Mood Board is our column where artists share a few things that inspired their new record. This time, Casey Gomez Walker, who leads the Chicago alt-country band Case Oats, gives us some insight into their new record Last Missouri Exit — which is out today on Merge.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
1. Mendocino by Sir Douglas Quintet
I was listening to this record nonstop, particularly the title track, “Mendocino,” while putting together most of the songs for Last Missouri Exit (really before I ever knew I was going to make a record). I fixated on the perfect mix of messiness and put-together, thoughtful melodies and dirty, jaunty guitar lines. I said to Spencer that if I ever made an album, I’d want it to sound like Medocino. In terms of sound, it’s not a direct throughline, but I think we nailed the Sir Douglas spirit.
2. Castlewood State Park
I grew up really close to the Meramac River outside of St. Louis. The closest state park was called Castlewood. It had trails up sheer limestone bluffs that overlooked the free-flowing river. I spent a lot of time on those trails with my family and friends. Often on cold mornings, I’d let the brisk Missouri air rip out my angsty insides and replace me with a gratefulness for the surroundings. Or something like that. Every summer, a kid would drown in the Meramac in Castlewood, right next to the “Swim at your own risk” sign. It was always a shocking juxtaposition to the never-ending days I had there.
3. Edward Abbey
I went on a month-long camping trip in Utah the month after I graduated from college with my boyfriend at the time. The time and trip is referenced a lot in the album, and admittedly, it was not a very comfortable or stable time for me. But on the trip, we read The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey. A year later, when I was healing from that relationship and trip, I read Desert Solitaire. Words like, “Love flowers best in openness and freedom” healed deeply bloodied parts of myself, and made their way into this record.
4. Sisterhood
An obvious and not-so-obvious theme in everything I do. I have an older sister, a half-sister, and a sister not by blood. But to me, sisterhood means so much more than just those we have spent our lives with and who are siblings. My love for my sisters is one of the most strong and unrelenting things about me. I feel it for random women on the bus, I feel it for my all my aunties. Songs like “Hallelujah” and “Buick Door” speak to the unending anger and righteousness I feel in wanting to correct those who have wronged my sisters. bell hooks said, “Deep abiding friendships are the place where many women know lasting love.”
5. My copy of Great American Poems
I got this anthology when I was 15 at a used bookstore next to a Crazy Bowls and Wraps. I remember opening it and immediately dog-earring pages. Even if some of the poems were dusty and outdated, I loved feeling the way that the words and phrases fit together and felt in my mouth. I still reach for it now just to ground myself in the cheesy yet unignorable lines of Annabelle Lee or something similar.
