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2008-01-28

by Don Simpson

Peter Case's 'Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John'

Summary

Longtime rocker comes to Getty to play.

Article

Born in Buffalo, NY in 1954, Peter Case dropped out of high school when he was fifteen (he later earned a GED). After several years of traveling, Case arrived in San Francisco in 1973 where he performed as a street musician. In 1976 he teamed up with Jack Lee and Phil Collins to form the power pop/new wave threesome, The Nerves – who are most famous for their 1976 single “Hanging on the Telephone” which was later popularized by Blondie on 1978’s Parallel Lines. When the Nerves broke-up in 1980, Case relocated to Los Angeles where he formed the power pop quartet the Plimsouls – who are most famous for their 1983 single “A Million Miles Away” which was prominently featured in Valley Girl (with the Plimsouls performing onscreen). The Plimsouls disbanded in 1984 when Case opted to get back-to-basics by pursuing a folk/roots-oriented solo career (ala Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and early Bob Dylan).

Case’s T-Bone Burnett-produced, self-titled debut was released by Geffen Records in 1986; which he followed up with the Geffen releases of The Man With the Blue Post-Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar (1989) and Six Pack of Love (1992). Case then moved to Vanguard Records to release Sings Like Hell (1993), followed by Torn Again (1995), Full Service No Waiting (1998), Flying Suacer Blues (2000) and Beeline (2002); he also self-released Thank You St. Jude in 2001. Additionally, in time for the 2004 Presidential election, Case recorded two overtly political songs ("Wake Up Call" and "My Generation's Golden Handcuff Blues") to be included as “previously unreleased” tracks on a Vanguard compilation of his work.

At 53-years of age, Case still retains an original voice deeply rooted in the Americana musical tradition. His 2007 release of Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John is considered by both fans and critics as one of the best of his 30-plus year career (it was recently nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Traditional Folk Album category). It evokes the rambling poetic lyricism of early Bob Dylan and the observational storytelling and compositional sparseness of early blues music. It’s no coincidence that the album is named after Sleepy John Estes (January 25, 1904 – June 5, 1977), a blues musician who recorded primarily between the years of 1929 and 1941 (though he later recorded "Runnin' Around" and "Rats in My Kitchen" at Sun Studio in 1952) known primarily for his distinctive crying-style of singing and his observational lyricism.

Inspired in part by Dylan’s Chronicles, the cult-icon Case penned a memoir of the early days of his career entitled As Far As You Can Get Without (published January 2007 by everthemore books)…and Case promises that there are more tales to come.

In the meantime, Peter Case will be performing a free show at the Getty Center on February 1. Even though the show is free, you must reserve tickets in advance on the Getty Center’s website: http://www.getty.edu/