Jerry Castle will be at Kirk Avenue Music Hall on July 24th playing and promoting his new album “Don’t Even Ask.”
Castle claims to still believe that “songwriting, should be magical, not contrived” and according to recent reviews “Don’t Even Ask,” (his sophomore release due July 27), is a perfect manifestation of that theory: “A whole lot of rock ‘n’ roll wrapped in a whole lot of country.”
“Don’t Even Ask” is born of a man in a whirlwind of huge life changes: a new father, a corporate career, a recent divorce, Castle found himself reaching out for something solid to hold on to as he returned to his life-long passion of song-writing. The songs that began to pour out of him were layered with the same texture, grit and honest emotion as his life.
In the summer of 2009, at the suggestion of friends and music industry insiders who had heard a handful of the new songs that he had written, Castle headed into Curt Perkins’ Electric Avenue Studio in East Nashville with Chad Brown (Jim Lauderdale, Ryan Adams, Bob Segar), Fred Eltringham (Wallflowers, Dixie Chicks, Ben Kweller) and James Haggerty (Josh Rouse, Joe Marcs Brother) with the intent to record some demos to shop. But during the recording, Jerry had a personal and creative epiphany and it was there in the studio that his new CD was born.
In January, Jerry returned to the studio with a star-studded line-up of Nashville A-listers including: Audley Freed (Black Crowes, Dixie Chicks, Peter Frampton), Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, Steve Earle, John Hiatt), Brad Pemberton (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Brendan Benson), The McCrary Sisters (Bob Dylan, Buddy& Julie Miller, Jim Lauderdale), Jefferson Crow (Radney Foster, Gary Allan), Molly Thomas (Todd Snider) and Amanda Shires.
Don’t Even Ask is a reflection of a man begging questions in the middle of life’s ups and downs – pushing listeners inside themselves to ask their own questions. The album touches on some of life’s darker subjects: paranoia, addiction, fear, anger and pain are brilliantly balanced with personal triumph, love, confidence and joy. This is the record of a man who went on a search for himself and somewhere along the way actually found him, and in the making of the album it would seem Castle learned a few lessons of his own: :”follow your gut… and don’t even ask.”
For more information visit: jerrycastle.com