Owens "Boomer" Castleman (July 18, 1945 – September 1, 2015) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Career as musician

He was born and raised in

Farmers Branch, Texas Farmers Branch, officially the City of Farmers Branch, is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. It is an inner-ring suburb of Dallas and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 28,616 at the 2010 census. Known a ...

, United States. Castleman first started playing professionally at age 17 while a high school student in Dallas. He and a Ft. Worth teenager, John Deutschendorf, played on the folk circuit together, and Castleman was present at a club in Los Angeles when his friend agreed to change his name to

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

. Castleman and another musician from Dallas,

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees (TV seri ...

, then formed a band called the Survivors. When Nesmith left to help create

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

, he was replaced by Dallas native

Michael Martin Murphey Michael Martin Murphey (born March 14, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, country music and popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including ''Cowboy Songs' ...

. Soon thereafter, Castleman, Murphey, and bassist

John London John Carl Kuehne (February 6, 1942 – February 12, 2000), better known as John London, was an American musician and songwriter, and was involved in several Hollywood television and movie productions. He was most notably associated with both the ...

formed the 1960s pop group the Lewis & Clarke Expedition. They recorded a pop album in 1967 for

Colgems Colgems Records was a record label that existed from 1966 to 1971. History Colgems was a joint venture between Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, and RCA Victor to issue records by The Monkees and other artists affiliated ...

, the label that also released

. Castleman and Murphey wrote "(What Am I Doin') Hangin' Round," which was recorded by the Monkees and featured on three episodes of their television show. The duo's songs were also recorded by such musicians as

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957)Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Active since 1980, he has recorded 13 albums and releas ...

Ray Wylie Hubbard Ray Wylie Hubbard (born November 13, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter. Early life Hubbard was born in the town of Soper, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in southwest Dallas, Texas, in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High Sch ...

and

Rusty Wier Russell Allen "Rusty" Wier (May 3, 1944 – October 9, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas. Wier's career dates back to the 1960s and covers multiple music genres. Wier was the drummer in the Austin garage rock band The Wi ...

. Locally, they were probably best known for writing, "Ft. Worth, I Love You." As a solo artist, Castleman hit the US charts in 1975 with the single "Judy Mae", which peaked at No. 33. In so doing, he became a career musician sometimes considered a "one hit wonder." As a Nashville studio guitarist, Castleman backed such singers as

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted m ...

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

, and

Roy Clark Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer and musician. He is best known for having hosted ''Hee Haw'', a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influen ...

Career within music

Castleman invented the palm pedal, a device that allows guitar players to execute pedal steel-style string bends. He made his original prototype in 1968. It is marketed under the name Bigsby Palm Pedal. The original patent has expired, allowing other vendors to market similar devices, but the Bigsby/Castleman version is the original. Castleman founded the independent country music record label

BNA Records BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashvil ...

which he later sold to

BMG Music Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music c ...

Personal

He first attended

St. Mark's School of Texas The St. Mark's School of Texas is a nonsectarian preparatory day school for boys in grades 1–12 in Dallas, Texas, United States, accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest. History St. Mark's traces its origins to the T ...

and

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia Madison County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,837. It ...

before graduating from

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

. He died in September 2015, at the age of 70, and is survived by two daughters, Anne Marie and Breck.

References

External links

Official site (archived)PlayBoomer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castleman, Boomer 1945 births 2015 deaths People from Farmers Branch, Texas American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas American country guitarists Guitarists from Texas American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Texas St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni Woodberry Forest School alumni Occidental College alumni