Today would have been Neal’s 54th birthday and I’ve been immersed in a bottomless well of his unreleased solo songs from many years ago. Plans are afoot to release an album of some of his 90’s demos in 2023 and it’s been incredible digging thru the vast archives he left behind and hearing some of these beautiful songs 30 years later, songs that were the soundtrack to our friendship all those years ago. More details to come soon on this archival project, but for his birthday I wanted to share this sweet cover he did of “Greatest Friend”, a song written by Mike Heron of The Incredible String Band in 1968. Neal recorded this in the late 90’s and I found it in a box of cassettes of his home recordings. Jim Scott managed to beautify the audio and we recruited Neal’s great friends Jon Graboff, Jeff Hill and Jesse Aycock to add some new touches on acoustic guitar, bass and harmony vocals, respectively. I think Neal would happily approve. Hope you enjoy it. Happy birthday, old friend. -Gary The greatest friend I have in life Has brought me here to dwell A while among your green green hills And by the watery well The waters from that wondrous well Have made my eyes to see And loosed my tongue to sing with joy That such a friend can be My greatest friend I have in life Was hidden long from me Above the mountains cold and wide Beneath the sacred tree That sacred tree whose bark I touched Whose leaves did tell to me The ancient tales that made me sure My friend would come to me The greatest friend a song has given To sing where I may go To sing among your green green hills And where the waters flow The waters from that wondrous well Have made my eyes to see And made my mind to ever show My greatest friend to me 📸 @christy_coleman #nealcasal #nealcasalmusicfoundation #nealcasalforever #incrediblestringband