When I first saw the name Cast King, I thought to myself, “Hey, that’s a cool band name.” Then I saw the album cover and chuckled, because how can a weird picture of a confused-looking elderly man not be funny? Well, it turns out Cast King is not a band name, but rather a man name, and that creepy old guy on the cover is he. Cast King of Old Sand Mountain, Alabama, at the hip age of 79, has released his debut album, “Saw Mill Man.”
Cast King is the embodiment of every old fart playing guitar or the banjo on his front porch that you imagine you’d see if you went down to the real country. He has the low, semi-out of tune voice, and he always sounds like he’s on the verge of tears. Luckily, each track is about two minutes, so I don’t have to listen to it for long. It’s mildly depressing to listen to the songs, because usually he’s talking about all these great chicks he used to have, or all the trouble he used to cause, like they just happened. I fear that things have been going pretty slow for ol’ Cast since the 1960s. “Peggy” is probably the most saddening song on the album, in which he sounds just a little older and a little more senile, and all I can think about is wondering if Peggy is still as hot as she seemed to be back then. Other times, I find myself wondering how many teeth he has left, judging by the sporadic whistles and inappropriate word slurs.
Cast was discovered by the appropriately named Matt Downer, a country aficionado searching for aging songwriters, who also plays a rough lead guitar on the songs. Matt Depressant leaves the story of his experience in the cover booklet, which beautifully documents the true Cast King, who confides to Matt, “I’m usually here if I ain’t gone somewhere.” How true that statement is.
I guess I expected a lot more out of this album…maybe I was just caught up in the country music craze, with the release of “Walk the Line” and the undeniable genius of Carrie Underwood. However, as for Cast King…stick to that front porch, good sir. |