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Peter Case | |
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 Peter Case at McCabe's, 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1954-04-05)April 5, 1954 (age 71) |
| Genres | Rock and roll, blues,folk rock |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, guitarist |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, organ, bass |
| Labels | Geffen, Vanguard Records, Alive/Naturalsound,Yep Roc[1] |
| Website | petercase |
Peter Case (born April 5, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His career is wide-ranging, from rock n' roll and blues, tofolk rock and solo acoustic performance.
Case was born inBuffalo, New York and lived in nearbyHamburg, New York. He wrote his first song "Stay Away," in 1965, at the age of eleven. A veteran of several rock bands and the local bar scene as a teenager, Case dropped out of high school when he was fifteen (he would later earn a GED), and after several years of traveling arrived in 1973 inSan Francisco, where he performed as a street musician. During this period a documentary about the local music scene,Nightshift, directed by Bert Deivert, captured the young Case on film. In 1976, he teamed up withJack Lee andPaul Collins to form the early punk-era bandThe Nerves in San Francisco. The group's 1976 EP track, "Hanging on the Telephone", was later recorded byBlondie. Music critic Denise Sullivan of Allmusic praised the album, writing "Never one to rely on formula, Case mixes his brand of incisive folk-rock with some simpatico musical styles…"[1] Writing for No Depression, Jim Musser was equivocal about the album, writing "Maybe the singer-songwriter’s willful escape from pop bought its own particular travails. More likely, Peter Case is just very capable instead of great. This is (again) a collection of well-crafted songs; all of the pieces (again) seem to be here. The playing and songs are top-drawer; the voice is simply…nice."
The Nerves moved toLos Angeles on January 1, 1977, and played and promoted some of the first punk-era shows in that city, performing atThe Masque, and theWhisky a Go Go, among other venues. They toured nationally in 1977, the first independent band of their era to do a national tour, as they opened shows for theRamones, andMink DeVille, and performed on co-bills withThe Nuns,Devo, andPere Ubu.
After the Nerves broke up in 1978, Case formed the rock n' roll bandThe Plimsouls in 1979. The Plimsouls became one of the top drawing live bands inCalifornia soon after the release of their debut EP "Zero Hour" on theBeat Records label in 1979. They grew in popularity and had two major label albums, the first onPlanet/Elektra in 1981, and the next onGeffen Records, in 1983. In 1982, "A Million Miles Away" was released as a 12" single, on the Shaky City/Bomp! label, and became the band's signature song. It was a radio hit in California, and some other regions of the U.S. It eventually charted at number 82 on theBillboard Hot 100. Their songs "A Million Miles Away," "The Oldest Story in the World," and "Everywhere At Once" were included in the movieValley Girl (1983), but by the time that movie had become a cult favorite, the group had broken up.
Case briefly performed withGurf Morlix,Victoria Williams (Case's first wife), andWarren Tornado Klein as the Incredibly Strung Out Band, but their collaboration never resulted in a record.[2]
Case struck out on his own with the self-titled albumPeter Case released in 1986 onGeffen Records. Produced byT Bone Burnett andMitchell Froom, the record included three songs co-written by Burnett and one by Victoria Williams, and also featured the talents of Williams, Morlix, Klein,Mike Campbell (ofTom Petty and the Heartbreakers),John Hiatt,Jim Keltner,Jerry Marotta,Roger McGuinn (ofThe Byrds), andVan Dyke Parks, among others. One of the songs on the album, "Old Blue Car," was nominated for aGrammy Award.Robert Palmer chose the album as the No. 1 release for 1986 in his year-in-review wrap-up forThe New York Times.[3]
In 1989, Case released a second solo album,The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar, this time with the help of artists likeDavid Hidalgo ofLos Lobos,Ry Cooder, andBenmont Tench. While not a major commercial success, the album was a favorite of critics and other musicians:Bruce Springsteen toldRolling Stone magazine that he was listening to Peter Case more than anyone else that year.[citation needed]
In 1992, Case scored a radio hit with the song "Dream About You" which peaked at #16 on the U.S.Billboard Modern Rock charts.[4] After a third album for Geffen,Six-Pack of Love, Case recorded a live-in-the-studio album of cover versions of folk, blues, and country songs,Peter Case Sings Like Hell, which was released on Case's own Travelin' Light label. Case signed a contract withVanguard Records, and the record was re-released on that label in 1993. His next Vanguard record,Torn Again, was issued in 1995, and features Case with a band including the rhythm section ofDon Heffington andJerry Scheff, withGreg Leisz on guitar.
In 1996, the Plimsouls reunited for the first of several reunions. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Case continued to release albums as a solo performer, moving in an increasingly acoustic-oriented direction, and playing clubs and small venues.Torn Again was followed byFull Service No Waiting (1998),Flying Saucer Blues (2000), andBeeline (2002) all on Vanguard, in addition toThank You St. Jude (2001), a self-released CD that featured David Perales on fiddle and background vocals. In a review ofFlying Saucer Blues, criticBill Wasserzieher declared, "I am convinced that nobody of Case's generation writes better songs or does better work in the tradition of Woody Guthrie."[5]
In 2004 Vanguard releasedWho's Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile, a compilation of tracks from his albums for the label, which also included two previously unrecorded songs, "Wake Up Call" and "My Generation's Golden Handcuff Blues". Both tracks gave evidence of Case's strongly held political convictions.
In the late 1990s, he curated the musical program for theGetty Museum in Los Angeles. In 2001, he organized, produced, and performed onAvalon Blues, atribute album toblues music pioneerMississippi John Hurt, which was nominated for the 2002Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. Case also performedBeatles songs at theHollywood Bowl withGeorge Martin. Case's solo performances have featured his own compositions as well as covers of songs byMemphis Minnie,Sleepy John Estes,Bob Dylan,Neil Young, and others. He frequently conducts songwriting workshops in California, where he now resides, and in other locations.
In February 2006,Hungry for Music, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, released a three-disc tribute to Case, entitledA Case for Case; the set featured cover versions of Case's songs performed by various artists, includingJohn Prine,Susan Cowsill,Joe Ely,Dave Alvin,Maura O'Connell and others.
In 2006 Case began posting on his blog sections of a memoir entitledAs Far As You Can Get Without a Passport, which was subsequently issued in book form in January 2007 by Everthemore Books. The memoir covers Case's very early days from the time he left his native upstate New York and wound up singing and playing on the streets of San Francisco. This period inspired some of his most memorable songs, including "Entella Hotel "and "Travellin' Light."John Doe, co-founder of the Los Angeles punk bandX, contributed an introduction to the book. Case has continued to write and post autobiographical additional material.
On December 6, 2007, Case'sLet Us Now Praise Sleepy John was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. The record was produced byIan Brennan.[6] The album featured "Every 24 Hours," a duet withRichard Thompson on harmony vocals and guitar, and "That Soul Twist," a duet withMerle Haggard pedal-steel manNorm Hamlet.
In January 2009, Case underwent heart surgery, leading to fund raising efforts by other musicians to help defray his medical costs.[7] Case's next project,Wig!, a CD/LP was released on June 29, 2010, by Yep Roc Records. The record was an interpretation of electric blues, and featuredD.J. Bonebrake on drums, and Memphis musician Ron Franklin on slide guitar and electric piano. Case and Franklin composed a number of the songs the day before the sessions, which lasted three days.
In 2012,The Case Files, a compilation of "studio out-takes, demos, and live shots," was released byAlive Naturalsound Records. This record included two 1985 demos made with T Bone Burnett, some spoken word pieces with music from a longer piece calledBomblight Prayer Vigil, and various other Case rarities.
In December 2014, Case went into the Carriage House studio in Los Angeles, and recordedHWY 62, an LP of new original songs, with a band includingBen Harper on lead guitar, D.J. Bonebrake of X, on drums, keyboardist Jebin Bruni, and bassist David Carpenter. The album was released in 2015.
September 2016 saw the re-release of his debut solo album expanded with 7 extra tracks.
In December 2019, Case went to The Old Whaling Church in Martha's Vineyard and recorded with producer Ron Franklin,The Midnight Broadcast, a concept album of traditional and contemporary material featuring Cindy Wasserman (vocals), Bert Deivert (mandolin, drums, vocals), Lee Fortier (harmonica, vocals) Franklin (moog, maracas) and Ross Johnson (as the DJ). Mixed by Boo Mitchell at Royal Recorders in Memphis, the album was released in 2021.
In 2012, longtime musical partners Case andPaul Collins announced a reunion tour paying tribute to their groups The Nerves, The Breakaways, The Beat and The Plimsouls. The touring band line-up for the Collins and Case tour was augmented by members of The Paul Collins Beat (Timm Buechler, bass, andAmos Pitsch ofTenement, drums, and Tim Schweiger, a veteran musician). According to theLos Angeles Times Music Blog of March 22, 2012, the tour "fell apart" early due to "musical differences".[8]
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