Americana songwriter. Rock and roll guitarist. Dedicated cosmic country road warrior. Producer. After a slew of critically acclaimed independent albums and thousands of cross-country shows, Jerry Castle has carved out a career that’s just as diverse and immediate as his musical influences, earning everything from chart-topping radio hits to critical acclaim from publications like Rolling Stone along the way.
Castle describes the path to how he arrived at his current sound…
It all began long ago on a cold November night underneath a waning moon in the Wolf Hills of Virginia. It has been a long and twisted process. I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains, I was serious about the Wolf Hills of Virginia, and I was pretty much exposed to country and gospel music right out of the womb. I didn’t actually start playing until I was twenty years old and by then, I was just as into classic rock and Alternative rock as I was country. I had also just returned from a two year stint in the Navy. I was stationed in Oahu and while living there, I fell in love with the laid back way of life that the locals lived. I definitely brought some of this vibe back with me, though it got buried from time to time along the way. I joined a cover band and that band eventually turned into a jam band that played my originals. An incarnation of that band, Toast, moved to Nashville, TN together. Some of us stayed, some of us left, and some of us died. The two of us that stayed really immersed ourselves in the art of recording. I also immersed myself in the art of songwriting through the Nashville lens. There was a time that I was writing specifically to try to get country cuts but I eventually realized that wasn’t my place in music. I spent a couple of years living in L.A., before moving back to Nashville. I’ve been here ever since. I make a lot of records. Last year, I took everything offline that I had but out before 2016 but I’m constantly writing and recording. In 2016 I got really into spending a couple of hours a week in a sensory deprivation tank. That heavily influenced my 2016 album, Not So Soft Landing, and it forever changed the way I’ve approached songwriting. That’s the 50,000 foot view of how I created this current sound that glues together country, soul, rock, jam band, folk, and blues. With having so many influences, it definitely allows me to steer my music in drastically different directions when the urge hits me. I think my song can best be described as “Cosmic Country meets Appalachian Soul”.
With his newest release, Midnight Testaments (due out August 28th), Castle revisits and revitalizes his sound that helped launch his solo career. Raised in a rural Virginia town in the Appalachian Mountains, Jerry has always sung with a distinguishable southern twang, even when previous albums made room for pop hooks and synthesizers, too. Midnight Testaments maintains a unique approach, but it also finds Jerry leaning into the southern sounds of his homeland once again, matching the sharpest songwriting of his career with the swoon of pedal steel guitar, the stomp of country-rock, the steady strum of California Country, and plenty of roadhouse-worthy grooves. This is Castle’s Americana homecoming — an album that finds him adding a new perspective to his brand of “Appalachian Soul” while also pushing ahead into new, unexplored territory.
Midnight Testaments is music for the highway, the heartland, the happy, and the heartbroken. Midnight Testaments is music for all hours.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the lyric video for “Calm,” one of the standout tracks on the new album. With a twangy and swooning groove that feels like it comes from a honky tonk band soaking up the sun on a desert island, Castle conveys a sense of calm as he lets the song live up to its title. Backed by a subtly soulful organ and a twangy pedal steel, not to mention enchanting background vocals and harmonies, Castle sings of the joy that comes from living in the moment and taking it easy. Musically and vocally, he exudes a little bit of JJ Cale mixed with smooth, easygoing country crooner.
Castle describes the inspiration behind the tune:
Calm was written about the notion of this idyllic girl that comes along and helps you to see everything for what it is. “You see there ain’t no prizes behind those doors, there damn sure ain’t nobody keeping score. Who’s keeping score”. We spend so much time planning on what we’re going to do next that we often fail to enjoy the moment that we’re currently in. I believe that an artist should have different gears. You should be able to be hard and be able to be soft. You should be able to be aggressive and be able to be laid back. “Calm” definitely lies on the laid back softer side.
WATCH:
Photo Credit – Scott Lukes
