After the breakup of Indie/emo rock band Northstar in the summer of 2005, principle songwriters Tyler Odom and Nick Torres headed back to their hometown of Huntsville, Alabama and started writing songs for their new project Cassino. Setting aside the harder and more direct instrumentation of Northstar’s sound, the duo and longtime friends decided to take a more organic approach for their new project. Nick relocated to Nashville in 2006, and they started recording their first album at House of David studios that year with Producer/Drummer Craig Krampf. Known for his work with artists such as Dolly Parton, Alabama, Townes Van Zandt and Melissa Etheridge, Krampf helped push their sound in a new direction by recording to tape, live tracking, and also brought in studio musicians (such as E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent) to help round out the album instrumentation. The project garnered some label attention due to the recognition of their former band, however Odom and Torres opted to release the album themselves independent of the influences of a record label. “Sounds of Salvation” was released in Spring of 2007 and was followed up with touring through the next year and a half before Odom left to pursue other interests, including his independent project The Wallace Virgil and collaborations with other projects and musicians.
Torres then began working on songs for a follow up album in 2008, partnering and writing with Sounds of Salvation touring bassist and fellow Alabama native Ed Puckett. Both shared an apartment in Nashville at the time, which provided a convenient outlet for collaboration. Their upstairs neighbor also happened to be an audio engineer, and loaned microphones to the duo to record ideas that ultimately turned into an album. The album was recorded mainly in the small apartment and stairwell, eventually bringing in Craig Krampf again to play drums and percussion, as well as Tripper Ryder on bass. Kevin Arrowsmith played violin, banjo and mandolin on the record and would also frequently join the group on stage in the years to come. The album “Kingprince” was released in 2009 and was a slight departure from previous recordings due to its raw and subdued sound. Torres and Puckett would then tour for the next couple of years as a duo, mostly doing acoustic shows on the road, occasionally appearing with a full band for shows in Nashville. A “B-sides” record consisting of alternate recordings and demos from this album eventually came out in 2011, titled “The Weight of Bother”.
Torres began writing for the next record sporadically in the following years, also with contributions from Puckett, and the next album would eventually be tracked with the help of fellow Alabamian John Hefley in a log cabin north of Nashville. Ryder and Arrowsmith would contribute again on this recording, along with Jeff Potter on drums and percussion. The 6 song EP titled “Bottlenecker” was released in 2016. Shows have been sporadic and few and far between since 2016, occasionally playing the Bluebird in Nashville.
Writing for the next record began in 2018, and Torres decided to take a more polished approach for the newer set of songs, deciding against home recording and making use of an actual studio for a majority of the tracking. It was written, produced and mixed by Torres and engineered by John Hefley. Torres played all the instrumentation on the record, and linked up with former Northstar drummer Gabe Renfroe as well as Craig Krampf who added percussion. The album is titled “Yellowhammer” and was released in March of 2020.