[bomp] RIP Al Casey (1936-2006)

[Michael Snider <lasciviumdei@xxxxxxxxx>]

Al Casey
Atmospheric session guitarist

Published: 20 September 2006
Alwin W. Casey, guitarist: born Long Beach, California
26 October 1936; married; died Phoenix, Arizona 17
September 2006.

Al Casey was a top session musician who worked with
many leading American performers from the Sixties,
including Duane Eddy, the Beach Boys and the Everly
Brothers.

Born in Long Beach, California, in 1936, he was raised
in Phoenix, Arizona. He grew up with Sanford Clark and
together they developed an interest in popular music.
Clark sang in school productions, while Casey took
guitar and piano lessons. He became proficient in his
teens, joining a local group, the Sunset Riders, and
also working with the vocalist Jody Reynolds.

In 1956, a local disc-jockey and wannabe record
producer, Lee Hazlewood, started recording with him on
his first productions. Hazlewood recalls,

I thought my song, "The Fool", could be a huge

country hit and I played it to Al Casey. He added a
guitar riff, which he had taken from Howlin' Wolf's
"Smokestack Lightnin' ". When we had completed the
song, I asked Al if he knew any tall, good-looking
kids who could sing. He introduced me to Sanford Clark
and I thought he was great.

Sanford Clark's "The Fool" was a US hit and Casey
worked on several more of his singles as well as
releasing his own instrumentals, "Juice" and "Guitar
Man". He played the atmospheric, echo-drenched guitar
on Jody Reynolds's million-selling "Endless Sleep"
(1958).

Casey knew a schoolboy called Duane Eddy, and they
worked out an arrangement for "Movin' 'n' Groovin' ".
They did not feel it was distinctive enough but
Hazlewood encouraged them and, with his echo effects
and Plas Johnson's saxophone, they recorded it in
November 1957 for Eddy's first single. Eddy's
so-called "twangy guitar" sound quickly followed.
Casey wrote his hits "Ramrod" and "Forty Miles of Bad
Road" as well as playing bass or piano on several
others.

Casey's own instrumentals such as "Cookin' " and
"Jivin' " did little business and he also recorded
with his wife, Corky. In 1963 he had a minor hit with
"Surfin' Hootenanny", which, unusually for the time,
was issued on red vinyl, and he made a folk album
singing and playing guitar for the Raintree County
Singers. Life was hectic and, one day when he had a
taxi about to take him to the airport, Hazlewood
demanded another track. He held up his taxi for five
minutes so he could write and record "Surfin' Blues".

In the mid-Sixties Casey became a session guitarist in
Los Angeles, being featured on "Up, Up and Away" for
Fifth Dimension and "Sloop John B" and "Good
Vibrations" for the Beach Boys. He was on albums by
Delaney and Bonnie (Genesis, 1971), Michael Nesmith
(Nevada Fighter, 1971) and Mac Davis (Burnin' Thing,
1975); he had sessions with Frank Sinatra and was part
of the resident orchestra for Dean Martin's television
series; he was also part of the easy listening group
that recorded instrumental versions of big hits as the
Exotic Guitars. He opened a guitar store in Hollywood
before returning to Arizona in 1983.

Casey spent his later years teaching and playing
locally, often with Jody Reynolds. In 2001 he came to
the UK with Sanford Clark and they appeared with great
success at the Hemsby Rock'n'Roll Weekend in Norfolk.

Spencer Leigh

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article1621734.ece

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