The Neal Casal Music Foundation has shared a new video for the Oteil Burbridge-sung cover of “Superhighway” featured on the 2021 tribute box set, Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal.
The video, directed by Justin Kreutzmann, was captured earlier this year at Skull & Roses festival in Ventura, CA. A mix of festival folks, live performance footage, studio clips, and layered highway shots fade in and out over an earnest Burbridge close-up as he croons the track from Casal’s 2009 LP, Roots and Wings.
The result is a visual that appears idyllic on its surface but quickly descends into something disorienting, smiling but weary. Like the track itself, the video gives due credence to the lament under the surface of the song’s cosmetic good-time veneer.
The cover, beautifully recorded by producers Dave Schools and Jim Scott, features Burbridge on bass and vocals alongside guitarist Nick Johnson, percussionist John Morgan Kimock, and drummer Duane Trucks. Guitarist Steve Kimock also plays a pivotal roll in both the recording and the video, his unmistakeable work on both guitar and lap steel lending the proceedings and authentically road-worn glow.
Oteil notably performed a set with Neal Casal and others at LOCKN’ in 2019. Casal committed suicide two days later, making that Oteil & Friends appearance his final live concert. In addition to recording “Superhighway” for the Highway Butterfly compilation, Burbridge recently performed a live rendition of the song at The Capitol Theatre, where Casal’s friends, family, and fans had come to celebrate his memory in the wake of his death.
Related: Riding The Great Sine Wave With Oteil Burbridge [Interview]
Watch the new video for Neal Casal’s “Superhighway” as recorded by Oteil Burbridge and more for Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal below. Click below to follow along with the lyrics. For more information on the Neal Casal Music Foundation and Highway Butterfly, head here.
Oteil Burbridge – “Superhighway” (Neal Casal) – Official Video
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