Casey Hurt

Casey Hurt is a complicated man singing songs from a simpler time. His melodies reveal the emotions that most of us keep hidden, and that other songwriters might shy away from. He’s black coffee honest from the history in his voice to the heart on his sleeve. His music has been shaped by artists like Van Morrison, Tracy Chapman, Al Green and Jackson Browne. We recently had the chance to chat with Casey about his start in music, his favorite gig, and where you can see him next.
When/How did you first start playing music?

I’ve always been surrounded by music but I first really started taking it seriously when I was about 13. Like most 13 year olds I was looking for a way to express myself and vent out a little bit of frustration. I also looked up to my father and great grandfather who are amazing musicians and I wanted a little bit of what they had. My great grandfather played music on the radio during the great depression. I used to hear all kinds of stories about how a simple song at the right time could change a person’s life. All of those stories ignited a flame inside me for music and I haven’t been able to put it out since.

What’s the best gig you ever played?

I preformed at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City Utah opening for Alex Boye. I think there were about 5000 people there. I also preformed at a three-day conference in Portland for about 3000 people.

How has social media effected the way you market/promote your music?

It’s been huge. It allows people to fall in love and spread the word about music so quickly and seamlessly. It also gives me the chance to interact with fans and make some real connections with music lovers from all over the world. I don’t know where I’d be without it.

What’s your prediction for the next big advancement in how we find/listen to/share music?

Wow, that’s a hard one. I’m sure there is something big on the horizon but nothing will ever beat good old word of mouth. A great music recommendation from a friend is priceless.

What’s your next big gig coming up? When/Where?

I’m actually going to be touring most of the summer. I’m leaving for a weeklong writing session in Ashland, Oregon on May 27th. I’ll be back home in LA for a few weeks and then I’ll leave again with Socks and Chimes and The Brian Buckley Band for a west coast tour. It’s going be a really full summer and fall. Hoping to make it out to the east coast in early fall for a tour back that way as well.

Check out more on Casey Hurt here. - www.sonicbids.com

CORVALLIS — Man, I tell ya: Last Friday I staggered home feeling like a whipped mongrel. My eyes were heavier than six Boris albums, Charlie Brown could’ve pitched a no-hitter atop my posture and my mind was stuffed with enough grim weariness to nurture a planet of Eeyores.

That is, until I found my copy of Casey Hurt’s “Mended Souls.” It’s been my go-to these last couple of weeks as I’ve watched doldrums devour winter’s last scraps and drown the valley in dolorous torrents. Even from Los Angeles, the city he now calls home, the former Corvallis resident’s rustic holler, sweetened with welcoming mesquite, enveloped my living room — I freed him from my ear buds; you gotta let him breathe — and eased me into serenity.

“I know the journey’s long,” Hurt sings on opening track “I’ll Be Near,” “but each distance deserves a song / and this song deserves a band.” Check and check, amen: These 11 new cuts are essayed by a crack unit of solid players. Patrick Cahill’s light, sunny Rhodes strolls carefree through “I’ll Be Near,” then chugs along a bump ’n’ grind swagger on “When We Touch.” It’s a longing Hurt feels to his fingertips (“Why don’t we just draw the shades,” he suggests, “and take a little time to misbehave?”), his voice lifting “sweet” to a sanctified high.

Yet Hurt’s not a man of wanton desires; his album is dedicated to “all the women in my life,” and his every proposal’s delivered from a place of affection and concern. Warmed by Sebastian Leger’s trumpet, “I Don’t Need That” is a self-empowerment tutorial: “Intoxicated by his candlelight / a sweet-nothing serenade seems to feel so right / But promises he whispers in your ear / won’t mean a thing to him when he disappears.” The trumpet returns on “Sing to You” for a different purpose: to woo-pitch what we can assume is romantic-interlude sincerity.

Hurt is accompanied on “Higher” by singer Evan Roman; her voice lifts his through a joyous pop soundscape as vast as a metropolitan skyline. “Babylon” finds him dabbling in hip-hop with Jon Beavers and Ian Merrigan of 6Brooks. The duo’s flow melds nicely with the concept of the Biblical city and its mixture of tongues (genres).

But it’s the simplest, most intimate songs that prove the most affecting. A mandolin shivers beneath a bare acoustic lead as Hurt admits to contentment with “doing nothing / as long as nothing, that nothing is with you” (“Doing Nothing”). “Sunday Mornings” is a spare little jaunt for those precious moments in bed before the rest of the world has risen, when it seems as if you and your beloved are truly a universe of two.

It’s what exists beyond this universe that occupies Hurt on the final track, the title track, a powerful consideration of a bond everlasting. The spectral wingspan of Mike McGraw’s lap steel guitar carries the singer’s words deep into the heavens. I’m not a religious man by any means, but I take some comfort in the notion of an eternity with the ones we’ve loved in life, free of pain, our spirits uplifted, renewed and rendered whole.

As the gloom of Friday dissipated and the light returned at last, I sat in quiet wonder that such joyful, healing music could come from a guy named Hurt.

Welcome home.
- By CORY FRYE | The Entertainer | Posted: Thursday, April 7, 2011 7:15 pm

There is a certain tone to Casey Lee Hurt’s voice. It is a kind of stoic tranquility that draws you in until you find yourself fixed in a state of rapt attention. In the study of vibrational healing, the human voice is regarded as a powerful tool which can be used to raise the vibrations of the energy body to higher and more positive levels. With that in mind it is not far-fetched to think of someone like Hurt possessing such a power in his voice, especially given the nature and intent of the energy he pours generously into his craft. His music is all heart and soul; passionate, radiant, transcendent, and transparent. With the release of his new album, Mended Souls, he is aiming to grab listeners by the ears and hearts, and give them a little something that will move their bodies and lift their spirits as well. - Yoo-N-La Magazine

My guitar playing, music loving hat is off to Casey Hurt for creating a marvelous EP. "The Burlap e.p." is one of the best independent recordings I have heard from any artist in years. Very tight, solid quality and edging enough to keep my attention. Casey strong and passionate voice tells stories that touch your heart. I could not help but hear some of my personal musical hero's in that music. Hero's like Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman even a little Jack Johnson. He has captured a wonderful, one of a kind, sound and it's obvious that he loves what you are doing. Casey has been honing his unique talents at coffee shops and such venues for a long time now. He turns 21 real soon and I am certain that more people will become aware of this remarkable talent. So if you can catch a local show, don't hesitate because this is one of those rare artist that won't be local for long. His music and story telling is world class - Lionel Pinn-Little Eagle Productions

Local performer Casey Hurt is many things to many people. He is an artist of music, a pastor, and a tattooed scotch enthusiast who will be twenty-five in March. He was also voted winner of the 2008 Alchy Award for best acoustic performer. Talking with him is like speaking to a regular guy; minus the quick-scribbling on a notepad, the interview was more an enjoyable conversation.
“Words are pretty powerful,” he commented early on, emphasizing that “Words have different meanings to different people.”
As a writer of music on several levels, Hurt can be taken for an authority on this. For his own acoustic performances he writes both music and words, spending one part of his time on the music for every two parts to his lyrics, following the lead of his musical wordsmith influences like the Beatles, Tracy Chapman, and the Violent Femmes.
“I usually write the music first,” he explained, “I’m kind of anal about the lyrics. I don’t want to say what I don’t mean.”
For a person like Casey, such devotion can lead to great music, but also eat up a lot of time, especially for someone leading a local four hundred person fellowship like Doxology. Luckily, Hurt has much the same goals as his own church’s mission: glory to God and joy to the city.
“My actual calling as a pastor was to free me up to do what I was already doing as an artist,” he said.
Hurt has a lot of faith in Corvallis, and not just in the religious sense. He has been in town for the last six years and has watched to many other musicians making the move up to Portland, thinking it is the only way to proceed professionally. In turn, Hurt works with, preaches to, and records many locals, all while extolling the rich diversity in Corvallis.
“I don’t want to fake anyone out. I want to be honest about the writing – to display something truthful about myself.”
Writing an recording have taken up much of Hurt’s schedule lately as he’s kept to a lesser amount of live performances. He still spends a good amount of time on writing pastoral music, but also works on finishing his first album in over two years, and creating hip-hop beats on his computer for friends in LA to rap over. He couldn’t totally stay away from performing though, and put in regular appearances at the Saturday Market and in cafes in the area.
Throughout it all, Hurt is sure to not lose his focus. He writes songs about ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and keeps it all within bounds that people can connect to. He even keeps a regularly updated blog about his music-writing, so people can have an up-close look and a greater understanding.
“Rawness is the thing people appreciate the most,” Hurt explained, and he’s good at it. Maybe that’s why he won his Alchy.
With so many things calling on his time, it is amazing that Casey Hurt can stay as happy and as dedicated as he is. This reporter thinks it is because Hurt is happy to take time out of his day to sit and talk about life, and that is something that everyone can relate to. You can judge for yourself when you attend his show, March 20th at WineStyles up at Timber Hill.
“I’m not trying to throw my religion in people’s faces,” Hurt said, “The gospel is there and it is part of it, but my music is about life.”
~Robin Canfield
- The Alchemist Magazine

For a successful mix of Americana folk music with soul and you can contact the American singer-songwriter Casey Hurt. The influence of famous composers from the past three decades are clearly present in the fresh and contemporary work that Casey Hurt brings his latest CD "Letters From A Friend".

Casey Hurt for music is still a secondary activity in addition to his daily activities as a bartender in a local pub. He is also a popular pastor in the local church. But he is very happy to be professionally active as a musician and his songs played over at bring. In 2006 he took the first tentative steps with his debut album "The Glory", an ep-tje that limited attention in the music press could count but had started to the full CD.

He devotes much attention to the contents of the texts for his songs, which brought together ten copies we see in this album. A Brett Dennen, Tracy Chapman and Damien Rice operate in the same genre as Casey Hurt and have already proved that you do as a musician can develop into a successful career.

The songs start from an acoustic approach but are richly supplemented where necessary with additional instrumentation and even the angelic harmony vocals by Valeri Lopez contribute to a professional sounding contemporary pop song, witness for example the numbers of "Get Back To Ya" and "Stick Around" .

The more subdued and intimate ballads sound convincing. One of the best songs is "Do not Walk Away" which reflect genuine emotions. The back and forth between optimism and pessimism, 'feel good' and 'feel bad', ups and downs is a bit of red thread throughout the ten tracks on "Letters From A Friend". Other highlights on this CD the piano ballad "Come to Me" and the full emotion, but happily sung love song "I Will Love You To The Grave".

Through his songs he wants a forum on the words of the people who usually are not discussed in society. Therein lies its religious mission as pastor, but rest assured: this is no disturbing presence in the songs on "Letters From A Friend". For a lighter subject as his addiction to Facebook (a current theme) is reflected in the song "Seven Seas".

His wife Lauren - who is professional photographer - took care of the pretty pictures that were used to record a cover of this album more than deserves wider listening audience.

(valsam) - Rootstime Magazine - Holland

Letters from a friend
Soulful singer, pastor, bartender manages to embrace it all on new CD

By Nancy Raskauskas
The Entertainer

CORVALLIS — Corvallis singer/songwriter Casey Hurt is a man of contradictions and it suits him just fine. As far as he’s concerned, the harder he is to label the better. A few that might come to mind:

Pastor

Bartender

Musician

Tattoo lover

Husband

For Hurt, it all boils down to one thing: Honesty.

“I’ve always wanted to hold myself in tension,” he said. His new CD “Letters from a Friend” artfully harmonizes the many seemingly disparate facets of his life, with conscious songs that muse on “trying to learn to treat everyone as human.”

“There is an intimacy in anything that you would sing or write to a friend,” Hurt said. “I kind of view all my songs in the album as letters,” he said. “My music tries to give a voice to people that don’t always have voice.”

The title song was inspired by Hurt’s experience working at a pharmacy, where one day he watched a co-worker belittle a heroine user, who came in to buy clean needles.

The song is sung from the perspective of the addict.

“You know I love you, but I’m just working on myself/it’s not as easy when you don’t have somebody else -. Everybody has got some sort of vice/it’s just that this one’s got me.”

“We all have our vices, so that song is really about struggle,” Hurt said.

In another song, “Seven Seas,” Hurt reflects on the vices in his own life, which include an obsession shared by many — Facebook.

“There’s a fight that’s inside of you/A fight that you can’t win/You treat distractions like lovers and truth like a distant friend.”

Hurt calls his music “nakedly honest Americana soul.”

Many of the songs on “Letters to a Friend” go whole-heartedly to the dark side with brooding reflections on serious themes. Others are beguiling simple ditties with irresistibly catchy lyrics, such as “Stick Around” and “Get Back to You,” a duet with harmonies by the talented Valeri Lopez.

“I’m going to take that train/I’m going to take it soon/I’m going to find myself a way to get back to ya.”

Other collaborators on the CD include Brian Harvey of Pine Language and members of bands Norman and F.O.L.K.L.O.R.E.

Hurt has put out a couple of EPs, but this is his first full-length album.

“I’m just trying to step out and play the music that really says something to me, he said.

Hurt spent many of his formative years in Corvallis, attending Adams and Mountain View elementary schools, Santiam Christian and Crescent Valley High School, between the ages of 5 and 16 years old.

His family now lives in Hawaii, where he finished out high school before moving heading back to the mainland.

These days he works behind the bar of the Downward Dog. His wife, Lauren Hurt, is a photographer.

In addition, he is the pastor for a nondenominational Corvallis church called Doxology that meets Sundays at Avery Park. Formerly it held worship in local high schools and in the now-closed Platinum nightclub.

“We figured if we held it in a bar almost anyone could show -. and be transparent and honest about who they are,” Hurt said.

Hurt sees encouraging other artists and musicians as one of his primary roles in the church.

He often collaborates with other local musicians. He’s also a drummer for the Vicious Kisses.

Just so there is no confusion, it should be stated that Hurt is not a fan of Christian rock.

“I don’t understand why Christianity needs a subculture,” he said. “Anyone who makes music is displaying God whether they believe in it or not — you can say that about the most obscure or profane artist.”

CHECK IT OUT

WHO: Casey Hurt

WHAT: “Nakedly honest Americana soul”

UPCOMING SHOWS:

• 10 a.m. Sept. 5, Corvallis Artisan’s Market.

• 8 p.m. Sept. 5, Cloud 9, Corvallis. Admission: $5. With: Vicious Kisses, F.O.L.K.L.O.R.E., Norman and Pine Language.

NEW CDS: “Letters from a Friend” can be purchased online at CD Baby, ITunes and Digg Station or at an upcoming show. - The Entertainer - Corvallis Oregon