Tributes to Neal Casal continued to pour in Tuesday as word got of the singer-songwriter-guitarist’s death, with famous friends whose bands he’d served in leading the memorials.
“I can’t believe I’m having to say goodbye to my friend and my brother,” Chris Robinson said in a statement. “It’s almost too painful. When I think about the songs we’ve written, the shows we’ve played and all the laughs and great times we shared, it’s almost unbearable to know you’re gone.”
The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir wrote simply, “My last memory of Neal will be the smile he left me with,” as the caption for a group photo that had him and Casal with arms around each other. The photo was presumably taken Saturday at Virginia’s Lockn’ Festival, where Weir and his late friend shared the stage during a performance by Oteil Burbridge & Friends that turned out to be Casal’s last.
Casal died of suicide at 50. Friends were taken aback, believing he had been in good spirits recently and seemed energized at the festival Saturday, where he also performed with his own band, Circles of the Sun.
Wrote Shooter Jennings on Instagram, “I am absolutely devastated with the news of the loss of my dear friend and consistent collaborator Neal Casal. He was always my favorite picker in LA and we’d all just finished some beautiful music together. I’m really just hollowed out by this. God bless NC.”
Ryan Adams, whose band the Cardinals had had Casal as lead guitarist, paid tribute on his Facebook page: “Oh man. My heart is broken. It’s too much. What an honor to have known you, true believer. I love you, always. Go easy, brother. Go easy. Through thick and thin your heart was a lighthouse of kindness. Your eyes a mirror to a better world — your soul bled into ever note. I don’t know how to even feel right now. Grateful for your time. But immense loss.” Adams went on to quote from Rutger Hauer’s touching death speech at the end of “Blade Runner.”