Caroline Casey
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Caroline Casey

Austin, Texas, United States | INDIE

Austin, Texas, United States | INDIE
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"From KUT 90.5 announcer and columnist Laurie Gallardo"

"Enjoy the wonderful combination of real country and heartbreakin' soul that Miss Casey has to offer. It's the croon to make you swoon." - The Austinist


"Rave review for This Broken Crown"

CAROLINE CASEY & THE STRINGSLINGERS - THIS BROKEN CROWN
EL TORO RECORDS, 2008

Lovers of authentic rockabilly and honky-tonk music have already had the opportunity to get to know the Casey Sisters through their two albums issued in Sweden. Now, the "Honky Tonk Queen" from the Capital of Texas has released a second project under the name Caroline Casey and the Stringslingers.

On her solo debut for the Spanish El Toro label, "This Broken Crown", the singer, songwriter, and guitarist offers up a crackling fresh timeless mixture of explosive rockabilly-twang, grooving western swing, purebred country, and dyed-in-the-wool honky-tonk. This is all done with outstanding backing musicians, among them Jim Stringer, a well known oracle of the Texas music scene. With these 12 songs - seven [sic: eight] of them self-penned - Casey draws a very clear portrait of a truly experienced and imaginative artist.

Above all, though, there is nothing here without soul, heart and energy and a sense of sheer fun that can be heard in every note. Starting with the upbeat whipcrack opener "Blazin' a Champagne Trail" it moves on to the wonderful title track on which Austin singer/songwriter Brennen Leigh duets with Casey. Mariachi sounds and Spanish castanets make their way into the lively, joyous "Threshold of Heartache". Another truly delicious morsel is the sentimental country weeper "Used Wedding Rings", written by rockabilly legend Al Urban who supplied many hits for Charlie Pride. Those are only three (sic) examples of the musical variety in this release, co-produced by Casey and Mario Cobo.

In the tradition of Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Rosie Flores, Marti Brom, Janis Martin, Wanda Jackson, and clearly influenced by country greats like Wynn Stewart, Don Gibson, Hank Williams and Johnny Paycheck with "This Broken Crown" Casey and Her Stringslingers have ignited an absolutely sweeping, musical fireworks explosion of sound that will inspire every genre lover from its first to last minute.

Caroline shines with a versatile voice, which equally communicates joy of life, passion, melancholy, and lasciviousness. The fact that everything doesn't always run smoothly and perfectly makes the matter more beautiful and honest. The whole album swings, rocks and two-steps, and it nearly brings tears of joy. As stated, this a timeless work, a monument to playful joy and intensity.

Max W. Achatz
www.countryjukebox.de
- countryjukebox.de


"Texas Platters Review (The Austin Chronicle)"

Caroline Casey & the Stringslingers

This Broken Crown (El Toro)

With her first album since the Casey Sisters' Crazy Spree in 2002, Caroline Casey unloads juke-joint gold in her solo debut, like Loretta Lynn at her sassiest. "Blazin' a Champagne Trail," "Little Pink Mack," and "Caffeine, Nicotine" roll with raucous twang, while "Used Wedding Rings" is beautifully brutal. "Threshold of Heartache," meanwhile, bursts with Spanish flavor, and Brennen Leigh duets on the flirty "Daddy's Girl."

(3 stars)

- Doug Freeman - Doug Freeman


"Now Dig This! (UK) Music Review"

Caroline Casey (real name Gnagy) hails from Lawrence, Kansas and was an unlikely recruit to country music, having trained to study opera as a teenager. However, becoming acquainted with recordings of country stars from the '40s, '50s, and '60s, most notable Loretta Lynn and Ray Price, changed all that. Over the past decade she's had the chance to play festivals with her favorite veteran country and rockabilly performers.

These recordings were made in Barcelona and Austin, Texas and for "Stringslingers" read the Lazy Jumpers, a top Spanish outfit and the subject of favourable reviews in this magazine.

In addition to the Jumpers' guitar, bass, and drums, a further seven guests fill out the sound with piano, fiddle, trumpet, pedal steel, dobro, steel guitar and mandolin. The tracks have been very well produced by Lazy Jumpers guitarist Mario Cobo and Caroline herself and include eight original songs. Apart from "The Dark of Night" I thought the material to be excellent.

On "Blazin' a Champagne Trail," an appropriately bubbly track, it was immediately apparent that this gal has a very strong, mature voice. The other quickies, "Little Pink Mack," "Caffeine, Nicotine", "Daddy's Girl" and "That Kiss Is There" are fine too. This in an impressive, consistent set and the slower material is just as good. She duets with mandolin maestro Brennen Leigh on the title track which has a sad theme. Al Urban's "Used Wedding Rings" is a tearjerker too, set to a waltz tempo. Her own "Six Empty Bottles" is a fine example of the barroom ballad genre and "It's Later Now" is a strong country ballad. Caroline plays castanets on "Threshold of Heartache," a powerful Latin tune with Cobo's acoustic guitar and Mexican trumpet figuring in the tasteful backing. The CD signs off in fine style with a nimble western swing tune, "Texas Boogie," on which the ensemble conjures up a totally authentic vintage sound from its golden era.

This is a damn good country CD. Apart from Caroline's powerful vocal I was most impressed by the musicians involved and the great variety in their solo spots.

- Harry Dodds
Now Dig This! Magazine (UK) - Harry Dodds


"Music Review (Sweden)"

Caroline Casey & the Stringslingers: "This Broken Crown"
El Toro Records

* * * * (4 stars)

Nok en country-cd fra dette spanske selskapet, og ikke la coveret skremme deg fra å høre/kjøpe denne velklingende platen. Austin-jenta Caroline Casey har holdt på i ca 10 år, og alle låtene bærer preg av en rutinert, moden og erfaren artist. Hun er dessuten ene halvparten (Little Rachel heter den andre) av rockabilly-duoen The Casey Sisters. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Her presenterer hun åtte selvkomponerte- og fire lånte låter, og alle plasserer henne i fremste rekke blant kvinnelige country-artister. Caroline er blitt referert til som Austin's "Honky Tonk Queen" – noe undertegnede applauderer - framføring, produksjon og lydbilde gir assosiasjoner til Wanda Jackson, Loretta Lynn, Barbra Pittman med flere.

Å trekke fram enkelt-låter er vanskelig, alle står støtt på egenhånd, men tittellåta, "This Broken Crown", er ei låt som nok blir å høre på country-festivaler til sommeren. Vil også trekke fram "Used Wedding Rings", en flott vals skrevet av Al Urban og ikke gitt ut på plate tidligere. "Texas Boogie" er en fin boogie-låt som anbefales adoptert av oppegående rockabillyband.

Uansett om du er lidenskapelig – eller skapcowboy, er dette en cd som ikke bør samle støv i cd-hylla. - Roger Bonsak


"Music World Review (Holland)"

Wat een lekkere plaat is dit toch! Wij kunnen er alvast niet van afblijven! Heerlijk, hoe Caroline Casey en haar maats van de Stringslingers de late jaren vijftig en de vroege sixties laten herleven in twaalf liedjes, die in elke "honky-tonk in town" gegarandeerd tot een niet te controleren opstoot van adrenaline zullen leiden.

Klassieke two-steps, tear in your beer stuff, hillbilly-stampertjes, Casey kent duidelijk haar klassiekers en lijkt ze met haar ongewoon lenige stem ook zo ongeveer allemaal probleemloos aan te kunnen. Luister bijvoorbeeld bij gelegenheid maar eens naar het in duet met aanstormend talent Brennen Leigh gebrachte en duidelijk aan wijlen Buck Owens schatplichtige "This Broken Crown", naar het met zomers mariachikoper opgewaardeerde "Treshold Of Heartache", naar het tussen de nochtans prominent aanwezige fiddles door nogal nadrukkelijk met rockabilly flirtende "Caffeine, Nicotine", naar de uit gelijke delen hartzeer en alcohol opgetrokken trage "Six Empty Bottles" of naar het Western-swingertje "That Kiss Is There" en je zal wellicht net als ons al snel geneigd zijn om Kim Fowley erin te volgen, als hij naar aanleiding van het verschijnen van dit album Caroline Casey spontaan uitriep tot de "Honky-Tonk Queen Of Austin".

All hail the new queen!

(Rating: 9 out of 10) - Music Reviewer


"Rootsville CD Review (Belgium)"

Caroline Casey, volgens producer Kim Fowley 'The Honky Tonk Queen' van Austin Texas heeft een nieuwe uit. Als de ene helft van het rockabilly duo 'The Casey Sisters' heeft Caroline onder 'El Toro Records' er een nieuw solo project bij.

'This Broken Crown' is een western swing album met 12 swingende countrynummers al beweert Caroline dat ze niet alle ingredienten heeft om 'The Real Thing' te maken als het om Country music gaat dit moet er toch behoorlijk dicht bij zijn. Als tiener dweepte ze constant met Hank Williams en Buddy Holly en droomde ze om ooit te huwen met Axl Rose, ook al gebeurde dit laatste niet, geen zorgen Caroline nu zijn er zeker die ervan dromen om met jou te huwen.

Als je zoveel van muziek houdt als jij dan mogen we er zeker van zijn dat je een gelukkig leventje moet leiden. Voor de opname van deze 'This Broken Crown' liet C.Casey zich inspireren door Loretta Lynn en door de oudere songs van 'brother' Ray.

Acht van de twaalf nummers zijn zelfs van de hand van Caronline Casey waardoor ze de wereld laat horen dat zij toch het juiste gevoel heeft voor het maken van Country. 'Blazin A Champagne Trail' is al meteen van Caroline en hiermee drink ze 'Champagne' op Mario Cobo en alle muzikanten die hebben mee gewerkt aan het creëren van dit album en kan er op het laatste zelfs een 'hikje' af. Op titeltrack krijgt Caroline hulp van Brennen Leigh, een andere ster uit Austin die zich meer thuisvoelt in het Bluegrass genre.

Op 'Treshold of Heartache' een vrolijke song met mariachiklanken afkomstig van Dan Posen laat Caroline horen dat ze buiten zingen en guitar spelen ook aardig overweg kan met de 'Castagnetten'. 'Used Wedding Rings' van Al Urban is, (hoe kan het ook anders met zo een titel) een melige country song of hoe ze sentimenteel kunnen worden in Texas over het huwelijk, inclusief 'The Teardrops'. Swing Country met 'twang sound' van Mario Cobo en Orio Saña op de countryfiddle kijgen we met 'Daddy's Girl' en voor ragetime en honky tonk verwijzen we u graag door naar 'That Kiss is There' met Victor Puertas op de Honky Tonk piano.

Een best aardige en swingende cd met als afsluiter de 'Texas Boogie' van Irving Taylor met op de pedal steel Mr. Emmett Roch en natuurlijk is dit weerom een product van El Toro Records from Barcelona...and they know some(not)hing. - by Freddy


"Jumpin' from 6 to 6 Review (France)"

This Broken Crown
ElToro ETCD3022

Caroline Casey is the second "half" of the Casey Sisters, a rock'n'roll-rockabilly band that released two albums on the Tail label. She makes her solo debut with this album on the Spanish label El Toro. While her ex-partner in crime Lil' Rachel chose a Rhythm'n'Blues way (check her two fantastic albums, also on ElToro), Caroline, backed by the always excellent Lazy Jumpers, offers here a fine late 50's/early 60's honky tonk/Bakersfield album full of steel guitar (and dobro too), fiddle, twangy guitars and country shuffles on which she wrote every songs but four.

Her strong and powerfull (and beautiful) voice perfectly fits the genre. Of course you're in well known territories but, like the Dixons, it never sounds artificial, repetitive or "cliché". There are plenty of slight variations that make the album enjoyable from start to finish. "Little Pink Mack" has a truck driver song vibe in it and it makes you dream about a duet with Chris "Sugarball" Sprague. "Used Wedding Ring" is a poignant waltz written by songwriter Al Urban.

"Threshold" changes the pace and brings a slight touch of Tex-mex with trumpets and castagnets. Another highlight is "Six Empty Bottles" in the vein of "Heartaches By The Number" in the great tradition of "number" songs. You'll find a western swing touch with "That Kiss Is There" an uptempo number with excellent piano and fiddle while "Dark Of Night" adds a touch of gospel and "Texas Boogie" closes the album with... a boogie. Caroline took her time to do this album, but it was worth the wait.

Available at cdbaby.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis - Fred Turgis


Discography

Caroline Casey & the Stringslingers--"This Broken Crown"
El Toro Records, 2008 (full-length CD)

Casey Sisters--"Who's Crying Now?"
Tail Records, 2000 (full-length, LP & CD)

Casey Sisters--"Crazy Spree"
Tail Records, 2002 (full-length CD)

Casey Sisters--"Crimson & Clover: A Tribute to Tommy James & the Shondells"--V/A,
Wildebeest Records, 2004

Casey Sisters ("Grizzly Bear Stomp")--Bärenstark/ Bear Essentials 25th Anniversary Collection--V/A,
Bear Family Records, 2000

Photos

Bio

Dubbed "Austin's Honky Tonk Queen" by legendary music producer Kim Fowley, Caroline Casey has been renowned in international roots music circles for the past ten years.

As one half of the stalwart female rockabilly close-harmony duo, The Casey Sisters, she has released two full length LPs on Sweden’s Tail Records, and has appeared on several U.S. and European compilations as well. Rockabilly and country music enthusiasts worldwide praised the power, energy, and raw talent of the Casey Sisters as both singers and songwriters. Between 2000 and 2004, the Casey Sisters toured Europe and the U.S, and performed at nearly a dozen roots music festivals on both continents.

In 2003, Caroline Casey and the Stringslingers was born, which focuses on strong songwriting and a vocal style that is firmly rooted in Texas-style Americana, with emphasis on country music from the 1960s.

Drawing on influences such as Wynn Stewart, Loretta Lynn, and Johnny Paycheck, Caroline Casey has demonstrated a thorough mastery of the genre that presents an humorous, yet soulful approach; an homage to music from a simpler time.

In 2007 Caroline traveled to Spain to record her newest release, "This Broken Crown," which is heralded as a transcontinental country music delight by radio personalities and various publications in Austin and beyond. Using some of the foremost musicians from Spain, the U.K., Nashville, and her hometown of Austin, Texas, “This Broken Crown” is newly released on Spain's El Toro Records, and is available worldwide.

Legendary music producer Kim Fowley highly recommends this album, heralding Caroline Casey as a talented songwriter with a long future in music.

"This Broken Crown" delves deeply into country music of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. 12 tracks create an irresistible blend of mostly original high-steppers, barstool tear-stirrers, and classic Texas two-steppers.

Several Texas talents have also made their mark on the album, including award-winning songwriter and ‘rockabilly legend’ Al Urban, who penned a previously unreleased waltz (“Used Wedding Rings”) back in 1965. This song can be heard for the first time on "This Broken Crown," much to the enjoyment of Al Urban fans everywhere. Al Urban has been writing songs since the mid 1940s, and wrote several hits for popular 1960s country singer Charley Pride.

Also featured on "This Broken Crown" is country music sensation Brennen Leigh, who duets with Caroline on the title track and shows her stellar mandolin skills on "Daddy's Girl", and acclaimed singer-songwriter Stephen Lee Canner, who contributed “Caffeine, Nicotine.”

Caroline Casey & the Stringslingers recently conducted a live performance and interview on Austin NPR affiliate KUT 90.5, as a guest on the "Folkways" show with host Kevin Connors. Caroline's music was also recently featured by host Laurie Gallardo on KUT 90.5's "Radio Without Borders!"

Just copy and paste the following address to listen: http://kut.org/items/show/12329

In addition to her performing career, Caroline Casey is interviewed in the Grammy-nominated PBS documentary “Welcome To the Club: Women of Rockabilly Music”, and has published numerous articles for several national magazines about some the greatest untold stories of mid-century American music.

Caroline has just returned from what proved to be a triumphant performance at France's premier country music festival. Currently she is booking shows, conducting interviews for publications and is featured on the radio following the release of "This Broken Crown." In her spare time, she's also working on a book about extinct Texas juke joints.