Biography

Two years ago, Cleveland Magazine called Chris Castle "an authentic connection to the world-weary soul of American roots music". The Ohio-born indie songwriter strengthened that connection in late July of 2011 with the making of Last Bird Home, an album as American as the dirt that it grew up out of.

Recorded at the legendary Levon Helm Studios by Grammy-winning engineer Justin Guip (Hot Tuna, the Black Crowes), Last Bird Home finds Castle far from the lo-fi recordings that have garnered him a cult-like following in the eastern US since 2008. And for a DIY troubador who books and performs over 150 solo acoustic shows each year (covering seventeen states), he's keeping some pretty stellar company here.

Garth Hudson (the Band, Norah Jones), Tommy Ramone (the Ramones), Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon), Maud Hudson (Eric Bibb, Dr. John), Gabriel Butterfield (son of Blues legend Paul Butterfield), Justin Guip (Levon Helm, Tara Nevins), rising Americana vocal group the Womack Family Band, and Castle's fourteen year old son Chase all lent their talents to the project, bridging a sixty year span of roots music, family, and tradition.

Chris Castle has shared stages with artists like: Jimmy Webb, Chris Hillman (the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers), David Amram, Junior Brown, David Wax Museum, the Wood Brothers, Jonathan Edwards, Peter Case, Richard Shindell, Amy Speace, Will Kimbrough, Radney Foster, Jeff Black and Darrell Scott; and most all of them have agreed that he builds great songs.

Last Bird Home will attest to that as well. Castle is a lyrical craftsman of subtle simplicity with few modern rivals, and this album finds him at his best. Of course, having half a dozen Grammy winners in your corner is never a bad thing either. Still, notwithstanding the all-star supporting cast and the high end studio, we have what the last living (original) Ramone called "unique songs of depth and beauty in a voice well-textured by life's experiences".

So we never lose sight of the bard behind the incantation. He's seated front and center, with his demons on his sleeve- atop a trunkful of remarkable songs.