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Born on October 26, 1936 in Long Beach, California and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Al Casey was already a veteran of the local music scene by age seventeen. As a member of The Sunset Riders, he was featured on radio and television as well as playing on the first Viv sessions for Lee Hazlewood. It was Casey who first introduced Hazlewood to Sanford Clark in 1956. Together they made "The Fool" the first of many national hits from Phoenix, Arizona. With success came more sessions, from country to rock, square dance to jazz. Casey thrived in the confines of the small studios at the time. He played most stringed instruments, including the piano, as well as arranging many of the charts for the dates. Casey gained loads of experience while backing many of the national country acts on stage in Phoenix and smaller clubs all over the state. Casey, and wife Corky, were right there in 1958 with Lee Hazlewood and Duane Eddy in the tiny Ramsey's Recording Studio, developing "The Twang Heard Round The World." (Check any early Duane Eddy CD or Al's own Sundazed or Bear Family CD's for more details on these years.) By 1961 Casey, now in L.A., had had enough of the road and was working with his own group when he wasn't playing sessions in the studios of L.A. and Phoenix. It's Casey's deep dark guitar you hear on the cult favorite "Endless Sleep" by Jody Reynolds. Casey's first solo hit "Cookin," was originally released on the local Ramco imprint in 1961. After some regional action, the track was re-released on Stacy Records the following year. Casey recalls, "That first session I produced myself. I think we had three songs done and I was playing guitar. We had time for one more song and I thought I would use the organ that was already in the studio for a change, no guitar. We just put "Cookin" together on the spot. The last minute song was strong enough to place in the Billboard Top 100 chart after Stacy released it. Casey even made an appearance on American Bandstand to "finger sync" the song. Check out the recently released "Cookin'" CD on Sundazed for some of these great tracks. If Eddy and Hazlewood had been working together in the summer of 1963, "Surfin' Hootenany" would be on "The Best" of Duane Eddy albums. But the two were on the outs at the time. Hazlewood called his long time musical associate, Al Casey, to tell him about a new song he had written. "I knew that folk-hootenanny music was happening, and surf was hot too, so I combined them," Hazlewood says. With the chart success of the 45 the two recorded a very collectable album of the same name for Stacy. Through the 60's and 70's, Al was on call as a top studio player in L.A. working with practically everyone in the business from The Beach Boys to Eddy Arnold to Frank and Nancy Sinatra. For a spell he was in Dean Martin's T.V. show band, as well as playing lead guitar on most of the Exotic Guitars albums. He ran his own music store in Hollywood from 1966-1970. After twenty years on the West Coast, Casey returned to Arizona in the early 80's. Al has "been there, done that," and continues to play, teach and record as you will hear on this great new CD. Casey is joined in the studio for "Hit List" by his long time friend, Richard Bennett, who also has a great new CD that you can order from CD Baby. The two play on various vintage guitars from Casey's collection, as they create new instrumental versions of a few of the many hits that Casey played on originally. Reed specialist Brad Bauder, from The Al Casey Combo days, adds his tasty licks to several of these songs. This is the first release on Jack Miller's All Creation Record Company label. Miller was the original engineer on "Rebel Rouser" and many more of the hits from Phoenix produced by Lee Hazlewood and others. "It's a thrill to be in the studio again after all these years with someone as talented as Al," says Miller. The extensive liner notes feature Casey's comments on the original hit sessions and a wonderful appreciation of Casey by Bennett. Produced by Al Casey, Richard Bennett and Jack Miller. Order your copy of "Hit List" now from CD Baby. ..with special thanks to Johnny Vallis and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame ® Track List: 1. These Boots Are Made For Walking 2. Everybody's Talking 3. Strangers In The Night 4. The Fool 5. Sloop John B. 6. That's Life 7. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 8. By The Time I Get To Phoenix 9. Endless Sleep 10. Somethin' Stupid 11. Never My Love 12. Ramrod Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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