Features

Man at Work: Neal Casal

Photo by Piper Ferguson

Neal Casal isn’t exactly a household name, though the guitarist has worked with a diverse collection of artists including The Jayhawks, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Phil Lesh and Rufus Wainwright, spent four years as lead guitarist with Ryan Adams & The Cardinals and currently plays in the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. Despite all of this, Casal’s released 10 solo albums and three with his band Hazy Malaze. Still, Casal’s content is better known within the world of musicians.

“Certainly, at this stage of my life, having done a lot of work, [aspiring to be a household name] is of very little to no importance to me,” he says with a laugh over the phone from his Southern California home in Ventura. “What’s important at this point—and always has been important to me—is doing high quality work on a consistent basis. The rest will take care of itself.”

So far, it has. Casal built his résumé and reputation slowly, starting with Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha’s solo album in 1998 and closing 2011 with embellishments to ten albums, including a fifth with Adams.

“Once I got out in the world and started doing this, one thing led to another,” he says. “I love music so much I just want to be involved with good things, whether it’s my record or someone else’s.”

Casal’s new album Sweeten the Distance showcases his talent as musician and songwriter. Rich imagery fills songs that shift from stripped down alt-country to psychedelic folk rock that wash the listener in multi-layered waves of striking color.

“I think it’s a quality record,” he says humbly. “I think two of the best songs I’ve ever written are on this album.” Ideally, he adds, Sweeten the Distance will earn some recognition “for everyone involved.”

Either way, Casal says that he’ll continue on the same path.

“I’ve had to come up with all these ideas to keep this way [of life] alive,” he says. “There was no rulebook for this. I never went to college. I graduated [from] high school and started playing guitar. I made it up as I went along.”