A decade ago when Christian Kaser was a student in Bowling Green State University, he served drinks at
what’s now known as Grumpy Dave’s.
Saturday with the five-piece Christian Kaser Band, he will return to the upstairs club above Easy Street
Cafe in downtown Bowling Green to perform his original country songs Saturday. Doors open at 8 p.m. for
the 9 p.m. show at the 104 S. Main St. club.
About a decade ago, BGSU was Kaser’s return engagement to college.
He started right out of high school at the University of Toledo. "I had a bad year in college as a
freshman," he admitted.
So his parents told him to come home to Sandusky to get his act together. That involved starting to play
guitar.
"I had that personality where I moved from job to job, and hobby to hobby,"  he said. Music was
different. "It’s the only thing that really kept my attention."
He succeeded in returning to BGSU as a sociology major. But he’d already turned his sights on music,
gigging at clubs in Put-In-Bay and environs.
Contemporary country was a natural fit for him. Around the house his father played Neil Young records 
while his mother favored Carole King and Elton John. His grandmother was from the mountains of Kentucky.
She liked Conway Twitty and rawer country styles.
"There are a lot of bluegrass players in my family," Kaser said. That flavor survives in the
banjo that decorates his sound.
"Also, I love rock, and I feel country is moving in that direction," he said.
The drum kicks in his music are testament to that influence.
For the past four years he has been traveling to Nashville to work with other producers and songwriters,
developing tunes.
The most recent product of that is the new single "That’s What’s Up," that he’s getting ready
to release. The songwriting collaboration is involved. The first move is to come up with a "top
line idea," Kaser said.
That gets recorded on a work tape that focuses on the melody and "vague lyrical ideas."
That recording gets worked over by the various parties, and then "we do another session that really
tightens up the ideas."
But until the song is recorded, there’s always room for change, Kaser said.
Kaser has produced a dozen songs, five of which are on his debut EP.
Those originals form the core of his 90-minute show.
While he’s not opposed to doing a few covers, he said, the "magic" is in playing his original
material for a live audience.