Tarnished Songwriter Kasey Anderson Is Back, & Making No Excuses for Himself
There was no bigger enemy in music in July of 2014 than Kasey Anderson. The songwriter and performer plead guilty to wire fraud and was accused of bilking dozens of investors out of nearly $600,000 for fraudulent music projects, including a benefit album and tour for the West Memphis Three he told investors had the active participation of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, and others.
Anderson set up fraudulent email accounts and forged documents to make investors think that $1.7 million had been raised for the West Memphis Three project and that major music promoters were involved. When people started questioning Kasey about delays in the project, Anderson continued to lie, and even when the scheme was exposed, he continued to reach out to others to attempt to raise more money.
Kasey Anderson also falsified documents while trying to raise funds to make a record for his band, Kasey Anderson and the Honkies. He also lied about another album he’d worked on previously as well as a music tour, all on the way to eventually raising upwards of $590,000 from roughly 30 investors for the various projects.
All of this occurred while Kasey was an active member of the music community, and appeared to be involved in helping to move independent music forward in multiple roles. He played Daytrotter sessions, toured, released albums, and appeared to be willing to help others. He worked with and wrote for numerous music blogs including Blurt, Farce the Music, and ninebullets.net.
Federal charges were eventually brought against Anderson in January of 2013, and along with his four year prison sentence, Kasey was ordered to pay $594,636 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton in Tacoma.
Anderson, who was based in Vancouver, Washington at the time, blamed mental illness on the schemes, explaining that he would go weeks without sleep, or be bedridden with depression, and was a compulsive liar.
“I lied to myself and others, and believing those lies, I told myself consistently that whatever was going on with me … I could fix it on my own,” Anderson said in a letter to the court. “I convinced myself that it was normal. I am a deeply flawed and mentally ill person who made some terrible choices, causing so much emotional and financial damage to others. But I believe I have much to offer my community. I am so sorry for what I’ve done and want so badly to make it right.”
After Kasey Anderson was sent to prison in July of 2014, the music community though they would not be hearing from him for a while. But he is back, and making his presence known online and in music again, wanting to makes things right, and spooking some who remember the stories of his investment schemes.
Even though the initial news was Anderson would have to spend four years in Federal prison, he was released from a halfway house on October 13, 2015, and began a three year probation period in April of 2016, according to Anderson. He recently launched a music website, and has released an album of live songs recorded while on tour with Counting Crows in 2012 for $5.
It says on Anderson’s website, “Any attempted explanation or discussion of the last several years would serve very little purpose to anyone but me. I think Bill Faulkner was right about the past and Bill Wilson was right about how to make amends … I don’t know to what degree I’ll ever return to a ‘career’ in music but I like writing and recording songs, and occasionally performing those songs for people.”
Saving Country Music reached out to Kasey Anderson to get more details on his plans, and it appears he’s not interested in trying to rewrite history, and doesn’t blame those individual who are unwilling to accept his apologies.
“The stories that ran after my arrest are more or less accurate,” he tells Saving Country Music. “I lied to and stole from people who trusted me, and to my friends, family, band, and the people who supported my band. I don’t know that an explanation beyond that serves anyone other than me at this point. The only thing I can do in terms of writing wrongs is make amends — financial, direct, and living. To try and convince people I’m a ‘good guy’ seems disingenuous because for a lot people, the only context they have for me is that I really was not a good guy.”
Anderson went on to say that he still has a passion for music, which was on display before the moneymaking schemes started in earnest, and he hopes to continue with music, in whatever capacity feels appropriate.
“I like writing songs and playing songs for people and working in the studio with other musicians,” Anderson says. “I don’t know if or when I’ll make a record, or to what degree I’ll play shows outside of Portland. I have a website and a Facebook page and that’s the degree to which I feel comfortable self-promoting right now. If people want to hear the songs, or if they think I’m an asshole, or if they just don’t care one way or the other, all of those reactions seem reasonable to me.”
If nothing else, Kasey Anderson continues to make things spicy in the music scene. The sad part about Anderson’s story was that beyond all of the obviously terrible things he did to investors and the music community, deep down there appeared to be a musician who was trying to help move the music forward. But the heart he brought to music manifested itself in adverse ways that were unprecedented in scale, and may take the rest of his life to rectify completely, if ever.
Mike
August 29, 2016 @ 10:38 am
I was really surprised when all this came out. Hope he can rebuild his name and make amends as best he can. Some bridges can never be rebuilt but hopefully he can make some new ones as time goes on. He’s a talented musician.
10-GEN-NC
August 30, 2016 @ 9:48 am
Yeah he’s a hell of songwriter / musician imo, definitely fucked up majorly with all this, but everyone does at some point (albeit typically with much less impact on others and/or fewer 0’s on the $ amount).
His song ‘Some Depression’ has always stuck with me (amongst others), and he has major potential so I do hope he continues to pursue creating music.
Best wishes to him and his recovery etc
Here’s a link for anyone not familiar:
https://soundcloud.com/rslblog-com/kasey-anderson-the-honkies
BwareDWare94
August 29, 2016 @ 11:39 am
One listen to “I Was a Photograph” and “Don’t Look Back” is all I need to want to see this guy making music again.
karl
August 29, 2016 @ 11:53 am
Interesting story. I had never heard about this or heard of him. He sounds believable, which is how he duped so many people to begin with. This is one of the reasons I read SCM, to hear about things I would not normally hear about.
Justin
August 29, 2016 @ 12:43 pm
So he confessed his sins to the music Jesus and we shall forgive him for his music row greed like sins
Jim jones
August 29, 2016 @ 1:50 pm
F@ck this guy. He stole $ from his family. Anyone who gives this guy a penny if a fool.
Lunchbox
August 29, 2016 @ 4:06 pm
what did he do with the $600k he took?..hookers and blow or was he just hanging on to it?
10-GEN-NC
August 30, 2016 @ 10:03 am
Doubt he was able to hang onto it if the feds / IRS were looking into it. Also surprised that he got out so quick, my understanding from friends that have done (one is currently serving time) fed time is that you typically have to serve at least 85% of the sentence: Seems unusual, especially since he wouldn’t really have anyone to roll on (one of the only ways I’ve heard that people serve less than 85%).
“There is no parole in the federal criminal justice system – all federal prisoners are required to serve at least 85% of their sentences. (Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-473)”
http://famm.org/the-facts-with-sources/
Considering that he’s required to pay back the $594,636 from other fraud cases etc my guess would be that they seized any assets he held / sold them and were only able to recoup the $5K +/- not included in the above amount (assuming the $600K total figure is correct).
One of the major vices (drugs / gambling / sex / etc) would definitely be my guess, because that’s a pretty substantial amount to ‘blow’ through…if it was in fact drugs he’s probably lucky to be alive, $600K worth of any substance is a death sentence for most, myself included.
Regardless not my place to judge, and like I said above I wish him the best despite his mistakes, and while trust has clearly been broken / abused at least it was just money and no one is dead / seriously injured…he’s a very talented guy that needs to focus on making music rather than the $$$ side of things.
Kasey Anderson
April 27, 2018 @ 2:48 pm
I wanted to answer this, too.
I was sentenced to 46 months. I participated in an intensive drug rehabilitation program offered by the US Bureau of Prisons, it’s called RDAP. Successful completion of that knocked 12 months off my sentence, which brought it down to 34 months. A certain amount of time is given for “good behavior,” though I don’t remember the calculation. I got about 5 months off for good behavior, I think, brining the sentence down to 29ish months. I served six-months of that term in a halfway house, so while I was released from prison in October of 2015, I was still technically in custody until April of 2016, at which point I began a three-year term of supervised release (probation), which I am still serving.
Nadia Lockheart
August 30, 2016 @ 12:04 am
All I can say is that his actions from here on out will determine whether he is deserving of our forgiveness or not.
Ultimately, much of the hardest work laid bare before him concerns his family and closest friends. They’ll know better than any of us whether he has truly felt stinging remorse and is aspiring to transmute it into constructive energy to make right, or his recent tone is merely a facade. At any rate, I’m going to leave them some space and hope it’s the former.
Kasey Anderson
April 27, 2018 @ 2:44 pm
Man, this was posted almost two years ago and I just now read it and the comments. In general I try to stay away from reading stuff but for some reason it popped up in my Twitter feed. I appreciate that folks are kind, and I also appreciate that some folks think I’m a horrible person who doesn’t deserve a chance to make records again, or to have those records heard by anyone. I’m proud of the work I’ve done to make amends, not just to people who were victims of my crime, but to people I hurt otherwise along the way – and there were plenty of those.
Texican
April 27, 2018 @ 3:32 pm
Every saint has a past; every sinner has a future.