check out their electronica band Party Water!) Baby Sister (G!) had to work during the day so Baby Brother (K!) and I sat down to flush out this song. He sat at the piano while I sang the melody and figured out all the places it needed to go. It’s in the key of F! Ah! Finally it was all coming together. Kyle Reid for the co-write!
The fact that I wrote the song on both the Gulf Coast and the East Coast and then recorded it on the Little Lagoon was fitting. And somewhere, hanging out unfinished, is a much more edgy, electric version of the song that Kyle and I recorded in his home studio that weekend. Oklahoma’s Johnny Carlton laid down some sweet bass, too. There’s a goal to finish that and share it one day... one day....
Please enjoy the tune and the video and don’t judge my editing skills too much. :) Will we see you at the celebration Friday? I’d be so honored!
Friday, May 8, 2026
Mod Gallery - 1809 McGee in KC’s Crossroads Arts District
6pm - Doors (GA seating)
7pm - Vinyl listening with Q&A hosted by Scott Stanton
8pm - The Country Duo plays the full album live, front to back, plus a couple extra tunes. Special guests Richard Burgess and Sweet Matt Brahl join in for a few tunes.
Tickets $20 at the door or in advance at KaseyRausch.com. Cash, credit or venmo.
Merchandise will be cash or venmo only. And pssst! We have some new t-shirts that can be ordered on the website! See here!
Be sure to bring some cash for the raffle (vinyl/CD package) benefitting Midwest Music Foundation!
Mod Gallery has super light snacks (bags of chips) but you are welcome to bring food in from area restaurants.
Yip! See y’all soon!
Kasey Dawn.
8:51am - Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Simple Reflections
(Kasey Rausch & Kyle Reid)
Sittin’ by the sea, ol’ friend, thinkin’ about you
And all we ever tried to do to help us both get through
But all our days weren’t bright enough for standards in the stars
And so we go our separate ways with all our broken parts
CHORUS
And I guess it has to be this way
At least, I think, for now
And if our hearts should both align
We’ll figure it out somehow
But friendships don’t always last, like seasons when they’re due
Sometimes fade so slowly that you don’t even know they’re through
Then you wake up one day early enough to catch the mornin’ light
Next thing you know you’re all alone with nothin’ but your mind to fight
And you wonder when the sun went down
CHORUS
And I guess it has to be this way
At least, I think, for now
And if our hearts should both align
We’ll figure it out somehow
Oh, we might figure it out some-
-How can we go on hurting each other when we know that we are One
Simple Reflections
But even birds like a chalice fly, break apart to dive
They do what they need to do for themselves so the whole community thrives
And just like me you hurt and you bleed. We’re always askin’ why
So let this be the hurt that we need to wake us before we die
Oh let us wake up before we die
CHORUS
I guess it has to be this way
At least, I think, for now
And if our hearts should both align
We’ll figure it out somehow
Oh, we might figure it out somehow
I hope we figure it out somehow
Sittin’ by the sea, ol’ friend, thinkin’ about you.