Born in Virgie, Kentucky, Jack Casey began his career as a guitar-playing bluegrass lead singer, but an auto accident forced him to give up the road. In order to stay in the music business, he established Rome Recording Studio at 1414 East Broad Street in Columbus. He engineered independent sessions and also started his own record labels: Rome and Starr. He was able to attract name bluegrass musicians to Rome, including the Country Gentlemen, Hylo Brown, Eddie Adcock and II Generation, Reno and Smiley and Bill Harrell, and Lawrence Lane. He also engineered sessions using southwestern Ohio musicians which were released on Rural Rhythm Records of California. Jack Casey had an album of his own on Rural Rhythm and a handful of singles on Rome, Starr, Tag, Nugget, Early Bird, and Starday. The Starday recordings were made with banjo player Meredith “Mike” Miller, who was best-known for the instrumental “The Banjo and the Butterfly.” The Dry Branch Fire Squad recorded material released on Rounder at Rome Studio, which was relocated to 3970 South High Street, Columbus, in 1991.
CASEY, (CASEBOLT) JACK (-1999)