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BLUES FESTIVAL E-GUIDE APRIL 30, 2020 VOL 15 / ISSUE 18
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 | Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove :: HEAVEN FOREVER
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Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove’s debut album, Heaven Forever, just released April 24, has already collected enviable raves from blues, bluegrass, rock, jam band, mainstream print and radio, and even Grateful Dead focused media outlets. Casey Van Beek's resume reaches back to playing with Linda Ronstadt, alongside future Eagles Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Tulsa Groove band member and producer, Walt Richmond, toured for six years with Bonnie Raitt and 3 years with Rick Danko and later, as a member of JJ Cale’s band, also played keyboards on JJ Cale and Eric Clapton’s Grammy winning Gold album, The Road to Escondido (2006). Eric was sufficiently impressed to include Walt on six of his albums and two tours since then.
Casey Van Beek was born in Holland but raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, and he fit right in to the burgeoning local ‘60s rock scene. By his teens he was playing bass and singing in The Vibrants, who opened for The Dave Clark Five in addition to supporting The Rolling Stones’ first L.A. area show. The Vibrants also acted as the local backing band for touring artists including Stevie Wonder, Roger Miller, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Guitar Watson. Casey even filled in on bass for a night with Ike and Tina Turner when their bassist missed a show.
When Casey left L.A. he headed to Tulsa with Don Preston to record with the Shelter People, part of Leon Russell’s Shelter Records label. After moving to Tulsa, Casey eventually joined multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated band, The Tractors, which included Casey, Walt Richmond, and future Tulsa Groove member, guitarist Ron Getman – as well as Tulsa legends, Jamie Oldaker and the late Steve Ripley. Three members of the Groove (Richmond, Jim Byfield (lead guitar), and Steve Hickerson (lead guitar), would also back Bonnie Raitt during her tenure in Tulsa, playing shows in the area to (successfully!) protest the construction of the Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant. Rounding out the Tulsa Groove are Charles Tuberville (guitar and backing vocals), Jared Tyler (guitar, mandolin, dobro, background vocals) and Seth Lee Jones (guitar), with Steve Bagsby on steel guitar and Steve Wilkerson on saxophone.
Casey and Walt Richmond began to get tight, first recording Christmas songs, then writing original Christmas songs, then gathering at Walt’s home studio to record more of their own originals and favorite covers, selecting the best players around to add their touches on a few songs at a time. This wasn’t to satisfy anyone’s record contract or dreams of stardom, but out of camaraderie and an enjoyment of each other’s musical company; music for music’s sake. There’s a purity to that. Their record showcases what they are capable of when they focus their in-demand skills on their own music. Carrying on the legendary Tulsa sound of forerunners like Leon Russell, JJ Cale and Elvin Bishop, the band is adding their own new flavors while keeping that historic tradition alive for current and future generations.
That’s where the Little Village Foundation came in. Founded by long-time Robert Cray Band keyboard player, Jim Pugh, Little Village is a nonprofit record label which finds musicians who don’t fit the relentlessly commercial demands of the mainstream music industry and helps them to be heard. Some of their other releases include recordings by Wee Willie Walker, Junior Watson, Kevin Burt, Whitney Shay, Chris Cain, Aki Kumar, Ron Thompson and more.
Dan Forte of Vintage Guitar Magazine, having interviewed JJ Cale and Eric Clapton on numerous occasions, understands the music well – "Southern soul, and country, with a helping of blues and a dash of jazz… you’ll be forgiven if you mistake Van Beek’s vocals or Byfield’s guitar (dig “Thinkin’ ’Bout You”) for JJ Cale himself… and Richmond’s humorously philosophical title tune would do Randy Newman proud."
And Rolling Stone’s David Browne is equally impressed, chiming in that, "The sultry, laid-back Tulsa groove –familiar to so many of us by way of JJ Cale and Eric Clapton records – is as resilient as ever, thanks to session veterans who’ve backed Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and many others”
Richmond who, in addition to producing the record, also plays piano, organ and drums on the project, explains, “That’s the reason I named the band the Tulsa Groove. That’s what the record is all about. Every song on it is about the groove."
Casey himself sums up Heaven Forever with typical Tulsa understatement opining that "As far as I'm concerned, we've created a laid-back casual groove record true to Tulsa tradition". Take a listen and you'll surely agree.
Check out the clever lyrics and that classic laid-back Tulsa sound on the title track.
Heaven Forever is on sale now at PortMerch as well as via Tulsa’s legendary Church Studio. It’s also available digitally on Amazon, iTunes and Spotify. For all purchase options, go to the Little Village Foundation website. You can follow Casey Van Beek and the Tulsa Groove on Facebook for more music and updates.
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