12/16/2014 The Portland Tribune, Concert preview , 'Hurt feeling his way to wider audience '

You may have not heard the name Casey Hurt, but there’s a good chance you’ve heard his voice.

A Corvallis native who lives in Los Angeles, Hurt, 30, says about 15 of his tunes have been used in such TV shows as “One Tree Hill,” “Pretty Little Liars” and “Parenthood.” Photo Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - Casey Hurts songs have been featured on various TV shows, including the CW series One Tree Hill.
Photo Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - Casey Hurts songs have been featured on various TV shows, including the CW series One Tree Hill.

The CW series “One Tree Hill” showcased two of his tunes, “Come to Me” and “Sunday Mornings.”

Hurt says the series’ producers post who composed what tunes they used at oth-music.com.

“They’re very gracious with their music,” he says. “People will hear the song and search me out.”

Speaking of which, you can find out more about Hurt at caseyhurt.com. And you don’t have to search far this week to find him live and in person — he’s set to play the Winery at McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 S.W. Halsey St., Troutdale, at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 19-20.

Both shows are free, for ages 21 and older, and you can learn more at mcmenamins.com/edgefield.

Hurt will be backed up by guitarist Nate Wagner and his wife, Alyssa Wagner, on drums, as well as Jesse Baldwin on standup bass.

Family affair

Hurt comes from a musical family — his great-grandfather was Broadway Bill, a Depression-era country music performer, and his dad, Terry Hurt, played blues and rock music and also builds guitars.

“Growing up, all we listened to was blues and soul music,” Hurt says, noting his first guitar was purchased by his mother in a pawnshop when he was 12.

“I fell in love with it almost immediately, singing and writing songs,” he says. “I felt it kind of saved me because it gave me purpose.”

Six years later, he started playing coffeehouses, having honed his style by listening to Joe Cocker, Sly Stone, the Beatles, Van Morrison and others. Another factor shaping his music: Both he and his father have been ministers.

“I’m definitely a spiritual person, and gospel music has always been a part of my life,” Hurt says, noting he spent five years in a Baptist seminary. However, he decided he wasn’t cut out for the formal religious life, and even expresses some discomfort with the word “Christian,” given its political connotations these days.

“I felt like my faith could be better lived out in the city, around a dinner table or on a stage, in the midst of normal life, rather than in an organized religion.”

We Three Themes

Hurt says most of his songs revolve around three themes: home, heartbreak and lovemaking

His new song, “Back for Me,” off his latest album “Pawnshop Gospel” — the album title itself inspired by the origin of his first guitar — tackles heartbreak.

“Even though heartbreak is a cliche song topic, there’s still a thousand different expressions for it,” he says.

He adds that he likes to write about the fact you can’t go home again as well as the fact you may nonetheless find a sense of it as you get older, in unexpected places.

“Sometimes it’s the people you’re on the journey with,” he says.

Sex is also a topic that intrigues him as a songwriter.

“It’s this beautiful expression,” he says, “but also in a lot of ways can be used hurtfully.”

Which is why he wrote “Sin Perfume,” also on his latest record.

“It’s about being at a bar and getting picked up by the devil,” he says with a chuckle.

All in all, what he’s trying to do is create aural snapshots of life.

“I want to write music that defines moments for people.”