Liz and Casey Anderson ~ A Perfect Match
Two of Country Music's most legendary personalities, Liz and Casey Anderson ignited their daughter's love for singing with the same spirit that guided her love for horses. As one of Nashville's hottest writers in the 70's, Liz's flair for wordplay was matched only by Casey's love of the game.
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Born on the plains of North Dakota in 1926, Clarence Selmer Anderson grew up in family that prided itself on its deep Norwegian roots and strong work ethic. As a mechanic 1st Class in the Navy, that work ethic served him well while he served during World War Two. But when he returned home to North Dakota after the war’s end, he found his hometown, Grand Forks, and indeed, the entire country, had changed. The plains of the northeast had lost their allure, and he dreamed of a world he only saw glimpses of as a sailor.
Those same dreams were filling the imagination of a young girl who’d just moved with her family to Grand Forks from Roseau, Minnesota. Born Elizabeth Jane Haaby, she was different from anyone Casey had ever met. Strong-willed, brilliant and beautiful, she was a naturally-gifted musician with an ear for the mandolin and the harmony she sang with her family at church on Sundays. From their first meeting, both knew they’d found a partner to set out and realize those dreams of the world together.
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Married in 1946, just months after Casey’s discharge from the Navy, Casey and Liz initially settled in Grand Forks, where, less than a later, they welcomed their first and only child, Lynn Renee Anderson. Like their marriage, her arrival would spark a major change in both of them, altering the arcs of their professional and personal lives forever.
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In 1951, that change took them across the country to Southern California, where Liz began to pursue her dream of a songwriting career in earnest, while Casey sold cars to pay the rent. For a time, even in the booming postwar economy, they struggled, but the lean times did not last long. In 1961, Liz got her first cut; a Del Reeves smash called, “Be Quiet, Mind”, that didn’t just validate Liz’s dreams, it launched them, reaching Number 9 on the billboard chart
Over the next sixteen years, she would write nearly thirty chart-busting songs for artists as diverse as Merle Haggard, Freddie Hart, Roy Drusky, Brenda Lee, and of course, her daughter, Lynn Anderson. Together with Casey, the two were among the charter members of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, carving out a legacy for themselves that included an entire community of artists, endearing them both to the scores of writers who had the privilege of knowing them, and the legions that followed, each coming to Nashville with the same dream that drew Casey and Liz Anderson from the plains of North Dakota to the heights of Music Row.
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Elizabeth Jane Anderson passed away October 31, 2011.
Her beloved Casey followed her seven years later, on November 26, 2018.