Well some of them are anyway. The mighty Casey, a star picker in the NRV for a good chunk of the last decade, is movin' on to Raleigh. I met Casey through Christian Hearn, who I think met him at a Blacksburg jam. I can't place the time exactly, because I have no memory cells left, but I think it was around 2003 that we got together to do some pickin'. I remember we went to the Triple Creek festival in 2004 in Rocky Mount with Bass Player and guitar builder Greg Van Nest. There we of course bumped into Timmy Mills lurking in the shadows, and we saw Charlie Waller for the last time in person. We sat in our folding chairs and watched a ton of bluegrass - the best way to spend your time.
Casey picked with me in Doublenaught Jethro, tho he never quite accepted the name. Casey was my go-to guy to try and learn challenging tunes. He's the only other person I know who likes to play the Woodchopper' Reel. He's got a non-bluegrass musical background just like me. He's a heck of an electric bass player, and claims he once knew how to play Charlie Parker's Donna Lee. That's faster than Salt Creek, even. Casey has been on board with the JB's since the beginning. We've played out at Selu, we've played the Country Store, my house, Casey's house, the Side Door - he was in the first act ever! We played tunes at Joe's house, Matt Osborne's porch when he was in Blacksburg, we played with Matt at the Cellar. That was where Casey got together with Gabe and they did some recording. Casey and I got stuck out at Osborne's place in Long Shop during an ice storm and we didn't get unstuck till noon the next day. We played up at the banquet hall on North Main in Blacksburg. We played the Coffee Mill, the Pumpkin Patch, Bissett Park, and who knows where else. That guy is everywhere. Simultaneously, Casey was often a JugBuster, I think he played with F150 some, he recorded with the Clatterbucks. The guy is ev-ry-where. With Casey at least temporarily out of the local picture, there'll be a big hole to fill in the picker community. He's the only guy I know who's as likely to rip out one of those super hard Chris Thile tunes as he is a straight up old time tune. He's wicked mandolin picker, and ace guitar player, fine bass player, a tasteful selector of songs, and a reliable pal. I pronounce him here and now, totally unnecessarily, Casey Elder - Good Egg.
One other good thing about Casey, and a reason I don't sweat him movin' too much is that he's always been willing to travel for music. We've been down to NC for MerleFest. We went up to Club 202 and saw Chatham County Line one time, and the Steep Canyon Rangers another. We went and saw Bela Fleck's trio with Bryan Sutton and Casey (the lesser) Driessen. I'm confident we saw a show or two at the Lyric. I met him in New York for Grey Fox. I met him in DC to see Hot Rize. We drove up to Charlottesville in 2005 to see David Grier, Mike Compton, and Butch Robins up at the Prism Coffee House. That was after Butch dropped into the Coffee Mill jam. Casey, like myself, was often a late arrival to the jam, when things thin out and the pickin' gets faster, that's right where Casey oughta be.
I'm leaving it to Casey to identify a group of NC pickers and local shows and give us a good reason to have a musical road trip.
Last night's Casey Send-off Pick-a-thon was a real good one. I showed up after set one, but I heard that was fine. And while we were bummed that Casey is movin' on, it was great to see the who's who of NRV pickers out to wish him well, and more importantly, tear up some tunes.
Who'd I see? Ralph with Miss Lucy, Wilson and Liz Rankin, Dale Cash, Christian Hearn, Liam Kelly, "Matt", a fiddler named Rachel who didn't fiddle, Ginger, Bob Browder (who I think I met through Casey). Bill Adams was there - fired up to pick and staying later than I think I've ever seen. Brian Muller showed up. You know Timmy Mills wouldn't miss it. Joe Abercrombie was there - he's played a set or two on stage with Casey. PJ came with his fiddle and his very talented friend Jane, and those guys and Brian led the jam for a long, excellent time. Doug Capobianco held down the bass chair for a good long time on Casey's awesome Fender Jazz bass, -- sounded like John Paul Jones, it was awesome...however, I digress...
Everyone was there to pay homage to our pickin' pal Casey, and I tell you, it was good one.
Wayne Frye had to work and couldn't make it, but he made sure to call me and tell me to pass on his good wishes to Casey. I forgot of course, so I'll do it now.
End the end, this just gives us an excuse to get out the calendars, find a festival a few months off, and mark that date in red. We'll all meet somewhere and do some serious jammin'.
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Wow, you guys were everywhere! You're like an old couple that buys a Winnebago and just travels to bluegrass festivals. Maybe for your retirement?!
Casey's a great guy and musician, who always made every gig just a li'l bit better. From mando to guitar to bass to singing a song or two, he was a grand-slam threat.
I met Casey in 2004, I think, around the same time I met his sister Erica on a mini-tour with the Black Twig Pickers. (Erica is another fine musician and singer, whose psyche-folk music with her partner Matt Valentine veers a little more avant-garde-ish, shall we say.)
Not that his resume needs any further burnishing, but Casey also played a stint with the Twigs in 2005-2006 when our guitarist Isak Howell enrolled in law school. After Isak came back, we played a few shows as a 5-and-maybe-6-piece. That was the big band.
The party was great -- sorry I missed the end of it. Glad I got to play a couple. He doesn't leave for another couple weeks, so maybe we can squeeze a few more sets out of him.
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