The Drop Podcast Previews Neal Casal Tribute

The latest installment of Osiris podcast The Drop features a preview of Wednesday’s Neal Casal tribute. The late guitarist’s longtime manager, Gary Waldman, discussed how he put the lineup together, what to expect and more with host RJ Bee.

Circles Around The Sun, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Beachwood Sparks, Joe Russo with Dave Dreiwitz, Tom Hamilton and Scott Metzger, Todd Sheaffer of Railroad Earth, Dave Schools and Duane Trucks of Widespread Panic/Hard Working Americans, Citizen Cope, Bob Glaub, Dan Fadel, Davis Jaynes, Don Heffington, Dori Freeman, Jesse Aycock, John Ginty, Jon Graboff, John Shannon, Kenny Roby, Leslie Mendelson, Rickey Medlocke, Robbi Robb and others are aboard for There’s A Reward: A Celebration Of The Life & Music Of Neal Casal. The tribute will be held on Wednesday at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York to benefit MusiCares.

Waldman’s relationship with Casal dated back to 1987, when the late guitarist was just 18-years-old. “We had a dream together about what (Neal’s) career could be and when he started writing songs, we just had a vision of how to do it and what could happen,” Waldman told Bee. Gary went on to reveal Wednesday’s concert will be split into two sections. “Kind of like Neal’s biography,” the manager said. “There was singer-songwriter Neal, which was essentially early-1990s into the early-2000s — that’s a guy that a lot of people who have discovered him through his guitar playing and with CRB and Ryan Adams and other people might not be aware he had a whole solo career for a long period of time.” Gary will give performers the opportunity of covering Neal’s songs or “any song (they) think Neal would’ve loved.” The second part of the show will be devoted to material from Neal’s later years including performances from the CRB, Circles Around The Sun, Beachwood Sparks and Russo, Dreiwitz, Hamilton and Metzger.

Waldman spoke of the importance of having The Capitol Theatre’s Peter Shapiro as a partner in the concert. “Pete, for people who don’t know him, is the best promoter there is and he has a vision of things and it’s not all about ‘well, how many tickets can we sell?’ His mission was the same as mine, which was we have to honor Neal.” Gary also confirmed Casal’s solo debut album, Fade Away Diamond Time, will be re-released next year in honor of the LP’s 25th anniversary.

A free live stream of Wednesday’s concert is available here.

Listen to Gary Waldman’s appearance on The Drop below:

https://thedrop.simplecast.com/episodes/neal-casal-tribute-showan-interview-with-gary-waldman

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