Take Note: Randy Casey

GIGS: Local guitarist extraordinaire Randy Casey is a musician’s musician. Not only is he a solo artist, but he’s also in demand as a sideman, film composer, and session guy. He’s played with Billy McLaughlin, Peter Himmelman, Dan Israel, Kevin Bowe, Luke Zimmerman, Shannon Curfman, and Tangletown, to name a few. (Oh, and he’s a gourmet cook too.)

HOMETOWN: Plymouth, Minnesota.

LATEST RELEASE: Late Bloomer—his first solo album since 2001’s instrumental Say No More—is a wild mix of alt-country, honky-tonk, and a little bit of Southern rock.

HOW HE KNEW HE HAD GREAT SONGS: “I can sing all these songs just by myself with a guitar. That’s how I know they hold up.”

ON NOT RUSHING: “We cut the bass and drums over about two days at Dave Russ’s studio. Then I sat on the tracks at my place for a while, and I did some overdubs. As anxious as I was to finish it, I was smart enough to let it breathe and tell me when it was done.”

ON BEING A SALES REP: In the seven years between albums, Casey tried his hand as a sales rep for a security-equipment company, divorced, fell in love, remarried, and returned to life as a full-time musician: “I felt like a fish out of water,” Casey says. “I had to go to Vegas three or four times a year for smoozy conferences.”

THE ALBUM TITLE: “The stress of getting a divorce got me out of the game for a while. I got back in when I felt healthy enough, and that’s why it’s called Late Bloomer.”

WHY HE’S SATISFIED WITH THIS ALBUM: “I’ve been doing this my entire life, and I finally feel like I know what I’m doing. There’s only one word I want to change on this album. On past albums, it was always like, ‘That song was almost there.’ ”

SIDE PROJECTS: Casey plays with Retrofit, a group of veteran Twin Cities musicians who play sixties and seventies covers. He’s also scoring P. J. Letofsky’s documentary for breast-cancer awareness Polly’s Global Walk; leading The Dark Horse Review, an annual tribute to George Harrison; and recording an album of blues for Lifescape Recordings. He’s also recording a Christmas album and a new instrumental album.

IF HE RUNS OUT OF SIDE PROJECTS: “I’m thinking about a cookbook.”

HOW TO IMPRESS YOUR BELOVED WITH A RANDY CASEY LOVE SONG: Casey has written a number of love-song templates for tailoredmusic.com. You fill the names and details into the lyrics, and he’ll record it for you.

CATCH HIS ACT: Late Bloomer hits stores February 12. Casey plays with 40 Watt Bulb February 16. Varsity Theater, 1308 SE 4th St.,Mpls.,612-604-0222, randycasey.com.