Skiffle Players — Music Blog — Holiday At The Sea

Like many of you, I am shocked and saddened by the recent unexpected death of guitarist Neal Casal. I only got to see him play a couple of times, both with Chris Robinson Brotherhood, but Casal was one of my favorite guitarists. Darryl Norsen summed it up nicely:

Neal casal is one of the few modern side players i can think of that the old jazz lp rules of if his name was in the lineup then you knew it was going to be good. From beachwood sparks to Phil Lesh and everything inbetween. RIP.

What better way to honor Neal’s legacy than by browsing some of his deep and impressive catalog. First up, we have him with the Skiffle Players (his band with Cass McCombs) performing “Cuckoo” live at McCabes, 1-23-2015.

Next, we have a live set from Casal’s band Circles Around the Sun. Originally commissioned as the soundtrack to the in-between-sets-slidesshows for the Grateful Dead’s 50th Reunion shows, the project quickly took on a life of its own. Here’s the band Live at Brooklyn Bowl on 2019-06-01.

Here is Neal with Chris Robinson Brotherhood (Radio Woodstock WDST 100.1 - 8/24/12).

And here is Neal performing one of his own songs, “Need Shelter” with Lauren Barth for Guild Guitars in 2014.