Neal Casal

Johnny Irion was spending time in Montecito at his uncle Thom Steinbeck's (John's son) compound when he and his friend Neal Casal wrote "No Hard Feelings" one sunny California afternoon in 2011. As the song was taking shape, Neal told Johnny, "I'm gonna go surfing and then send you a demo." Two hours later Johnny received the basic track. Just Neal—pure voice and his guitar.

Nearly three years after his suicide, the prolific productivity of Neal Casal continues to manifest itself. The latest example arrived on Friday with “No Hard Feelings”, a newly unearthed collaboration with Johnny Irion. The singer-songwriter recently discovered an old demo of the song the late Circles Around The Sun guitarist recorded back in 2011.

On Friday, April 5th, 2019, bassist Oteil Burbridge (Dead & Company, Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Vida Blue) helped launch the inaugural Suwannee Rising Music Festival with an incredible set of classics including tunes from the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, The Beatles and more. Burbridge didn’t do all...

Dave Schools had barely known Neal Casal for a minute before the two found themselves trading tones and CDs as members of Hard Working Americans. Along with Duane Trucks and Chad Staehly and at the behest of Todd Snider, the supergroup coalesced at Bob Weir’s TRI Studios in 2013 to record their self-titled debut, and in the process, a soon to be familiar talent emerged. Neal Casal had many skills– songwriter, guitarist, photographer among them– but as I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about his life, an ability to emotionally and spiritually relate to people may have been his greatest gift. It’s an attribute that Schools appreciated from day one in his relationship with the late artist who passed away in 2019, and there’s no finer example supporting that notion of love and influence than Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal. Collecting 41 songs written by the New Jersey native, the set not only highlights his career, but also showcases a galaxy of like minds, friends, and admirers who seek to, as Schools so beautifully states, simply “keep him in the room” through his lyrics and melodies. With Highway Butterfly and other projects including an accompanying podcast series and book of photographs, the Neal Casal Music Foundation is preserving his legacy through education and mental health resources for musicians. Schools, a Georgia Music Hall of Famer best known as the bassist for Widespread Panic, served as a producer and performer on Highway Butterfly. Calling from the West Coast, Dave shares his thoughts on the tribute, what the foundation hopes to accomplish, and what may be on the horizon in perpetuating the memory of Neal Casal.

Bob Weir, Marcus King, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Tedeschi/Trucks, and many others cover the songs of the revered jamband and Americana guitarist of Circles Around the Sun, Hard Working Americans, and much more. It’s high time his own songs received more attention, and this 3-CD set of terrific covers helps to do that. This Thursday at 8 pm.

In 2001, Magnet magazine published a profile of Beachwood Sparks, who were celebrating the release of their second record, Once We Were Trees. The write-up included a photo of the group, who already resembled more a legend than a band, decked out in cosmo-country chic, looking as righteous as anything coming out of New York City. For three days, I’ve searched for poetic, even wholesome language to describe the image, but the only descriptor that works is fucking cool. The photo line-up is bookended by Neal Casal, who had recently joined the band, and Brent Rademaker, a founding member. According to Rademaker, it was Casal’s first picture with the group:

There is a lyric in Maybe California, “Don’t forget the old times my friend ’cause you know they were good times.” Originally sung by Casal on his 1995 album, Fade Away Diamond Time, the lyric rests in the melody as poignantly as it is poetic. 25 years later, sung by Shooter Jennings on Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal, it breaks glass like heartache and lands like an epiphany. It is but a moment on the new 5 LP/3 CD album, but if Highway Butterfly is anything, it is a remarkable collection of these kinds of moments.

A tribute to the life and music of the gifted singer, songwriter, musician, and friend to many, featuring 41 of Neal Casal's songs performed by a galaxy of rock and roots music luminaries... 1. Traveling After Dark - Aaron Lee Tasjan. 2. Need Shelter - Jaime Wyatt. 3. You Don't...

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Gov’t Mule, Courtney Barnett, Amanda Shires, an all-start tribute to Neal Casal, Jerry Garcia Band, Joni Mitchell, Damon Albarn, Allen Stone, Nirvana and Rose Ganache. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

When Neal Casal committed suicide on August 26th, 2019, he had long existed as a cult figure. He was a musician’s musician. His face wasn’t on billboards or at the top of lineups. Instead, his presence lurked in the corner of the studio or buried in personnel credits. In the...

Neal Casal was relentless as a session and live guitarist, amassing a career too diverse to list in one sitting but certainly highlighted by tenures with Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, the Hard Working Americans, and Circles Around The Sun. He was a songwriter and performer in his own right, a producer, a collaborator, a photographer, and his sudden passing in August of 2019 came as an unmitigated shock to his peers and fans alike. In his honor, the Neal Casal Foundation was formed to provide music education in New Jersey and New York through donations and lessons while also supporting mental health organizations geared towards musicians.

Paying proper tribute to a musician like Neal Casal, whose career spanned nearly 30 years and saw him work with everyone from The Cardinals to Hard Working Americans to The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, takes chutzpah and careful planning. Casal took his own life two years ago and left a heartbroken crater in the lives of each person he touched with his work and his personality; now, droves of those persons have come together on a 5-LP set to pay their respects, bid their final farewells, and impart on their listeners what it was that made Neal Neal.

The impressive number of big leaguers among the 41 artists and bands that contributed songs to “Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal” proves how highly regarded and influential Casal remains. Neal Casal began his career not as the prolific singer-songwriter and band leader that he would become, but as...

Neal was a beloved guitarist and songwriter throughout the expansive jamband, rock and Americana music world, whom we lost in 2019. Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Hiss Golden Messenger, Steve Earle, & Aaron Lee Tasjan are among the many paying tribute on this new five LP/three-CD box set, comprising 41 tracks. It was co-produced by Widespread Panic’s Dave Schools, Neal’s bandmate in Hard Working Americans, and his first producer and ongoing mentor, L.A. legend Jim Scott. By the way, Neal founded the band Circles Around the Sun, whom we’ll have live in Studio B Thursday morning!

Today, Marcus King's rendition of Neal Casal's "No One Above You" (listen/share) becomes the sixth single released from Highway Butterfly: The Songs Of Neal Casal, a forthcoming 41-song tribute to the late songwriter and musician who passed away in August 2019. Featuring guitarist Eric Krasno and joined by a band that includes keyboardist Adam MacDougall, additional guitarist Jesse Aycock, bassist Dave Schools and drummer Tony Leone, King turns Casal's reflective acoustic ballad from his 2001 album Anytime Tomorrow into a soaring southern soul tour-de-force. It's yet another shining example of Casal's accomplished songwriting that never received its due in his lifetime.

Guitarist Marcus King’s cover of Neal Casal’s “No One Above You” featuring fellow guitarist Eric Krasno is the latest preview of the upcoming covers compilation , Highway Butterfly: The Songs Of Neal Casal. The all-star collection comes out on November 12 with proceeds going toward the Neal Casal Music Foundation non-profit organization, and mental health organizations that support musicians, MusiCares and Backline.Care.

Circles Around The Sun premiered newly-unearth footage of the band performing with the late Neal Casal on Thursday. The video with the founding guitarist comes from CATS’ show at The Basement East in Nashville, TN on May 9th, 2019. Though the video is only a brief 2:43 minutes, it provides...

Aaron Lee Tasjan has shared his cover of Neal Casal‘s “Traveling After Dark”, which will be part of of the upcoming tribute album, Highway Butterfly: the Songs of Neal Casal. Casal had a prolific solo career, was a member of several bands such as Chris Robinson’s Brotherhood and Hard Working...

Aaron Lee Tasjan covered Neal Casal’s “Traveling After Dark.” The track was recorded for the upcoming tribute album, Highway Butterfly: The Songs Of Neal Casal, which will be released on November 12 via The Neal Casal Music Foundation and Royal Potato Family. Proceeds from the all-star compilation will benefit the...

The Neal Casal Music Foundation and Osiris Media have announced the launch of Highway Butterfly: The Stories of Neal Casal—a companion podcast that will be presented in the leadup to the release of tribute album Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal. The podcast will launch on Friday, September 10,...