T.J. Casey | From Whence They Came

Published: June 8, 2009

Billings’s cowboy singer T. J. Casey has a new CD out that features standards from the dusty-trail heritage, backed by instruments that include fiddle, harmonica, and mandolin.

He starts off with the clip-clop cadence of the condemned man in “Tom Dooley.” Next is the Marty Robbins-styled “Cross the Brazos at Waco,” and Casey strums and warbles his way through “Red River Valley,” with its “‘round the campfire” feel.

The two-stepper “Strawberry Roan” gets the talkin’ blues treatment, and the old saw “Corrina, Corrina” is catchy and danceable, courtesy of cool scratchy fiddle from Tom Robison of Bozeman.

“Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail,” with its muffled guitar strums and echo-y vocals, sets us right down in a dusty draw, and Casey sings the harmonies on “Get Along Little Dogies” for that lonesome-prairie ambience. Simple arrangements round out the authentic cowboy mood.

Visit www.tjcasey.net.

– Mariss McTucker