Casey Kelly is an American songwriter and musician. Kelly has written several

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-nominated songs. His many hits include four Top Ten Country Music Hits: "

Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight" is a song written by Julie Didier and Casey Kelly, and recorded by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. It was released in August 1978 as the second single from the album '' Every Time Two Foo ...

" by

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

and

Dottie West Dorothy Marie Marsh West (October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most in ...

(Grammy Nominated), "Soon" by

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

(Grammy Nominated), "Somewhere Down the Line" by T G Shepherd and country music standard, "

The Cowboy Rides Away "The Cowboy Rides Away" is a song written by Sonny Throckmorton and Casey Kelly, and recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in January 1985 as the second single from his album ''Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mi ...

" by

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...

. He works as a session player and singer and performs in clubs and concerts for audiences throughout the US and Europe. A frequent mentor, panelist and workshop contributor, Casey is a member of

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, NSAI the

Songwriters Guild of America The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) is an organization founded in 1931, to help "advance, promote, and benefit" the profession of songwriters. It was founded as the Songwriters Protective Association by Billy Rose, George W. Meyer and Edgar Le ...

Board of Councilors. ''The'' ''Complete Idiot's Guide to the Art of Songwriting'' is his first published book.

Music career

Kelly began his career performing in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

with a local group known as the Greek Fountains. He then moved to New York City to work as a session musician and singer, songwriter, arranger, music publisher, record producer and record company executive. He toured with

Tom Rush Thomas Walker Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist and songwriter who helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and has continued his own singing career for 60 years. Life and ...

, playing guitar, harmonica, and piano and then went to Los Angeles where he signed a recording deal with producer Joe Wissert through

Warner Brothers Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. After releasing a single at Warner Brothers Records he moved on to

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

and formed the Luziana Band which was recorded by Jim Hilton. His next label deal was at

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

where he worked with producer Richard Sanford Orshoff, recording two nationally acclaimed LP's, "Casey Kelly" and "For Sale". He toured extensively opening shows and performing with various acts including

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

Songwriting career

Recruited by famous publisher/producer Bob Montgomery, Kelly moved to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

in 1978, where he has lived ever since writing songs for many of the major publishers and artists. In addition to his top ten country hits, he also wrote “

That Road Not Taken "That Road Not Taken" is a song recorded by American country music artist Joe Diffie. It was released in August 1995 as the fifth and final single from his 1994 album ''Third Rock from the Sun''. The song reached #40 on the ''Billboard (magazine), ...

” by

Joe Diffie Joe Logan Diffie (December 28, 1958 – March 29, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. After working as a demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and 2004, Diffie ...

, "Only Game in Town" by America and "Resign Yourself" by the

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band. Constant ...

. He also had a radio hit with his own song "Poor Boy".

Chart singles

The following is a list of Casey Kelly compositions that were chart hits.

Recordings by Casey Kelly

*1972: "Casey Kelly" – Casey Kelly *1973:
For Sale
– Casey Kelly *1995: "Himownself: The Hits" - Casey Kelly *2017: "The Long Road to You" - Kelly&Ellis (Casey Kelly and Leslie Ellis)

Books Written by Casey Kelly

In 2011, Kelly and co-writer David Hodge released a self-help text for songwriters entitled ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Art of Songwriting''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Casey Living people American country songwriters American male songwriters Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee 1949 births