By Brynna Williamson
He arrived in Las Vegas with one dollar in his pocket and a lot of hope; 21 years later, he left with one dollar less than he started with, but a lot of dreams fulfilled. Wood County, Texas’ Marcus Casburn has led a very interesting life.
The Early Years
Casburn is somewhat of an intriguing mystery. This is, of course, enhanced by his deep, reverberating, booming voice, his towering height (before you ask, he’s 6’5”), and the way that incredible things seem to just happen to him.
Since so many musicians don’t make it to the big leagues (Casburn’s words, not ours), how is it possible that this man eventually managed to be in “thousands” of voice acting roles, played and recorded jingles for commercial over commercial, played in bands all across the nation, and even received phone calls from celebrities who wanted to meet him?
To understand all this, it’s necessary to start at the beginning with “just the facts, ma’am,” as TV’s detective Joe Friday might say.
To begin with, Marcus Casburn isn’t really named Marcus. His real name is Mark. “Marcus” is actually a stage name invented of necessity. Ask him about that the next time you see him perform at Taste of Italy By the Lake, which is outside of Wood County’s own community of Hawkins.
Now that that’s noted, we’ll proceed.
Casburn’s story starts when he was in 8th grade in Maryland. Once upon a time, as the story goes, he saw “a little kid in my neighborhood, throwing a ball by himself.” Casburn went over to play with the kid, and after a while, the boy’s dad came out of the house.
“The father asked me what grade I was in; I said, ‘8th grade.’ The father replied, ‘Are you in any sports?’ I said, ‘Well, no, not yet.’ The father asked, ‘Have you ever thought about being in the band?’ I said, ‘Yeah, a little bit.’ He said, ‘Well, would you like to play bass?’”
Only later did Casburn find out that the neighbor kid’s dad just happened to be the local school’s band director. That’s a pattern in Casburn’s life, he says: things that just “happened” to work out.
In fact, a few years later, Casburn “accidentally” joined the choir, too. “Accidentally” joined the choir. Yes. You read that right.
“I was going down the hallways—you know how hallways tend to echo?—and I was humming a bass guitar line from the jazz band,” said Casburn, “and the music teacher came out and said, ‘Come here!’
‘She pulled me into her room and said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m on my lunch break;’ she said, ‘You’re not on lunch break.’”
The teacher was right; Casburn had been caught skipping class. From there, he said the teacher “made me come in, and she got on the piano, and she (played notes) and said, ‘Sing that…’ and I did.”
After Casburn—who is renowned in his field for his deep, reverberating, bass voice—hit the notes perfectly, the teacher came up with a mutually beneficial solution: “she said, ‘I’m gonna make you a deal. I won’t say anything about your ‘lunch schedule’ if you’ll join my choir.’” “So I was blackmailed into (choir!)” said Casburn with a laugh.
Vegas, Here He Comes
Within a few years, Casburn’s pursuit of the music industry led him to Las Vegas, where he started off by couch-hopping with a friend. He literally had a dollar in his pocket and big plans in his heart, but at least he had a job starting soon—a job that he thought was for one month. He ended up staying for 21 years, but we’ll get into that later.
Casburn says that “most of the things that have happened to me are just by accident”—things that, he agrees, God just put into his path—and what happened next was one such incident.
During the “eighth month of his one-month stay” in Vegas, when he was playing at the Carriage House Restaurant/Piano Bar, Casburn “accidentally” met his future wife, Barbara. When the order that Barbara and her friends had made was not delivered to their table, Barbara went to the bar to retrieve it herself; that’s where she happened to look up and see Marcus. At the time, he “happened” to be playing—yes, you guessed it—her favorite song.
“She just went (hard turn towards me),” said Marcus with a smile. “Within about 10 or 15 minutes, she came in with all the girls and sat right up at the front.”
Marcus and Barbara have been together for 34 years since that fateful night.
“Mr. Las Vegas” Appears on the Scene
Just a few months later, during one of his sets playing music at the Carriage House, Casburn says, “A guy came in with a phone, and he said, ‘Somebody’s listening to you.’” That “somebody” turned out to be none other than Wayne Newton: “Mr. Las Vegas” himself!
Within a few days, Wayne Newton had asked Casburn to join his band and replace his bass singer. Casburn’s first answer? “Oh, I don’t know,” he said. But when Casburn and Barbara went to go see the band he might be joining, Casburn says he “got tingly” and said to Barbara “I think I’d like to do this.” And he did!
What Casburn also “happened” to discover while he was in Las Vegas is that it was the home of lots and lots and lots of voiceover work. Interested in putting his unique voice to more work, he quickly put together some audition tapes, and, as a quirky bit, did an impression of James Earl Jones at the very end.
Although the James Earl Jones impression was more of a joke than anything else, Casburn soon received a call for a commercial where someone wanted him to sound like the famous actor. Those requests kept coming in.
“And that started a whole new career for me, in doing voice acting,” said Casburn. He proceeded to do thousands of voice acting spots, for “commercials, products, narrations,” and more.
From the City of Lights and Memories to Wood County
More than 20 years passed. Casburn had done well in the voiceover industry; he had played venues almost everywhere in the country. He had met other celebrities (ask him about Lou Rawls saying hello), and had also “accidentally” stumbled into a side career as a luxury motorhome real estate broker, but that’s a whole other story.
Casburn and his wife had even built a house on Lake Las Vegas on the Falls Golf Course, which Casburn says is “like the Beverly Hills of Vegas. All the bells and whistles: ‘high cotton’ as we used to say where I grew up.”
Then, the economic collapse of 2008 happened. “Vegas tanked,” Casburn said simply. “I didn’t see it changing (anytime soon), so we just had to walk away from all of it, which we did.”
Despite having to get “settled on a different rung on a ladder,” Casburn says that, in Wood County, he’s now happier and more relaxed than he ever has been. “(We) got comfortable, got established; life has been wonderful ever since!” said Casburn. “We have everything we could ever want; we have everything we ever had, here, just in a smaller house!”
“We’re never gonna move again,” Casburn continued. “And I’m gonna play until I can’t anymore. There’s no reason to stop it, because it’s enjoyable now.”
So. Let’s get an inventory, shall we?
Marcus Casburn plays the piano, keyboard, tuba, standup string bass, electric bass and guitar. He’s a one-man band who can sing at the same time that his electric keyboard gives a drum rhythm, bass, piano, and strings. He’s done voiceover acting, music for jingles, played in bands, toured Las Vegas doing music, and been a realtor. He’s got a wife, kids, grandkids, and a nice home over in Wood County. And he’s still fulfilling his dreams, by playing music and doing what makes him happy. Casburn has been performing at “Taste of Italy” for the last 15 years.
“I’ve enjoyed my life,” mused Casburn. “There are ups and downs in everybody’s life; sometimes they’re huge. My waves have been larger than most, but we’re in calm seas now. I don’t know many musicians anywhere that can say they’ve had a 51-year career (like I have). To me, that’s success.” Come listen to Casburn every Friday and Saturday evening from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Taste of Italy By the Lake in Hawkins, Wood County, Texas. You won’t be disappointed.