Sidewinder - Al Casey

Lee Hazlewood shows up on two vocal tracks on the Al Casey album Sidewinder, a collection of material recorded last year in Phoenix, AZ, and featuring guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Casey and friends Glen Campbell, David Grisman, and Jody Reynolds. Hazlewood, the long-lost producer/songwriter/singer (he wrote and produced material for Duane Eddy and Nancy Sinatra, among many others, and recorded several solo albums during the 1960s and '70s, but has been out of sight for most of the last couple decades), contributes his rich, deep voice to "You Came a Long Way from St. Louis" and "The Fool," the latter a 1956 hit for Sanford Clark. Back in the 1950s, Casey helped Hazlewood and Eddy develop "The Twang Heard Round the World," and became a top L.A. session player; he also found time for his own combo, which eventually scored minor pop success with "Surfin' Hootenanny." Sidewinder is on the German label Bear Family, and it's an expensive ten-song collection, but Hazlewood and Casey fans may find it irresistible. ~ Kurt Wolff, All Music Guide