Musicians & Others Remember Neal Casal

Acclaimed guitarist/songwriter/producer and photographer Neal Casal died on Monday after committing suicide. Casal participated in a bevy of projects and also released a number of solo albums over the past three decades. Neal was a founding member of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, The Cardinals, Circles Around The Sun, Hazy Malaze and Hard Working Americans, among others. He collaborated with a who’s who of musicians during his life including Phil Lesh, Oteil Burbridge, Joe Russo, Amanda Shires, Vetiver, Willie Nelson, Shooter Jennings, Robert Randolph and Rufus Wainwright. Below is a collection of tributes to Neal Casal shared by many of those who performed with the guitarist such as Jennings, Russo, Robinson, Randolph and Adams:

JamBase’s Andy Kahn spoke with Neal at the Summer Camp Music Festival in May for Episode 40 of The JamBase Podcast. Casal spoke about the start of his musical career, including a fateful decision prompted by his father to take a guitar as a Christmas present instead of an Atari video game system, and went on to discuss a number of the figures who influenced his career. Listen to the “Musical Mentors” segment featuring Neal Casal starting at the 11-minute mark below: