Christy Coleman and Neal Casal : No One Above You – A Love Story in Photographs
The young Neal Casal pictured on the front cover of No One Above You (The Early Years 1991-1998) and throughout its companion piece book is not the hirsute countenance of his days with The Chris Robinson Brotherhood or Circles Around The Sun. But there is nevertheless an air of familiarity in the music of the album and the photographic images in its companion piece, evoking the late lamented Casal’s work throughout his career.
The baker’s dozen tracks of this anthology consist of covers juxtaposed with original material that, taken together, bespeak honest acknowledgement of roots, purposely executed as the means to transcend them. For instance, the threads of continuity within Casal’s subsequent work for Ryan Adams’ Cardinals and The Hard Working Americans are readily discernible in “Silver Dollar.”
Casal’s sonorous singing is quite reminiscent of Buffalo Springfielder/Poco co-founder Richie Furay, while the tune’s title phrase begs the question of whether it was a deliberate reference to Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider.” Regardless, there’s no mistaking the heartfelt vulnerability in the lyrics of that slice-of-life song. And the clarity of lauded engineer Jim Scott’s sonics-a virtue that permeates this near-hour of music- leaves the gospel-tinged piano parallel to the circular acoustic guitar in equally luminous relief.
Illuminating lyrical observations such as those populating “Quiet Desperation” ring especially poignant in retrospect. But there’s also more than a little to be said for Neal Casal’s forthright expressions of emotion, such as the bright glimmer of optimism coursing through “Indian Summer;” multi-instrumentalist Fooch Fishcetti’s pedal steel arcs through that arrangement just as his violin does during the equally uplifting “Valley Of The Fallen.”
Sounding credibly ingenuous in “Running Wild,” Neal Casal cannot claim to be a pioneer of contemporary or alternative country. Nevertheless, his obeisance to venerated storyteller/songwriter Tom T. Hall is justified, especially as the latter’s “Second Handed Flowers” comfortably resides right alongside “Greatest Friend,” written by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band.
Co-founder of Robert Randolph’s Family Band and subsequently a member of the Allman-Betts Band, keyboardist John Ginty is just one notable participant to No One Above You. He plies his skills on piano in a duet with Neal titled “To The Water,” where runs of notes flow effortlessly around the instrumentation.
Meanwhile, Jeff Hill became a linchpin in the Chris Robinson Brotherhood by playing bass, but here his cello adds atmosphere to “The Search For Silver Lake.” In much the same way, long-time Jackson Browne accompanist Greg Leisz utilizes autoharp on “Cora Jones” (a contribution that minimizes the composition’s similarity to Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee”).
As a deliverance in song that concludes this LP, “Mellow Down Easy” provides a sturdy bridge to the story that unfolds in A Love Story in Photographs. An extension of the 2021 anthology devoted to Neal Casal’s own photographic work, Tomorrow’s Sky, the three hundred eight pages between forest green softcovers, subtly embossed with gold characters, delineate cycles of passion alongside devotion to art and craft.
Not surprisingly, then, the collection also depicts an eagerness to learn through experience. The images in the Coleman/Casal partnership resonate on paper as vividly as the corollary recordings, so shots capturing the life of a working musician also reveal the spirit of the adventurer(s). As such, one snapshot from Joshua Tree, California is no more picturesque than a forest panorama in New Jersey captioned ‘our magical place.’
Various forms of energy radiate from photos of record collections and the ocean beach in the Bahamas. Such contrasts thereby formulate an uninterrupted sense of memories crystallized as fully as the words in ex-wife Christy Coleman’s introductory essay. And like her sentences, few if any pictures in No One Above You are not worth close, penetrating looks, even if the juxtaposition of images seems to telegraph the meaning: see pages 112 and 113-the first pic of the couple opposite some pink roses.
This music and these photos tell a story of love in the ongoing process of fulfillment. And functioning as punctuation to a chronicle of a life well-lived, prose inside the CD booklet includes copious notes, excerpted from interviews with Neal’s long-time confidante, Gary Waldman, who also served as co-producer of this set with the aforementioned Scott and musician Jon Graboff.
Like the previously released packages, such as the three-CD covers collection Highway Butterfly, the combined aural and visual statement captures the depth of devotion to Neal Casal that engendered a charitable foundation under his name. Thus, it’s only fitting that, just like the organization, No One Above You, in both sight and sound formats, preserve for posterity the purity of intent by which the man lived.
