406-245-0734

 T.J. Casey wears many hats, but this

performer's favorite is that of cowboy

Courtesy of
Yellowstone County News
by Nicole Donally

December 2003

 

LOCKWOOD - T.J. Casey wears many hats, but this performer's favorite is that of cowboy.

"If I could make a living at it, and still do what I love to do with the writing and performing, I would be doing it," says Casey

of spending life in the saddle.

These days the Lockwood cowboy poet and singer/songwriter can be spotted in a myriad of places, from the recording studio

 to the classroom to the open plains near the Pryor Mountains.

Casey explains that he grew up cowboying, spent some time on the rodeo circuit, logged time in Nashville and was a certified

welder and ironworker before he settled into the rhythm of the present. Now, any given day will find Casey writing his poetry

and songs, giving workshops and seminars on cowboy poetry, working with local 4-H kids, creating horseshoe and cowboy rope

art and furniture, shoeing horses, running horse training clinics or training his own horses with his other business,

"From the Ground Up."

 A great day for Casey consists of cowboy work with a buddy, whether it's helping to build fence or rounding up horses.

And then there are the performances, which can include private shows, assemblies, fairs, festivals and other occasions

that put Casey behind the mike.

Casey's most recent "job" was a workshop with Bonnie Ortner's eighth grade English class in the Huntley Project Schools, where

 he spent time teaching students about cowboy poetry. "It's our heritage and our culture and our roots," he explains. "We need to

 continue on with it." As the only cowboy poet on the Montana Arts Council, Casey is a unique member on a roster of artists who

are brought in to work with students.

He has been the graduation speaker for the fifth grade DARE program three times, with another graduation on the agenda in

January. "I give a positive note to everything the kids have done," he explains, adding that he quit chewing a year ago and hasn't

smoked since 1996.

Another opportunity to reach students is being afforded by 4-H this year, as the organization has started a cowboy poetry project

 for its members.

Casey's shows are a mix of songs, jokes and poetry. "It's clean family fun," he says. "No off-color humor." He does everything from

private parties to large shows. As an example of his versatile talent, another January commitment includes two school assemblies,

 a night show and a workshop with the school in Worland, Wyo.

Casey's given surname is Cantin, but, he jokes, "the name has been changed to protect my parents." He generally uses both Cantin

and Casey regularly, but explains that with his expanding music business, "Casey" is what he has been using almost exclusively these days.

A lifelong performer, Casey learned his first guitar chords at the early age of five. By 14, he had written his first poem, and, he

says, "I just started writing more and more." By the time he was 18, Casey was writing music to fit his songs. "Not what you'd call '

hits,'" he shares, "but they were mine, and they were coming from my heart and my brain."

He credits country music legend Chris LeDoux with putting him on his first bareback horse in 1976. "Not a successful ride," he

reminisces. But that type of influence led him to start getting serious about the music business while he was rodeoing. "Back of

the chutes is actually where I got most of my experience," he says. He and others would sit around singing Marty Robbins songs

and others they had written.

Later, while in Tucson, Ariz., a visitor might have seen Casey playing his guitar while riding his old jenny mule backwards down the

street. "That's how I got people to come ride my stagecoach," he says, adding that he also drove teams and shod horses for

 Universal Studios while there.

Although he spent time in Nashville from 1982-88 "beating the streets like every other musician, trying to sell my songs," he says—a family

tragedy in 1988 caused him to quit the music business. The music bug would not quit him, however, and in 2002 Casey was back in the

studio, recording Blue Montana Skies. Released in October of 2002, by January 2003 the album had earned a spot on the Roots Music

Chart, an international record chart "mostly for independents who stick our necks out," Casey explains. By March he had been

nominated for 10 awards through the Academy of Western Artists out of Guthrie, Okla., and Blue Montana Skies was in the top five

 of western swing albums.

Currently, Casey's work is heard on 500 radio stations nationwide, 40 stations overseas and close to 20 stations in Canada.
"Everything I write now has got to be happening or did happen," Casey shares. "Ninety percent of everything that I write happened

to me or somebody that I was around or with."

Casey has earned over 30 awards for singing, songwriting and in the cowboy poetry field. He's received some international poetry awards,

and a sample of his work is currently being published in an anthology of the top 40 cowboy poets in the nation. In addition, he writes a

monthly column, "The Poet's Pen," in Working Horse Magazine.

This Montana native was raised in the Pryor Mountains "on the Montana/Wyoming border." He spent time in the Clyde Park/Livingston

area and graduated from high school in Lima, Mont., but longed to return to this area. "I guess it was a yearning to come back and see

what it was like where I was raised," he explains. "I've always liked this country." He talks about the mountains, the canyons, the bluffs

and the trees like a true poet, and adds "I've always enjoyed the people."

Casey and his wife, Marcie, make their home on the outskirts of Lockwood with their "kids"—"who are all hairy and four-legged," they

 being the family dogs.

For more information on Casey's shows, see his website at www.tjcasey.net or contact him at 245-0734.
 

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