Circles Around The Sun and Billy Strings teamed up for a cover of “All The Luck In The World” by Neal Casal. The collaboration is the first single off of the forthcoming Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal compilation album in tribute to the late guitarist who died last year.
Due out next year, Highway Butterfly will feature contributions from Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, Steve Earle, Shooter Jennings, Jimmy Herring, Eric Krasno, and many more, with proceeds from the project to benefit the newly-launched Neal Casal Music Foundation. This non-profit organization gives instruments and music lessons to children in New Jersey and New York, as well as provides mental health services through organizations like Backline and MusiCares in memory of the musician who committed suicide on August 26th, 2019.
“All The Luck In The World” comes from Casal’s 1996 album Rain Speed & Wind, his second of 12 solo records. Though he became more well-known for his instrumental guitar work, “All The Luck In The World” showcases Casal’s thoughtful lyricism and is done justice by Strings’s singing. The performance is given added reverence as Strings begins the video by discussing how he came to know Casal and his music through CATS’ Interludes for the Dead album, which played over the PA’s at the Grateful Dead‘s Fare Thee Well concerts in 2015. The song is set to an in-studio performance video featuring various Casal memorabilia, as well as Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools, who produced the album. Casal and Schools worked side by side alongside Todd Snider and others in the band Hard Working Americans.
Watch Billy Strings and Circles Around The Sun perform “All The Luck In The World” by Neal Casal.
Billy Strings, Circles Around The Sun — “All The Luck In The World” (Neal Casal)
[Video: Neal Casal]
In addition to Highway Butterfly, there will also be a book of Casal’s photography released under as Tomorrow’s Sky: Photographs by Neal Casal in November. Produced by Jay Blakesberg, Tomorrow’s Sky features a selection of the more than 25,000 photographs Casal left behind in a curated collection. The photos chronicle Casal’s time playing with Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Hard Working Americans, Circles Around The Sun, his own successful solo career, and many more musical endeavors. Strings counts photos that Casal took of him performing onstage among his prized possessions.
“‘Tomorrow’s Sky’ is a look at the world seen through the eyes of Neal Casal,” Blakesberg said. “Neal was a stealth photographer who always carried his camera and documented the people, places and scenes as they passed before him. The photos are intimate, beautiful and from the hip. Nothing is set up, it is real life in real time.”
Visit the Neal Casal Music Foundation’s website for more information on the forthcoming projects, or to make a donation.
[H/T Rolling Stone]