Dex Romweber Gone at 57

Dexter Romweber, the North Carolina psychobilly legend whose influence on the last 35 years of rock is immeasurable, has died. He was 57.

The unfortunate news was announced on Romweber’s official Facebook page by members of his family. 

“It is our sad duty to inform the world that our beloved youngest brother John Michael Romweber II – you know him as Dexter — died at home on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024,” the message began. “He was 57 years old, and found by his sister Monica. It is believed he died of natural causes; a medical exam is pending.

“Singer, guitarist, artist and bon vivant, Dexter Romweber was one of the most acclaimed artists of the roots-rock underground, going back to his time with the Kamikazes. But the band that put him on the map was Flat Duo Jets, the guitar/drums duo he started in 1983 with Chris ‘Crow’ Smith (and later with Tony Mayer on bass). While the Jets never broke through commercially, their fiery sturm and twang was a major influence on artists including the White Stripes, X, Cat Power and Neko Case.

“After the Jets broke up in the late 1990s, Dexter played in a variety of acts including The New Romans and Dex Romweber Duo with his sister Sara. He released more than a dozen group and solo albums over the years, playing everything from wild-eyed rockabilly to Rachmaninoff-styled classical piano. His most recent album was Good Thing Goin’, released in 2023.

“Romweber was preceded in death by his sister Sara; brothers Joe and Luke; and most recently his mother Sara.

“We will have more to say soon, but ask for privacy at this time.”

Jack White, whose style was directly influenced by Romweber and the Flat Duo Jets, conveyed a mess of truth when he eulogized Dex on his Instagram account, illustrating his hero’s spirit as a rock ‘n’ roll original. 

“A brick crashed through my window last night,” wrote White, whose label Third Man Records reissued the classic 1991 Flat Duo Jets album Go Go Harlem Baby. “Cat Power had wrote to me; John Michael Dexter Romweber had passed away, passed on, bill past due. He wasn’t a Rock N’ Roll musician, he WAS Rock N’ Roll inside and out, without even having to try, he couldn’t help himself. People toss that around a lot, but in Dex’s case it was actually true. To call him Punk would be like calling the Great Pyramid a sand castle. He was the type that don’t get 3 course dinners, awards, gold records and statues made of them because they are too real, too much, too strange, too good. Dex was a true tortured romantic, unfairly treated and broken hearted at all times but still hopeful. He was an electrical outlet, an old soul, a vampire, a cave man in a modern age, a WWI trench soldier, a different kind of American, out of luck living on the outskirts of town, lonely even when in a room of thousands. He ate dinner with Van Gogh, loaned your friend his last ten dollars, and exuded innocent love and naivety. He stared at the moon, communicated with Gene Vincent from another plane, while reading George Gurdjieff by thrift store lamp and all out of cigarettes at 3 a.m. He was forever getting the short end of the deal but anyone who spoke with him could only want him to live in peace and love with no way to know how to truly help him get there. He was one of my favorite people I’ve ever known and one of my most cherished influences. He once finished the last chord of a song during a concert, threw his guitar down, jumped off the stage at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit, and ran straight up to me in a theater of ten people at the back of the room and immediately started talking to me. I had never met him before that. I was 18. Over time he passed on secrets I’ll never tell, and brought tears to my eyes when he told me how proud of me he was. But I was proud of him first, and always will be. He was an uncle that I would ride my bike across town to see. They don’t make them like Dex anymore, not till we get our act together as humans. I know your pain is over now Dex and you are living in true romantic bliss. You deserve it more than any of us.”

 

VIDEO: Dex Romweber Duo “Jungle Drums”

Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, also expressed her heartbreak over Dex’s passing on social media as well:

 

So long old friend. 

I was just a teenager…. 

You are responsible for me playing guitar. 

Thank you for all these years, all the laughs, the late nights, those piano playing phone calls back in Cabbagetown, ALL the music, your gifts, your brilliance, your dear friendship, your love, all the wild wild fun. 

Forever. 

So so long old friend. 

I cannot comprehend a world without you Dexter. 

🙏💔

 

Sarah Shook, whose band Sarah Shook & The Disarmers has been keeping the Romweber tradition in North Carolina for the last decade, also expressed her condolences on Facebook.

“There has never been and will never be another Dexter Romweber,” she wrote. “An iconoclast and a pioneer, he had an intrinsic understanding of the essence of rock n roll and a mind for music nobody else could fathom much less replicate. He was complicated and gruff at times but pure of heart, often displaying a childlike sense of curiosity.

“He was important as a human being in a broad worldly sense, and he was foundational to the music scene in Chapel Hill, NC. When friends visited from out of state or overseas I took them to see Dexter.  He was singular. In a league of his own, on his own plane of musical existence.

“I’m grateful for all the good and weird and wild memories I have of you Dex, thankful for the time we got to spend together. Rest easy, legend 🖤”

Our own Tim Sommer, meanwhile, expressed his own thoughts on Romweber’s passing via Facebook as well.

“I want to add this about Dexter Romweber,” he wrote. “There have been a precious few times that I feel I have witnessed, with my own eyes and ears, a musician who was in touch with the spine, spirit, meaning and heart of rock’n’roll. Those artists were (and again, I restrict to experiences I had firsthand) Lemmy, Bob Dylan, Mark E. Smith, the Treniers and Dexter Romweber.”

In honor of the life of this extraordinary figure of underground rock, whether you’re a longtime fan or just hearing about him for the first time, seek out some Dex Romweber to hear in honor of his memory.