I’m pretty sure that ass-kickings were regular occurrences for kids toting around a violin back in school.  Nowadays, the surge of fiddle-driven rock blasting through mainstream with Mumford & Sons and the Zac Brown Band, et al., makes come-uppance pretty sweet.  To the former band geeks that are now revered for their intelligence, skill, and commitment to their classical foundations, I say, if it ain’t baroque…well, you know.

Casey Driessen is a renowned bluegrass fiddle player that is known all throughout the world for his versatile style of percussive and inventive playing.  A curious man with mad professor hair and a knack for the fiddle had me riddled with questions.

Listing “Fiddler at Myself” as his occupation on Facebook (heh heh heh Beavis), I got to interview him at Atlanta’s private venue Grocery on Home as he was performing with Ben Sollee.  I got to watch their sound check and it was like Ben, Casey, and Ben’s drummer Jordon were talking their very own MENSA-fueled musical language.  What came out was pure brilliance.  Berklee Graduate Driessen now resides in Asheville, North Carolina and shockingly admits he has a plant problem in our interview.  I know, I uncover some truly earthshaking details.  While I was too chicken to ask Casey if he DID get his ass kicked in school, he did have interesting things to say about ad libbing and playing with himself.  Yup, I said it.

As soon as you watch the one-take video below, you’ll understand why this Grammy-nominated artist has captivated the music world with his one-man show complete with his signature red shoes.  Having a uniquely strong fan base in Asia as well as well-known for collaborations with Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn, and Sollee, he is embarking on his Singularity tour this Spring.  He’s a total madman on the fiddle.  Watching Driessen play is like watching Einstein coming up with the theory of relativity for the fiddle.

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