Peter Case
(born April 5, 1954) is an Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has had a wide-ranging career ranging from new wave music to folk rock to solo acoustic performance.
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PETER CASE TICKETS
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Biography
Early career
Case was born in
Buffalo,
New York. 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 in
San 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 with
Jack Lee and
Paul Collins in to form the early new wave band
The Nerves in San Francisco. The group's 1976 single, "
Hanging on the Telephone", was later recorded by
Blondie.
When the Nerves disbanded, Case moved to
Los Angeles and formed the pop-rock band
The Plimsouls in 1980. The Plimsouls found a measure of success when their song "A Million Miles Away" was featured in the movie
Valley Girl
, but by that time the group had already broken up. Case briefly toured with
Gurf Morlix,
Victoria Williams (Case's first wife), and
Warren Tornado Klein as the Incredibly Strung Out Band, but their collaboration never resulted in a record.
Solo career
Case struck out on his own with a self-titled album released in 1986 on
Geffen Records. Produced by
T-Bone Burnett, the record included a number of songs co-written by Victoria Williams, and also featured the talents of
John Hiatt and of
Roger McGuinn of
The Byrds. One of the songs on the album, "Old Blue Car", was nominated for a Grammy award.
In 1989, Case released a second solo disc,
The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar,
this time with the help of artists like
David Hidalgo of
Los Lobos,
Ry Cooder, and
Benmont Tench. While not a major commercial success, the album was a favorite of critics and other musicians:
Bruce Springsteen told
Rolling Stone
magazine that he was listening to Peter Case more than anyone else that year.
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.
[1] After a third album for Geffen,
Six Pack of Love,
and a live album of cover versions,
Peter Case Sings Like Hell,
which was released on Case's own Travelin' Light label, Case signed a contract with
Vanguard Records. His first Vanguard record,
Torn Again,
was issued in 1995.
In 1996, the Plimsouls reunited for the first of several reunions. Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, Case continued to release discs as a solo performer, moving in an increasingly acoustic-oriented direction, and playing clubs and small venues.
Torn Again
was followed by
Full Service No Waiting
(1998),
Flying Saucer Blues
(2000), and
Beeline
(2002) all on Vanguard, in addition to
Thank You St. Jude
(2001), a self-released CD that featured David Perales on fiddle and background vocals.
In 2004 Vanguard released
Who'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.
Case is an active
musicologist; in the late 1990s, he curated the musical program for the
Getty Museum in
Los Angeles. In 2001, he organized, produced, and performed on
Avalon Blues,
a
tribute album to
blues music pioneer
Mississippi John Hurt, which was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. Case also had the chance to perform
Beatles songs at the
Hollywood Bowl with Sir
George Martin. He frequently conducts songwriting workshops, both in California, where he now resides, and in other locations. Case's solo performances have featured his own compositions as well as covers of songs by
Memphis Minnie,
Sleepy John Estes,
Bob Dylan,
Neil Young, and others.
In February 2006,
Hungry for Music, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, released a three-disc tribute to Case, entitled
A Case for Case
; the set featured cover versions of Case's songs performed by various artists, including
John Prine,
Susan Cowsill, and others.
In 2006 Case began posting on his blog sections of a memoir entitled
As 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-leader of the Los Angeles punk band
X, contributed an introduction to the book. Case has continued to write and post autobiographical additional material.
On December 6, 2007, Case's
Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John
was nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Traditional Folk Album category.
In January 2009, Case underwent heart surgery, leading to fund raising efforts by other musicians to help defray his medical costs.
[2]
Discography
- Peter Case
, 1986 album
- Fast Folk: Los Angeles
, 1988 compilation
- The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar
, 1989 album
- Six-Pack of Love
, 1992 album
- Sings Like Hell
, 1993 album
- Torn Again
, 1995 album
- Full Service No Waiting
, 1998 album
- Flying Saucer Blues
, 2000 album
- Thank You St. Jude
, 2001 album
- Beeline
, 2002 album
- Who's Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile
, 2004 compilation
- A Case for Case
, 2006 tribute album
- Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John
, 2007 album
Bibliography
- "Bomblight Prayer Vigil" Verb
, Issue Two (2006)
- As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport
(everthemore books) (2007)
References
- Billboard, Allmusic
- "Rockers Rally to Help Cover Nerves/Plimsouls Leader Peter Case’s Medical Bills", ''Rock & Roll Daily'' (''Rolling Stone''), March 4, 2009 (retrieved May 1, 2009).