Casey Anderson

Charles Henry "Casey" Anderson (October 5, 1934 – November 11, 1989) was an American blues and folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. From 1959 to 1976, he recorded ten albums and some fifteen singles on various labels, most notably Elektra and Atco. Life and career Anderson was born in Chicago, but grew up in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where both his parents were college teachers. He was aged 5 at the time of the 1940 US Census. In 1945, the family moved to Montgomery, Alabama, when his parents started working at Alabama State College. He grew up listening to folk and country music, but did not start performing until he attended Maryland State College, where he sang, wrote songs, and played guitar in small jazz groups. Following his graduation with a degree in History and Sociology, he returned to Alabama to work as a high school teacher, while maintaining a singing career by performing in nightclubs and local shows. After being drafted into the Army and serving in Korea, he gave up teaching and moved to New York City to work as a musician. He placed an emphasis on versatility and variety, writing many of his own songs and performing on a range of instruments – it was said of him in 1970 that he had written over 300 songs, as well as books, and played 14 instruments in styles that included country, blues, jazz, and pop. His first recordings were released as the 1959 album Casey Sings Out, on the Urania label, which was recorded with a small group comprising Art Ryerson (guitar and banjo), Sandy Block (bass), and drummers Phil Krauss and Bunny Shawker. He moved to Elektra Records, which released the album Goin' Places in 1960, and recorded a one-off single on the Sutton label, "Freedom Rider", in 1961. He then moved to Atco Records. His first album for Atco, The Bag I'm In (1962), was recorded by Tom Dowd and supervised by Nesuhi Ertegun, and featured musicians Carl Lynch and Bruce Langhorne (guitars), Bob Bushnell (bass), and Panama Francis (drums). Though the title song was written by Fred Neil, most of the other songs were traditional. Anderson also performed in prestigious nightclubs and on networked TV shows, as well as recording interviews and performances with both Cynthia Gooding and Oscar Brand. In 1964, he released the album More Pretty Girls Than One, recorded with a group, The Realists, comprising Anne Stern, Gene Mitchell and Felix Pappalardi.