Neal Casal of The Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Hard Working Americans (Interview)

Put an acoustic guitar into Neal Casal’s hands and you will practically have a spiritual awakening. His fingers have some kind of uncanny magic to capture the spirit in the strings. If you’ve ever listened to his solo material, then you already know this, how his melodies are charming and inspirational, seductive and lovely, all framed with his subtly passionate vocals and lyrics.

But Casal also knows his way around some groovy chords and he’s been laying those down for the upcoming – next Tuesday, April 29, in fact – Chris Robinson Brotherhood album, Phosphorescent Harvest. With a third track, “Beggar’s Moon,” recently revealed, the band has just started the first leg of a new tour. Debuting a powerfully trippy first single called “Shore Power,” followed by the slower southern drawl of “About A Stranger,” the band’s latest opus seems to be a hearty mix of flavors. “But they all fit within the record very easily,” Casal explained when we talked a few weeks ago.

Casal, who has played and recorded with Ryan Adams’ band The Cardinals, Shannon McNally, former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, Lucinda Williams, Willie Nelson, and Sarah Lee Guthrie, among others, is a perfect fit for Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson, who is vocal and sassy, energetic and spontaneous. Casal is almost his mirror opposite, quiet and heady, solid and steady. Together they form the core of the Brotherhood. Born in New Jersey yet moving around during his growth years, has fostered a gypsy naturalism towards contemplative yet roaming melodies of life, love and this moment in time. And this is what he brings to the band.

“Everything’s great,” Casal says with a laugh. “It’s just playing music so it’s all good.”

You said you’re working on some stuff later today. What do you have going on?

Well, you know the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, we’re about to go on the road for the year and we’re deep in the middle of our rehearsals right now to learn all of our older material and learn all our new material from our new record. After being a band for a few years, you suddenly realize you’ve got quite a bit of information on your hands to keep straight. So we’re just working on all that right now.

I bet it’s sounding good.

It’s sounding good, yeah. We’ve worked pretty hard for a few years to get our sound together and to kind of write our language as a band together and I think this year there is no doubt we’re going to sound better than we have thus far. Cause we’ve all been kind of tweaking our equipment and making adjustments as we go and spent a lot of time in our year off the road thinking about how to make ourselves a better band. So it’s fun to get in the middle of that right now and make those changes and to see all the songs come together. It’s really great and it’s thrilling to have a new record coming out. One that we’re all really proud of and one that we all like and one that we worked for countless hours on, you know.

This one, for me, is definitely, I just feel is our best work so far. It’s the culmination of three to four solid years of working on it and the year off that we had while the Black Crowes were on the road, it actually served our record really well, cause we had time to tweak the record, we had time to get into the layers and the details of it and it made it a much better record. So we’re excited to get it out there and to play it for the year. Look, to be able to play music for a living is a really fortunate thing and that’s not lost on any of us. So we’re psyched.

How did the ball get rolling for doing another album?

Well, you know we released two records before this one so during our tour of the country in 2012, we worked on the songs on the road. It’s a lot of time spent in hotel rooms, Chris and I hammering out tunes, and the band being at soundchecks and working on arrangements, so we really put it together on the road over the course of 2012. Then we did the basic tracks of the record in January of 2013 before the Crowes went on tour. So once they left, we had the basic tracks to stay at home with over the year to work on. And over the breaks, Chris and Adam [MacDougall, keyboard player] would come and do their vocals and keyboards and I sat with the producer a lot for over the course of the year working on the overdubs and the guitars and kind of tweaking it. So that’s how it kind of worked.

How indicative is the first single “Shore Power” to what you guys created this time?

It’s very indicative of the entire record, although I’d say that’s the most up-tempo song on the record. But sonically, that definitely opens the door to the entire album, I would say. It’s pretty psychedelic, it’s pretty far out, you know. We pushed the envelope as hard as we could on this record sonically and we wanted to push the psyche element as far as we could with this one and the album is pretty dense with ideas. But the songs and melodies is really strong, it’s experimental but it always retains and respects it’s melodic contents.

“About A Stranger” has also come out and it’s very different from “Shore Power.”

I guess it is but it’s all one piece once you hear the record. Sonically, it’s not that much different actually. It’s, I don’t know, there’s still a lot of space in the song and there’s plenty of psychedelic elements involved in those tunes. I mean, they’re just different tempos and different kinds of songs but they all fit within the record very easily, very comfortably I’d say.

You’ve been playing a few of these songs live already.

Yeah, there are a couple: “Jump The Turnstiles,” which you haven’t heard yet, and that’s something that we played throughout 2012 on the road. “Meanwhile In The Gods,” I mean, there were two or three tunes that we had already been playing live but the rest of them are pretty unknown to the world.

Did those few songs change in the process of playing them live before recording them?

They actually didn’t. We certainly added things to them in the studio but arrangement-wise they were very well realized in our live versions so if you listen to early live versions of the record, you’ll hear very little difference in terms of arrangements. But you know, of course there’s like some extra keyboards and a few extra guitars and background vocals for sure. Just kind of a natural thing that you would add in the studio.

What was the surprise song on this album – the one that was the last to come in or the one that completely changed from it’s original version?

Well, the last song to really kind of come through the door was a song called “Burn Slow.” It’s not something that we’d been playing live already but it was kind of the last song that we finished for the record and it kind of got the Most Improved Award really. It was a tune that had potential but we couldn’t quite make it work and there was a chance of it getting left off the record. Then at the last minute, Chris came up with a really great idea for adding a part to it that changed everything and brought it back from the dead. It was kind of a song that was really, really on the ropes and went from being on the ropes to a champion within a couple of days. And that was the biggest surprise to all of us, I would say.

Are you going to be on the road most of the year?

Yeah, yeah, we’re going to be on the road through December

When there are two guitar players in a band, how easy or difficult is it to synchronize when you’re creating new music?

Oh it’s not difficult at all. It’s just fun, really. For me, being in a two guitar band is the only thing I ever want to do. I have very little interest in being the only guitar player in a band. The joy of guitar playing for me is the interaction and weaving the guitars together. I’m just not one of those people who likes to play alone (laughs). I like the camaraderie and I like it best when two guitars become one guitar and you can’t even really tell who is playing what. That’s the ultimate, that’s when guitars are functioning the most successfully, to me, when you kind of forget about them and you’re not focused on the virtuosity in one person. It just becomes one organism that serves the song only, where you can kind of focus on them if you want to but you also want to kind of fade into the fabric a bit. You can do that as well. That’s what I’m after. So Chris and I just have a blast putting our guitars together for this band.

Keith Richards has said that, “The acoustic guitar is what makes a guitar player a real guitar player.” Do you agree with that?

Yeah, I do. You always have to return home to the acoustic guitar at some point. There’s no escaping that for any of us. If you’re going to do this for real, if you’re going to write songs for real, as a guitar player, at some point, you’re going to have to develop some kind of relationship, and a deep one, with the acoustic guitar. Even if you only know a couple of chords, there’re people that can just speak the world in just one or two chords. So yeah, the acoustic guitar, it’s an unavoidable essential part of any guitar player’s life. No doubt.

I heard that you moved around a lot as a kid. How did that affect the soul of your songwriting?

I think it created the soul of my songwriting. There was something about growing up, like coming from a broken family, moving around a lot, all of that, you know. All of those dramas will affect a young person and it certainly created something in me that wanted to write songs. I think that if I’d had a different or more stable life, or a different kind of life, or a more conventional life, it’s possible I might never have even been compelled to write songs. I don’t know, it’s hard to say, but I think my early life definitely informed my inspiration to play music and to want to travel and write and make a life of all of this.

What would you say was THE song or album that literally changed your life?

When I was about ten years old, I was flipping the dial on my mom’s clock radio that she had in our living room. It was this little clock radio, that I still have actually, and I used to listen to the radio on that thing, which you know at the time was all there was. There was no internet or anything and radio was still like this mysterious friend who kind of spilled forth these mysterious secrets (laughs).

To my young mind, you know, at any point then you could hear something that you’d never heard before and you may never hear again. I had discovered the New York FM rock station around that time, which was like the mid-to-late 1970’s, and I just flipped over to that station and this song was playing that scared the shit out of me first of all (laughs). It was unlike anything I’d ever heard and there was these pulsing rhythms and pounding conga drums and maracas and these echoed screams. And it was this story about this guy asking to introduce himself and talking about this like historical, political story of death and mystery and destruction and doom. And then this guitar solo that sounded like a lightning bolt through the sky into the center of my brain. I was just riveted to this radio and my life was never the same after that moment. And the song was “Sympathy For The Devil.”

That was my first real introduction to the Stones and the universe they lived in. It created so many questions in me and so much excitement and I just thought, Whatever that is, that’s the kind of life I want to lead (laughs). I want to be involved with things that sound like that. And even though I don’t really make sounds like that, that was what inspired me to get into it.

What is the hardest part about performing live with just you and your guitar?

The hardest part about it is just getting on the stage. It’s the moment before the show. The hardest thing is the half hour before getting up there because you realize, “Oh my God, I actually agreed to do this. What am I doing?” (laughs). It can be a terrifying thing to do to go up there with just a guitar and sing your stupid songs (laughs). But once I’m up there, I‘m fine. But the hardest part is right before the show when the realization of actually having to do that.

You once said that you only played music that meant something to you. What is it about the Chris Robinson Brotherhood that keeps you excited to play music?

For me, there’re two things you show up for that are most important: great songs and great singing. And our band has both of those. Chris brings both of those things. He’s obviously one of the best singers to come around in the last twenty-five years; certainly in the pantheon of the best rock singers of all time. So, got that covered. And he turns out to be a great songwriter too, who at any moment has the ability to come in with an amazing song and I’ve been lucky enough to help him with some of those songs. That right there is enough for me to show up over and over again to this band. Not to mention the other amazing musicians in this band and the friendships that we’ve developed and the other exploratory aspects of our music and the freedom in our music and all of the opportunities it’s brought for me as a guitar player. It’s absolutely changed my life. It’s broadened my perspective on music and art in general and I’ve become a much better guitar player and I’ve learned so much. I do every day. We are certainly not finished saying what we have to say. I think we’re just really tapping into the best of it now.

What would you say is the most unique thing that you have written a song about?

I don’t know. I’m not really sure how to answer that. I don’t know if there is any subject that I’ve tackled that anyone else hasn’t. I know that I’m just talking about the same things that everybody else is. It’s just bringing your own personal perspective to your songwriting. That’s what makes us all go around. I mean, it’s hard to even imagine that there’s even any more room for any more songs in the world. You would think we had run out a long time ago but because every single person is just a little bit different from the one next to them, it makes it possible we all can write and have our own thing to say, even when all the words in every language seem to have been used up. But I never really thought about that. I don’t even know why I write. I don’t even know what I’m doing (laughs). I’m just following my interests and that’s really all. I’m just interested in it but I don’t think that hard about why it even happens. Every time I do I just get confused and say, “Well, forget trying to think too hard about it. Just keep going.”

You must have a very interesting brain

It’s not very interesting (laughs). If it was, I’d be able to answer your question but I can’t. I’m just going on feel, really. That’s all.

Since this is a big Beatles anniversary year, in your opinion as a songwriter, what song was their greatest moment in terms of lyrics?

I think the early ones, like “Love Me Do,” all the silly ones. Those are the best lyrics for me. I just like it. I think lyrics are overrated sometimes. It’s just good to get into silly tunes like, “I found my thrill on blueberry hill.” That’s what I’m after (laughs). I like early Beatles so much. I find these days I just want hear the earliest stuff, like before Dylan got into their heads and said, “Oh you need to write better lyrics.” I kind of like the early pop stuff. As lightweight as it gets for The Beatles, that seems to be my favorites these days.

You’ve worked with some wonderful female artists through the years so I wanted to ask you about working with Sarah Lee Guthrie. I interviewed her a couple of years ago about the same album you actually played on, Bright Examples, that she recorded with her husband Johnny Irion.

Sarah Lee and Johnny are really good friends of mine. I have nothing but raves for Sarah Lee Guthrie. She’s a fantastic songwriter, singer and great performer. You know, I played a show with them recently where I opened for them and they’re just better than ever and getting better all the time. The show that I saw of theirs recently was the best one I’d ever seen and they’re just building that catalog of songs to draw from and it’s impressive. And they’re amazing people. They’re raising a family on the road and I respect them. They’re such a strong family and they’re really inspiring. Just the commitment they have to each other and their kids and their songs and the music. They are living it twenty-four/seven. There’s no break for them, they’re deeply involved with what they do on a daily basis and it’s hard work for the commitments they’ve made. It’s not easy to travel like they do and to keep their family together like they do and it’s not easy. But they always seem to be, I don’t know, smiling. They just bring good vibes wherever they go. They’re amazing. There is no pretense, no bullshit with them at all. They don’t play rock star games or any of that nonsense. They’re just good people making great music and being an example for others as far as being a family, music people. They are just living examples of the folk ideal.

Any chance of you doing any more solo work in the near future?

Yeah, sure, that will happen at some point. I don’t know when but it will.

Who was the first real rock star you ever met?

That’s a good question. I have to think about that for a minute. Let me see, well, I guess I would say, and it’s coming out of my skewed memory and there may have been someone before this, but I’m going to say, cause it’s hard to beat this, the first real rock star I ever met was Keith Richards. I was in my twenties and I actually spent an afternoon sitting around a table with him and one other person for about four or five hours talking about music and life and it was a pretty amazing experience.

It was a totally casual environment. It wasn’t backstage, it wasn’t surrounding a show, it wasn’t an interview. It was no business involved at all and I did not ask him any questions and I never told him I was a musician. I was just in the moment with him just talking about casual things. And we did talk about music but I certainly didn’t grill him with any questions and I never told him I played music because I just didn’t really want to affect the comfortable time we were having. Being around him made me realize how many years he has been an iconic kind of superstar personality and just every single person that gets around him kind of wants something from him, and how difficult a life that must be to lead. So I just kept the pressure off and just hung out and talked and was just a person for a while rather than trying to get answers out of him. I just kind of let it be. We had a few drinks, smoked a few cigarettes and looked at the clouds and talked about anything that passed our mind for a while. It was amazing. I was lucky to be there.

I would probably just sit there with my mouth open cause I’ve loved that band since I was like five years old.

Yeah, they’re my band too. They are the beginning and ending of everything for me. They’re the ones who inspired me to play music and Exile On Main Street, those records as a kid, that’s what made me want to do all this. They shaped my ideas about music and how to do it. I’m with you on that one.

You’re also a photographer. What do you think is your greatest triumph in capturing an image on film?

My greatest triumph? (laughs) I don’t know but what it is for me, it’s just not wanting to let the moment go by, you know. It’s more than just setting up some shot or trying to get something out of it. It’s a deeper connection to just being alive. It’s just seeing life, seeing a particular moment, or that fraction of a moment, that will never happen again. And those moments are happening all the time. I guess I’m just trying to hold on to life or something. Nothing lasts, we have a limited time here obviously and I don’t mean to get too heavy on this but that is really what it’s about for me. I don’t care about setting photos up necessarily and all that. I don’t know how to use artificial lights or any of those things. I just catch particular moments and really that’s all it is, just a love for being alive period. That’s all I’m after.

When I see a moment I just grab it. I believe in the medium of photography so much, I really do, and I have a certain knack for it. I can just see it, you know what I mean. I can just see it and feel it. And that’s all. I just grab that for what it’s worth and maybe it will be valuable at some other point. I just feel inspired to do it and I was inspired by certain people like Robert Frank, all those street photographers, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander. Seeing those images from people like that when I was younger, it inspired me to want to do it and I have similar feelings for all of this that I get from what those people did. I felt like I could just get right in the flow of that so I did. That’s what I do. My photos are where you see what I like about being alive.

top photo by Claudia Craig