It will be family night at Natasha’s Billiards and Lounge when in-laws Kristy Korsak and Steve Kile bring their musical talents back to Emporia for a performance on Friday, June 29.
Korsak and her sister, Kerry, are daughters of Emporians Deanne Korsak and John Korsak. Kerry is married to Steve Kile, son of Emporians Don and Marilyn Kile.
Korsak’s show will be from 8 p.m. to 9:30; The Steve Kile Band will play from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Korsak and Kile rarely perform together publicly.
“This is the first time I’ve ever opened for Steve,” Korsak said. “But we’re going to make it a family affair. Christmas and holidays are all kinds of fun, with Don and Steve and me. Lots of fun.”
Korsak, who describes her music as “chick folk rock,” played in bands for about 10 years and has been singing solo for the last five years, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar.
“I only play right now once every couple of months or so,” she said. “I’ve got an eight-year-old son, Brae, so we keep busy with that now.”
Her job at a used-book store in Wichita also demands a chunk of her time. For her own good, though, she saves a little back for music.
“I have to keep playing a little bit, and I will keep playing the rest of my life because it’s the only thing that keeps me grounded and sane,” Korsak said.
Previously, she played in Wichita bands, Rhello and Eivy. She formed the latter band with Jamie Briggeman, now with the DeWayn Brothers. And she has kept busy writing songs,
“I play a lot of originals and I’ll be having my CDs on sale at the show,” she said. She will take requests and also covers music by other artists, such as The Beatles, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Indigo Girls, Liz Phair and “old 80’s good ones like Kodo.”
Her music, a friend told her, “makes you slow down and relax — stop and think,” Korsak said. “My music is really mellow. It’s fun, but it’s relaxing.”
The Steve Kile Band plays a variety of musical styles — “old, new, rock ’n’ roll, country, Pantera, James Taylor, you name it,” Kile said.
“We take a lot of requests. I think that’s another one of the keys to the band. We play all kinds of stuff.”
Kile and drummer Scot Goacher make up the two-man band. Kile plays guitar, foot bass and keyboard and sings lead on most of the songs. Goacher, whom Kile described as a “monster drummer,” does harmonies and sometimes takes lead.
“It’s interesting, people’s reactions to the two-piece band,” Kile said. “They’ll look at it and they’ll think, ‘That can’t be that much sound coming from just two guys,’ but it is.”
Kile described the band as “somewhat unpredictable and hopefully very entertaining. Both men enjoy the challenge of playing live music.
“Nothing pre-recorded, nothing sequenced, and what you hear is what’s being played at that moment,” Kile said. “I play lots of different styles of music and hopefully something, at some point, that everybody wants to hear.”
The band keeps busy performing in the Kansas City, Lawrence, and Topeka, as well as across Kansas and into Colorado.
“I enjoy doing the band thing,” said Kile, whose day job is teaching music. “But I enjoy teaching, and that’s really what keeps me grounded.”
In that, he may be tracking the musical footprints of his father, Don, a long-time music teacher in the Emporia school district, and a part-time band musician who also has played in The Steve Kile Band.
Steve Kile said he would not be surprised to see his father on-stage next Friday.
“He might jump up and sing some Johnny Cash or something with me,” Kile said. “He does a great job of ‘Folsom Prison Blues,’ so we might play that. You never know.”