Rea-living the Memories: Paul Casey on The Chris Rea Experience

For Paul Casey, the story starts in 1993, in the record shop where he worked. A Warner Music representative - the label that represented Chris Rea at the time - came into the store and struck up a conversation with him.

"Me being so young and so into Chris Rea at the time was a bit weird because most of the people that I knew at 18, it was their fathers that were the fans."

Chris was performing in Belfast and, lo and behold, Paul was given a backstage pass. He had already been in the audience for two of Chris' previous concerts - but the third time proved to be the charm.

"I met him, and he was lovely, and he spoke to me about slide guitar and how to set up my pedals and my amp to get that sound."

The sound he's referring to is Chris' signature emotive, weeping slide-guitar phrasing, heavily influenced by pioneers like Charley Patton - Father of the Delta Blues.

When the opportunity came up to go backstage again - this time in London - Paul came prepared. "I had a demo tape on cassette, and I gave it to his drummer, Martin Ditcham."

Back in the record shop in Belfast, Paul got a call. "I was out on lunch, and I came into the guys saying my mum had called, and that Chris Rea's just after phoning the house.

"I was totally convinced it was a wind-up, but my mum phoned back and said they're going to call you tomorrow." Paul made sure to be there.

Soon enough, Chris' personal assistant, Dubliner Mary Nolan, had Chris waiting to speak with him. "Can you talk?" she asked me. "Chris came on the line, and I nearly fell off my chair." Paul's demo tape had been passed on to Chris, who was impressed.

"He said he couldn't believe the guitar playing; he let his daughter Josephine hear it, and she said, 'We've got to break this guy's fingers because it's so close to you." It wasn't just Paul's abilities on the guitar that impressed Chris. According to Paul, he loved "the real Celtic thing" in his voice.

Chris wrote an album for Paul and sent over some demos, "to see if I liked them, and of course I loved them." This led to an invitation to Chris' studio in London, where the pair recorded an album together in the summer of 1998.

Walking into the studio, Paul noticed two things: a red Stratocaster, Pinky, and a blue Stratocaster, Bluey. "I had seen these guitars at gigs and in pictures, and walking through his studio and seeing the guitars sitting there, I nearly fainted." Within half an hour, Paul was recording songs.  

It was here that the mentoring bond between the two began to take shape.

"I was so nervous," Paul remembers. "He told me, 'Look, you've passed the audition; this is good - it's going to work'. After that I relaxed, and I spent that magical summer recording and mixing an album with Chris."

From that moment on, as well as making a name for himself with his own music, Paul would accompany Chris on international tours, spending years opening his concerts before becoming a core member of his live band as rhythm guitarist. He also went on to work as a key contributor and engineer on major Rea projects, including Chris' 23rd studio album, The Santo Spirito Blues. 

“There are so many memories,” he recalls. “Even recently, I was at home watching YouTube, and a live video of me touring with Chris in Europe back in 2010 came up, and I said to my wife, ‘I still pinch myself that I was his guitarist.”

The idea of doing a night performing Chris’ music was always in the back of Paul’s mind. “Chris at the time had retired from touring due to his health issues, and I wanted to do something different, just a nod to Chris to honour his music.”

The idea became a reality when Paul’s drummer, Liam Bradley, mentioned the possibility of putting on a show, and REA-IMAGINED, a specially curated Chris Rea tribute show, was established. 

In late 2024, a slot at the Derry Jazz Festival became available. Paul had already spoken to Chris about the idea, and, with Rea’s blessing, the show went ahead to great acclaim. “A promoter in London got interested, and it’s just grown now.” The Chris Rea Experience had only started to blossom when Chris passed away at the age of 74 on December 22, 2025.

“It was heartbreaking for me in December when Chris passed away,” Paul says. “I was telling him about the gigs and how well they were going, and he was fascinated. It felt so good to do this, and I felt like I was really honouring Chris.”

Since his passing, that feeling has only grown stronger. “The only reason I do this is that I love Chris’ music; the only reason I ever picked up a guitar is because of Chris Rea. It feels right for me to do this.” 

But if they were going to do it, they had to do it right. As a Chris Rea fan, Paul had his own red Strat. “His is from the 1960s, and it’s really beat up. His house got flooded many years ago, and the guitar lay in floodwater for weeks, so all the paint had peeled off. Plus, he toured with it for his whole career, so it looked really weathered and battered.” 

While in Derry for the Jazz Festival, the band stumbled across local artist and fellow Rea enthusiast Gerry Moran. Much consideration was given to how accurately they were going to replicate the iconic Strat. “He said I can take your guitar and paint the stickers that Chris has on his,” Paul remembers.

“I told him just to take the guitar and see if you can beat it up a bit like Pinky, and he did.” Paul showed the finished guitar to Chris during a visit in 2025, and even Rea agreed that the painstaking effort had been worthwhile. 

Once the instruments had been perfected, it was on to the music - no easy feat when faced with a recorded catalogue spanning 25 studio albums and 14 compilation records. “There was an era in the ‘80s where Chris had three albums out in a row,” Paul says.

"Wired to the Moon, Shamrock Diaries, and On the Beach. Shamrock Diaries is my bible, and it has some amazing songs like 'Stainsby Girls', 'Steel River', and my favourite Chris Rea song of all time is 'Chisel Hill'. "It's on that album. so I tend to go back to that stuff.

‘Driving Home for Christmas’ regularly returns to the European charts each December, and has naturally found its way into the setlist during the festive season. Keeping the biggest songs in mind, Paul says they’ve started to add more from the newer catalogue, as well as a few bluesier tracks, to their upcoming sets. “It's an evolving thing, because he’s had so many records and there are so many hits, there’s a wealth of songs to choose from.” Chris enjoyed a dedicated Irish following throughout his career, not least because of his Irish mother.

Paul says, “he has a lot of Irish roots in him.” Middlesbrough in northeastern England, where Chris was from, had many similarities to Dublin in his view - an affinity Paul feels was reflected in the music Rea made throughout his career.

“Chris broke Ireland before he broke anywhere else,” Paul alleges. “He had a big hit with ‘I Can Hear Your Heartbreak’, and it started there. Then his music started to take off in mainland Europe; it was later when the UK got interested in him as well.” And if you ask Paul, “he’s an honorary Irishman; he’s as Irish as I am.” 

That connection makes the prospect of keeping Rea’s music alive in Ireland all the more meaningful for Casey. “Am I looking forward to the Dublin show? I sure am,” he confirms. “I’ve had a nice career playing my own music, and Chris always supported me. A few years ago I played Glastonbury with my music, which was a great achievement.”

But there’s a bittersweet nostalgia to playing Chris’ music that encourages him to keep performing it. “To get to play Chris’ music is the best fun I’ve ever had on stage; it’s the best vibe.”

He pauses, perhaps reflecting on the countless memories he made with the man who inspired him. “I love playing these songs because they’re the songs I grew up playing. When I was 11 or 12, I was learning those songs, so it feels really easy and natural to play them, and I love it.”

The Chris Rea Experience featuring Paul Casey will celebrate the music of Chris Rea with a headline show at Dublin’s Ambassador Theatre on Saturday, November 28. Tickets are available here.