Casey Garland – Songwriter, Composer, vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Casey is a 40-year veteran whitewater river guide running rivers in Washington and Oregon. One of the original owners of Sundance Expeditions, from 1974 through 1978 he ran multi-day trips on the world famous Rogue River in southern Oregon. From 1978 through 2013 he owned and operated Downstream River Runners and pioneered most of the commercial river trips in Washington State. He’s also a master Swiftwater Rescue Instructor having trained over 1,500 guides, policemen, firemen and first responders since 1986.
Never too far away from his guitar, Casey is a self taught finger style picker by default because he would play on the sandy river beaches and consistently lose the pick in the sand. People say the writing and music sounds like “A jazzy James Taylor, Jimmy Buffet, Doobie Brothers, Loggins and Messina type of songs.”
Most of the songs in this collection use the river as a metaphor for life, sometimes wild and crazy, sometimes peaceful or serene and pretty much everything in between. Just as the rivers are different every time you run them, Casey’s musical style is all over the map and not corralled into one genre. If you were to classify his music it would probably be “Adult Contemporary Soft Rock.” If you’re looking for rap, heavy metal, punk, grunge or hip hop, you’ve come to the wrong place 😉
Check out the about the songs section under the banner Riverpeople Music to read the back story on all these tunes!
Jeff Tassin – Producer – multi-instrumentalist
Jeff is an amazing musician, playing guitars, bass, keyboards and drums professionally for 45 years. In the 60’s and 70’s he was in a dozen Seattle bands. Later, while struggling to be seen in Nashville he logged many road miles with various Nashville luminaries, touring with or recording with the likes of, Delbert McClinton, Jeff Hanna and Bonnie Bramlett, Dolly Parton, Jerry-Jeff Walker, The Oak Ridge Boys, Statler Brothers, Gail Davies, Charlie Daniels and Ronnie Milsap. Jeff was able to mix it up with world renown session players such as Leeland Sklar, Albert Lee, Billy Pain, Michael Baird, Max Bennet, Buddy Spiker and Terry Macmillan.
By the mid-eighties, he sought out the TV industry in the Seattle area and began writing scores for KCTS channel 9, PBS features and sound track work. In the, over 20 years of independent contracting at PBS, Jeff garnered the International Telly Award, three Emmy’s for music composition and other distinctions for work in television. He is currently producing talented songwriters and occasionally returning to Nashville and Los Angeles to play guitar for various projects. Jeff is truly a one man Wrecking Crew!
George Merrill – Special Guest
George wrote the musical score, sings both lead and background vocals and plays piano on The River Keeps on Flowing title track. He also sings lead and background vocals on Desolation Sounds.
George and his writing partner Shannon Rubicam wrote two of Whitney Houston’s biggest selling songs, ‘How will I know’ and ‘I wanna dance with somebody’. Later, George and Shannon’s group ‘Boy Meets Girl’ released ‘Waiting for a Star to Fall’ which went to # 14 on the Billboard Charts. They have four albums to their credit.
Tammy Frost – Vocals
Tammy started singing as a child, the daughter of professional musicians. Her professional career started in 1994 performing at fairs and festivals all over the Great Northwest. Her Talent of making a tune her own , in concert with the range and purity of her voice, has attracted a loyal following. Tammy has the uncanny ability to craft a standard tune into a fresh soulful rendition.
Shalane Miller – Vocals
Shalane comes to us as a graduate of Cornish music school in Seattle. She does a fine job singing the duet love song Being with You along with Leslie D. Shelton.
Leslie D. Shelton – vocals
Leslie D. Shelton was recruited by Jeff Tassin to sing vocals on Magic’s in the Music and Being with You Duet with Shalane Miller. Les is a great bass player and vocalist for a jazz band called TheTonze which plays in the Seattle and Kitsap peninsula areas of Washington State.
Elaine Skeffington – vocals
Elaine sings the background vocals on Get Outside! She and Casey used to sing that song in a trio a few years ago so she was the perfect choice to record the song! Elaine is currently singing in two Seattle area bands, The Tropics, which is a private party dance band and a duo called Ivy Lane with Ivan Lee.
