Dexter Romweber, the musician who founded the pioneering guitar-and-drums duo Flat Duo Jets, later inspiring the likes of The White Stripes and countless other lo-fi acts, has died. He was 57 years old.
Romweber’s death was announced via a statement posted by his family on Facebook, which revealed that had died at home on Friday, February 16th, and though “a medical exam is pending,” it is “believed he died of natural causes.”
Born on June 18th, 1966, in Indiana, Romweber got involved in music at an early age, forming his first band when he was 10. By the time he was attending high school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the ‘70s, he began performing with drummer Chris “Crow” Smith. In 1983, the two formed Flat Duo Jets, a rip-roaring psychobilly duo that harnessed the electrifying interplay of Romweber’s guitar playing and stage prowess with Smith’s thunderous drumming.
Through the ‘80s, the band became underground favorites, releasing tapes, performing shows, and appearing in media like MTV’s The Cutting Edge and the 1986 documentary Athens, GA: Inside/Out. In the ‘90s, they shared their first full-length, Flat Duo Jets, followed by Go Go Harlem Baby in 1992. In 2011, Jack White’s Third Man Records reissued Go Go Harlem Baby, writing at the time that it was “genuinely important in the pantheon of American music.”
Flat Duo Jets continued to record and perform through the ‘90s, even expanding their lineup and sound, but ultimately folded at the end of the decade. After that, Romweber began a solo career that spurred many more releases, exploring a variety of sounds, from his rockabilly home base to Chopin-inspired piano compositions and more.
He was also involved in a number of additional projects, including the Dex Romweber Duo with his sister, Sara, on drums. Sara passed in 2019 — as did two of Romweber’s other siblings — but he continued to record and release albums, most recently 2023’s Good Thing Goin’, which was dedicated to his sister.
Through his decades of output, Romweber’s artistry impacted many, from White to Cat Power, Neko Case, and more. Posting about his death on Instagram, White wrote that Romweber “wasn’t a Rock N’ Roll musician, he WAS Rock N’ Roll inside and out, without even having to try.”
Continuing, White called Romweber “one of my favorite people I’ve ever known” and one of his “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,” White wrote. “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.”
Read White’s full statement below, as well as the statement posted by Romweber’s family.
