The Sit Down with Casey Muessigmann
His website has the slogan “Dream Big, Live Big” and that just really sums up the positivity and personality of Iowa born Casey Muessigmann who some people may be familiar with from his time on Blake Shelton’s team during season three of The Voice. Since his time on The Voice, Casey has shared the stage with the likes Granger Smith, Scotty McCreery, Craig Campbell, Randy Houser, Eli Young Band, Thomas Rhett, Blake Shelton, Lee Brice, Jake Owen and Florida Georgia Line but now he is excited to be sharing new music for the first time in seven years with his brand new single “This Truck’s Seen It All” being released on August 26th which follows last months “I Love Jesus, but I Drink a Little” release. Through the magic of Zoom connecting Croydon in South London on this side of the pond with Ames in Iowa, we got to know Casey and had an absolute blast hearing about his story and new music that is on the way.
“I grew up in church school so every Friday morning we would go to mass and always enjoyed the music a lot, I tried to sing and my grandma who lived in South Dakota was always trying to get me hooked on some kind of old country whenever she got me in the car. When I was about eight years old, I heard Toby Keith for the first time, there’s a song called “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and it just clicked. I fell in love, I fell fast and hard. My grandma passed away about fifteen years ago but that was the last song that I sang for her, so that’s kind of where I got my musical start. I did a few talent competitions, I auditioned for American Idol when I was seventeen. They said they loved my voice and personality but didn’t look like what they wanted then when I was in college in Sioux City, Iowa at a school called Morningside, I did wrestling and I injured my knee so my roommate signed me up for The Voice. They knew if I went to the national tournament and couldn’t wrestle, I would be difficult to be around because I’m very competitive. I don’t know man. I stepped on that stage, I wasn’t nervous, I figured what’s the worst that could happen? If I do my best and if it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough but I turned Blake around, turned CeeLo around and the next thing I know I had a decision to make. Do I go back to school or do I chase this music thing and I hit the ground running, picked up my guitar, taught myself a couple of cowboy chords so I could write some songs and I’ve been working on it for around eight years now. A lot of people wish they could do something they enjoy and you hear it all the time that if you do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life which is where I’m at.”
“I grew up in church school so every Friday morning we would go to mass and always enjoyed the music a lot, I tried to sing and my grandma who lived in South Dakota was always trying to get me hooked on some kind of old country whenever she got me in the car. When I was about eight years old, I heard Toby Keith for the first time, there’s a song called “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” and it just clicked. I fell in love, I fell fast and hard. My grandma passed away about fifteen years ago but that was the last song that I sang for her, so that’s kind of where I got my musical start. I did a few talent competitions, I auditioned for American Idol when I was seventeen. They said they loved my voice and personality but didn’t look like what they wanted then when I was in college in Sioux City, Iowa at a school called Morningside, I did wrestling and I injured my knee so my roommate signed me up for The Voice. They knew if I went to the national tournament and couldn’t wrestle, I would be difficult to be around because I’m very competitive. I don’t know man. I stepped on that stage, I wasn’t nervous, I figured what’s the worst that could happen? If I do my best and if it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough but I turned Blake around, turned CeeLo around and the next thing I know I had a decision to make. Do I go back to school or do I chase this music thing and I hit the ground running, picked up my guitar, taught myself a couple of cowboy chords so I could write some songs and I’ve been working on it for around eight years now. A lot of people wish they could do something they enjoy and you hear it all the time that if you do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life which is where I’m at.”
So, was country always going to the musical direction and what else influenced you musically?
“Country was always going to be the direction I went but I’m influenced by a lot of things. The whole boyband thing when I grew up with *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys then went through a southern rock phase when I was in third grade. My parents sent me off to church camp for a week during the summer and I came home playing poker and listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd so I’ve been loving it ever since. Also, my favourite band are Shinedown so a lot of my newer music is a little bit heavier with a rock influence but country is a mindset. One of my favourite quotes is that country music is three chords and the truth, I’ve always felt that and the mark of a good song is that I feel it was written about me. You listen to a good country song, it just hits you and there’s something for every mood too.”
Looking ahead to music that is coming out now and in the next couple of months, it’s going to be a really exciting time with some of people’s best work on the way given how long people have had to work on it:
“Absolutely, all people have had to do for the last year is sit in their living room and write! Then this, Zoom and being able to talk to someone and write with someone that is like heck, you’re across the ocean which is a lot of miles and here we are literally with me on my driveway and you in your living room talking, isn’t that so cool? I was talking to someone last night about if what has happened came twenty years ago, what did we do before streaming services where you actually had to watch what was on television at that specific time. I had gone down a rabbit hole last night, I bartend part-time and I love the conversation because there are people from all walks of life that come into this little bar, it’s not the Ritz, it’s a small-town bar in the middle of Ames, Iowa and I love it because it’s got so much personality. My favourite part is that you’ll get people from twenty-one to about seventy and each and every one of them gives me shit and I give it right back but it’s my jam and I come up with song ideas just talking to people and seeing what they have gone through. I went without that for like six months whilst we were shut down and I was just stuck at home mowing my yard so I was on my phone more then than I was ever because I’m a people person and I love talking to people so thank God for Zoom, Facebook and all that stuff just to give you an avenue to reach people, so without technology I kind of shudder where I’d be today but at the same time I hated it! The first time I played a show in front of people, I had been doing living room shows and the first time I did one I was so hyped to play in person! We had people reaching out to us to do private parties for like thirty people but it felt like five hundred after sitting in my living room and singing to myself. Reading people’s comments is not the same as seeing the reaction on their face and I love it.”
“Country was always going to be the direction I went but I’m influenced by a lot of things. The whole boyband thing when I grew up with *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys then went through a southern rock phase when I was in third grade. My parents sent me off to church camp for a week during the summer and I came home playing poker and listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd so I’ve been loving it ever since. Also, my favourite band are Shinedown so a lot of my newer music is a little bit heavier with a rock influence but country is a mindset. One of my favourite quotes is that country music is three chords and the truth, I’ve always felt that and the mark of a good song is that I feel it was written about me. You listen to a good country song, it just hits you and there’s something for every mood too.”
Looking ahead to music that is coming out now and in the next couple of months, it’s going to be a really exciting time with some of people’s best work on the way given how long people have had to work on it:
“Absolutely, all people have had to do for the last year is sit in their living room and write! Then this, Zoom and being able to talk to someone and write with someone that is like heck, you’re across the ocean which is a lot of miles and here we are literally with me on my driveway and you in your living room talking, isn’t that so cool? I was talking to someone last night about if what has happened came twenty years ago, what did we do before streaming services where you actually had to watch what was on television at that specific time. I had gone down a rabbit hole last night, I bartend part-time and I love the conversation because there are people from all walks of life that come into this little bar, it’s not the Ritz, it’s a small-town bar in the middle of Ames, Iowa and I love it because it’s got so much personality. My favourite part is that you’ll get people from twenty-one to about seventy and each and every one of them gives me shit and I give it right back but it’s my jam and I come up with song ideas just talking to people and seeing what they have gone through. I went without that for like six months whilst we were shut down and I was just stuck at home mowing my yard so I was on my phone more then than I was ever because I’m a people person and I love talking to people so thank God for Zoom, Facebook and all that stuff just to give you an avenue to reach people, so without technology I kind of shudder where I’d be today but at the same time I hated it! The first time I played a show in front of people, I had been doing living room shows and the first time I did one I was so hyped to play in person! We had people reaching out to us to do private parties for like thirty people but it felt like five hundred after sitting in my living room and singing to myself. Reading people’s comments is not the same as seeing the reaction on their face and I love it.”
You put out “I Love Jesus, but I drink a Little” last month and now we have “This Truck’s Seen It All” coming out before an album is on the way in Autumn but this has been the first new music from you for quite a while:
“It’s been seven years! In that time I went through a lot in my personal life, I was married and I got divorced, I won’t dive into that but that challenged me and kind of made me go back to the drawing board to figure out who I want to be as a man, as a songwriter and as an artist. I’m very happy with where I am right now and in the process of all of this, I’m seeing someone new. I went to therapy which is not something I ever thought I would do but it helped a lot and got me in touch with a side of myself that I forget was there and I write from that part of my heart. I had put up a wall for a long time to stop myself from showing emotion because stereotypically over here, people think men just need to be strong and not talk about it, if you’re frustrated just shut up and go to work. I had that mindset, I wrestled in college and I’m a man’s man but that’s the side of my heart I write from and when I started healing that part of my heart, songwriting became so much easier and so much more effective for me. I was hitting parts of myself that I hadn’t seen in years and I started getting emotional when I was writing. I felt it was here and I had been waiting for that since I started writing nine years ago. I was waiting to write one song that would mess me up and I’ve seen the teaser for the “This Truck’s Seen It All” video but even though I’d heard the song a thousand times, I wrote it and took it to the studio but coupled with the video it hit me. It’s been a long road but I’m happy I’m here.”
In regard to new single “This Truck’s Seen It All” Casey had previously shared the story behind the song: "When I was 13 years old, my dad bought a midnight blue 2002 Dodge Ram. We spent countless hours installing lights, step rails, and other accessories, and from that moment on, it was my dream vehicle. I finally inherited it at the age of 24, and wasted no time making countless memories. It moved to Nashville with me. It travelled back and forth to countless shows with me. It was there with me as I grew up and became a man. That truck saw it all." Expanding on this, can you tell us a bit more about the writing process and bringing this song to life?
“I remember when I showed up to that co-write, they asked if I had any ideas and I was just feeling this chord progression and a melody idea. One of the guys I was writing with, Todd Cameron said we should write a truck song because he’d been trying to write a truck song, then Tyler Hammond threw out a couple of ideas and I don’t know how it happened but we got to the end of the chorus then put the extra riff in and we were like we did it! It’s about not overthinking too much and instead of saying that blue truck, saying that midnight blue Dodge, just finding a way to twist words like how you talked about it being the metaphor rather than the physical truck.”
Looking beyond “This Truck’s Seen It All” what’s the plan with further new releases in the run up to bringing out the new album?
“We’re going to do a couple more singles and actually, the next single after “This Truck’s Seen It All” is probably my favourite song for the album. The idea was we put out “I Love Jesus, but I drink a Little” so people think he’s releasing music again, then the next song is a little bit more powerful with the video and I full release that I really care about and the third song just BAM! Hammer it with full promotion! I didn’t realise I was going to be this excited for “This Truck’s Seen It All” and I’m so excited for “Stuck” which will be next and my plans for the song after that are pretty big, so are probably looking at three more singles after this. Right now I have ten songs which is a full length album but I kind of selfishly want people to only listen to one song at a time so they are just focused on that one idea at a time just like you are and you don’t forget that. I don’t want to be forgettable, if I have any sort of platform to stand on to tell people what I feel about something, I want them to listen to what I have to say one sentence at a time which is what I’m looking forward to most. I already have studio time for next month to work on the NEXT album, looking at doing two tracks for that and then do a Christmas track, which I’ve never done before but have always wanted to because I love Christmas music but just never taken the time to do it. If I’m releasing a track each month through October, I need something for November and the run up to Christmas so would be a perfectly logical slot for that to drop in. Writing a Christmas song, not everybody does that but I want to that, it’s a challenge because it’s not like you can just write about whatever the hell you want to and you have to fit yourself into a box for once so bring it on.”
“It’s been seven years! In that time I went through a lot in my personal life, I was married and I got divorced, I won’t dive into that but that challenged me and kind of made me go back to the drawing board to figure out who I want to be as a man, as a songwriter and as an artist. I’m very happy with where I am right now and in the process of all of this, I’m seeing someone new. I went to therapy which is not something I ever thought I would do but it helped a lot and got me in touch with a side of myself that I forget was there and I write from that part of my heart. I had put up a wall for a long time to stop myself from showing emotion because stereotypically over here, people think men just need to be strong and not talk about it, if you’re frustrated just shut up and go to work. I had that mindset, I wrestled in college and I’m a man’s man but that’s the side of my heart I write from and when I started healing that part of my heart, songwriting became so much easier and so much more effective for me. I was hitting parts of myself that I hadn’t seen in years and I started getting emotional when I was writing. I felt it was here and I had been waiting for that since I started writing nine years ago. I was waiting to write one song that would mess me up and I’ve seen the teaser for the “This Truck’s Seen It All” video but even though I’d heard the song a thousand times, I wrote it and took it to the studio but coupled with the video it hit me. It’s been a long road but I’m happy I’m here.”
In regard to new single “This Truck’s Seen It All” Casey had previously shared the story behind the song: "When I was 13 years old, my dad bought a midnight blue 2002 Dodge Ram. We spent countless hours installing lights, step rails, and other accessories, and from that moment on, it was my dream vehicle. I finally inherited it at the age of 24, and wasted no time making countless memories. It moved to Nashville with me. It travelled back and forth to countless shows with me. It was there with me as I grew up and became a man. That truck saw it all." Expanding on this, can you tell us a bit more about the writing process and bringing this song to life?
“I remember when I showed up to that co-write, they asked if I had any ideas and I was just feeling this chord progression and a melody idea. One of the guys I was writing with, Todd Cameron said we should write a truck song because he’d been trying to write a truck song, then Tyler Hammond threw out a couple of ideas and I don’t know how it happened but we got to the end of the chorus then put the extra riff in and we were like we did it! It’s about not overthinking too much and instead of saying that blue truck, saying that midnight blue Dodge, just finding a way to twist words like how you talked about it being the metaphor rather than the physical truck.”
Looking beyond “This Truck’s Seen It All” what’s the plan with further new releases in the run up to bringing out the new album?
“We’re going to do a couple more singles and actually, the next single after “This Truck’s Seen It All” is probably my favourite song for the album. The idea was we put out “I Love Jesus, but I drink a Little” so people think he’s releasing music again, then the next song is a little bit more powerful with the video and I full release that I really care about and the third song just BAM! Hammer it with full promotion! I didn’t realise I was going to be this excited for “This Truck’s Seen It All” and I’m so excited for “Stuck” which will be next and my plans for the song after that are pretty big, so are probably looking at three more singles after this. Right now I have ten songs which is a full length album but I kind of selfishly want people to only listen to one song at a time so they are just focused on that one idea at a time just like you are and you don’t forget that. I don’t want to be forgettable, if I have any sort of platform to stand on to tell people what I feel about something, I want them to listen to what I have to say one sentence at a time which is what I’m looking forward to most. I already have studio time for next month to work on the NEXT album, looking at doing two tracks for that and then do a Christmas track, which I’ve never done before but have always wanted to because I love Christmas music but just never taken the time to do it. If I’m releasing a track each month through October, I need something for November and the run up to Christmas so would be a perfectly logical slot for that to drop in. Writing a Christmas song, not everybody does that but I want to that, it’s a challenge because it’s not like you can just write about whatever the hell you want to and you have to fit yourself into a box for once so bring it on.”
The new single "This Truck's Seen It All" from Casey Muessigmann is released on August 26th which is available on iTunes HERE and the new album is on the way in Autumn. You can find out more about Casey on his WEBSITE and keep up to date with him socially on INSTAGRAM TWITTER FACEBOOK TIKTOK YOUTUBE
