Casey Wickstrom has nearly three decades of experience as a musician, moving through different phases and genres that now show up in his current set. It pulls from a wide range of influences – from Paul Simon and Ben Harper to Bob Marley and Johnny Cash.
What makes his set so intriguing isn’t the range. Rather, it’s what each tune has in common: technically skilled guitar work and a strong sense of arrangement. Wickstrom has taught himself to play 10 instruments, including bass and harmonica, but all grounded in guitar.
The most striking part of Wickstrom’s set is how he physically builds his sound live. He doesn’t just play off-the-shelf guitars; he often modifies his own gear to get a specific tone. Wickstrom uses handmade cigar box guitars and a custom-converted acoustic lap slide to create textures you don’t usually hear from a solo act.
By using up to eight looping layers, Wickstrom constructs each song from the ground up until it sounds like a full band is on stage. It is a process that requires an intense internal rhythm, which he gained from teaching himself drums early on. This is most evident in his cover of The Who’s “Eminence Front,” where he replicates the track’s complex electronic pulse with only a guitar and a few percussive hits.
Creative arrangements are the signature of his performances. Of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” he says, “I could take that melody and turn it into an original song.” Where most lean into the song’s driving rhythm, he slows it down, uncovering something more somber. At the line “I hang my head and… ,” he stops short and the word cry never comes. The guitar carries it instead.
That instrumental voice shows up in his original “Broken Girl,” where a deep, thrumming bass line builds into a layered lap slide that takes on a raw, almost vocal quality. Whether he is deconstructing a synth-heavy track or a grunge anthem, Wickstrom rebuilds the melodies to make them his own.
Not everything is technically complicated. Wickstrom has a way of pulling things back when the song calls for it.
His current set pulls from every phase of his career, blending years of experimentation into a performance that unfolds, layer by layer, in real time.
CASEY WICKSTROM performs 4pm Saturday, April 4. Folktale Winery, 8940 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley. No cover. (831) 293-7500, folktalewinery.com.