Third Rail had an interesting birth. The band began to form in the spring of 2018 when band leader/lead singer Casey Jones was asked if he could play a 100 year anniversary street dance in Lingle Wyoming. After saying “Yeah I have a band, sure I can play a 4 hour street dance”, the pressure was on because at the time he was only playing live occasionally with fiddle player Logan Feezer and his cousin local musician Alan Jones. So 3 months till the scheduled gig the search began for a “one gig band”…

Casey had just met electric guitar player Bill Snow, and asked if Bill would be interested in playing some country music for just one street dance. Bill said he would take a look at the music and offered the possibility of a drummer joining the group for the gig, his good friend and former band mate Devin Smith. The two had been looking for a new band to get involved with after recently dissolving their Cheyenne WY band “6-Grand” and liked what they heard from the sample playlist. Needless to say the rag-tag group {Casey, Alan, Bill and Devin (Logan practiced with the group but was not able to attend the gig)} pieced together what they could and pulled off the street dance performing under the name “Casey Jones and the TrainWreck”. Thankfully the event went well and they received very positive feedback from Goshen County friends and the town of Lingle. After the performance Casey, Bill, and Devin huddled up and decided that they really enjoyed playing together and might as well move forward and see if they could put together a solid line-up of players, an expanded playlist, and a signature sound…

The Team…

Third Rail started with 4 core players and has stayed with this lineup since the birth of the band in 2018. Casey Jones, Lead Singer/Acoustic Guitar/Mando. Bill Snow, Lead Guitar/Lap Steel. Logan Feezer, Fiddle/Electric Guitar. Devin Smith, Drums/Harmony Vocals. There has been some fluctuation on Bass Guitar players and the newest player is Connor Koch from Cheyenne Wyoming, who just joined the group in the summer of ’23… Connor is a Civil Engineer by day, rock star by night!

Pick a Name…

As mentioned above the band had originally been called “Casey Jones and the TrainWreck” since Casey shares his name with the famous train engineer. (Johnathan “Casey” Jones the engineer died in 1900 in a historic train crash where he heroically sacrificed himself and saved everyone aboard his passenger train by staying aboard and riding the break before his train collided with a broken down train in his path near Canton, Mississippi.)… but Cheyenne had just had a horrific train wreck up on the summit between Cheyenne and Laramie that took the lives of 2 Cheyenne residence- and the band thought it was now inappropriate to perform under that name… So a search began to change the name, but to stay affiliated with trains somehow… they began to search train/railroad jargon and the term “Third Rail” jumped out immediately to them.

THIRD RAIL?

-A “Third Rail” is an additional rail added to a railway locomotive or train supplying electrical current.

-“Third rail” also politically refers to a subject or issue considered too controversial to discuss. (touching on a “third-rail” issue usually leads to political demise!)

THIRD RAIL- plays cover music and original music.

COVER MUSIC- consists of older country favorites (Merle Haggard, Vince Gill etc…), Newer Texas/Oklahoma country music (Turnpike Troubadours, Stoney LaRue, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Kevin Fowler, Cody Johnson), and just a few 80/90s rock songs.

ORIGINAL MUSIC- The band has recently settled into building up its repertoire of original music! Originals consist of songs written by Casey from the early 2000’s up to songs he’s written currently about life experiences and journeys along the way. The first album “Centerline” is currently available on CD at any Third Rail gig, and is available on digital platforms! It was produced by Casey’s brother Adam Jones from his home in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Cassette #2 is in the works… just need to find time to record it!

Needless to say what started out as a one gig band has developed into something pretty interesting and a complete joy for the Wyoming Country Band –THIRD RAIL!– Casey Jones, Logan Feezer, Bill Snow, Devin Smith, and Connor Koch.