Jim Casey
Nebraska Music Hall of Fame · Inducted 2003
Jim Casey founded the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and was inducted himself in 2003. A Norfolk native, he grew up listening to the 45s that Northeast Nebraska bands cut for local labels such as Dreem Records – and then joined those bands himself. Casey played in The Classics, The Strollers, Little Joe and the Ramrods and The Smoke Ring, and was the Smoke Ring guitarist when the band recorded in Memphis at the Phillips studio, where he met Sam Phillips' son Jerry Phillips.
Musician and Songwriter
Casey later made his home in Nashville, Tennessee, as a musician and songwriter. According to the original Hall of Fame web site, his songs were recorded by artists including the Oak Ridge Boys, bluesman Albert Collins and Bobby Bare. In the mid-1970s he played lead guitar with the country-rock group Young Country, a 2004 inductee; the B-side of the band's regional hit version of "Ghost Riders in the Sky", "Blind Willie Harper", was co-written by Casey and Shel Silverstein.
Founder of the Hall of Fame and Nebraska Rocks
A tape of vintage Nebraska rock and roll compiled by Mel Sanders inspired Casey to organize the first "Nebraska Rocks" reunion concert in 1994. The reunion grew into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame, created to honor Nebraska-based musicians and the people behind the music business – ballroom owners, disc jockeys, record labels and music stores. Induction concerts followed in Norfolk, Lincoln, Omaha, Fremont, Columbus and Mitchell. In his own words: "I believe the music in Nebraskans is as endless as our panoramic sunset, and as the music travels in circles, so do we, back together again and again at our induction and reunion concerts." Read his full message from the founder.
Legacy
Jim Casey died in May 2022. His children have continued the annual Nebraska Rocks celebration in Norfolk, where new inductees are still honored, and Casey helped bring a Nebraska Rocks exhibit about the region's mid-century music scene to the Elkhorn Valley Museum in Norfolk. Many of the pages on this web site exist because he spent decades collecting the stories, photos and recordings of Nebraska musicians.
Related pages: History of the Hall of Fame · The Smoke Ring · 2003 inductees.