Country Artist Kasey Lansdale Visits WEIS Studio

Kasey LansdaleIt’s not every day that a small-town Texas girl gets to record with Grammy award-winning producer John Carter Cash, who has produced legends such as Loretta Lynn, George Jones, and Willie Nelson, but Country Blues artist Kasey Lansdale is the exception. Even growing up in the small town of Nacogdoches, in East Texas, Lansdale’s life has been one surrounded by the arts. “Much of my life,” she says, “has been a musical.”

With early childhood memories of singing along to “Reba’s Greatest Hits” and listening to groups like the Contours with her father, Lansdale began entwined in music and even started writing her own at the tender age of seven. “I was always the kid in the neighborhood putting on plays I’d written and singing at the top of my lungs unaware of any other world around me,” said Lansdale, “Singing was my first true love.”

In 2013, she was given a unique opportunity to record her first studio album, “Restless,” in the historic Cash Cabin Studio with producer John Carter Cash. Producer Mike Clute assisted in starting up the project, further by Lansdale herself then John Carter Cash, who added the final touches. Released on August 20, 2013, “Restless” features 11 tracks featuring her smoky Tanya Tucker-esque twang with seven of her own self-penned songs like “Sorry Ain’t Enough” and “Blame You For Trying.”

 

Click Below To Listen To Kasey’s Invetview With Jerry Baker –

Along with the “Restless” album release, Lansdale is successfully giving performances both nationally and internationally including large events and festivals such as SXSW, the Halogaland Music Festival in Norway, and The Piacenza Blues Festival in Italy. Fans can also find her on the second half of the Restless Roadtrip, promoting her current album across the nation in early 2014.

Her music will also be featured soon in the new films, “Cold in July,” starring award-winning actor, Michael C. Hall from the Showtime hit series, “Dexter,” slated for a fall 2014 release, and in “Christmas with the Dead,” where she made her first big screen debut portraying Ella, the protagonist’s wife.

While Lansdale penned seven of the songs on her latest album, she isn’t just a talented songwriter. She is also a gifted, creative writer who, at the age of eight wrote her first short story, which was published by Random House. “I was hooked on writing from that point forward,” she says.

In July of 2013, Lansdale’s first anthology, entitled “Impossible Monsters,” was also released, and she has just completed her first novel, “One More Than the Devil.” Mulholland Publishing also just released a novel called “Edge of Dark Water,” which includes an accompanying title-track by Lansdale as a digital download.

With several accomplishments under her belt at a young age, Lansdale actually attributes her career kickoff to an unexpected situation. While scheduling several house party performances in Texas, she began looking for a guitar player and through a friend, was given a musician contact. Despite initial declines, the reluctant guitarist agreed to meet and turned out to actually be her next-door neighbor. By the end of the week, Lansdale and Danny were writing and singing songs, and when another neighbor heard the two, they were offered a paid gig at Banita Creek Hall in Nacogdoches. Thus, a musical career was born.

The gig at Banita Creek Hall led to other bookings in the Nacogdoches area such as fairs and festivals, as well as the formation of her original band, Kasey Lansdale and the Daletones, named after her uncle’s Sun Records recording group, The Daletones. In time, she began making frequent trips to Nashville to write and record and shortly after began building her invaluable network that would soon lead to many opened doors.

In Nashville, she started off by playing wherever she could: countless free shows, songwriter nights, car dealership openings, and even street-naming ribbon cutting ceremonies that would soon open doors to even bigger opportunities for her music career.  Now growing in industry recognition, she continues to write and play her music across the country.

With nothing but miles ahead of possibilities for her music and writing talent, Lansdale considers herself lucky to simply be living out her childhood dreams. “Singing has taken me all over the world and introduced me to some amazing people, and I feel lucky every day when I wake up because I get to do what I love. I’m just so happy no one has given me a good shake and told me to get a real job yet!

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