August 07, 2007

Peter Case -- FREE INSTORE

Peter Case
In-store Performance
Tuesday, August 7th, 7:00 pm

Peter Case will be dropping by to sing the hell out of some songs off of his latest release, Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, which just happened to hit the shelves this morning. This will be Peter's second time playing for us, and if this trip is anything like the last, we are in store for an amazing evening of music. Peter is the prototype LA roots-rock guy, starting his days with the power-pop band The Plimsouls and moving into a solo career that has moved from hard folk (think Roger McGuinn, John Prine, and Jackson Browne) to songs by, and songs influenced by, blues heroes like Mississippi John Hurt and Sleepy John Estes (the namesake of the new album).

With Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, Case finds a comfortable spot in between his pop past and his more recent blues interests; loaded with keen social and political observation, Case's lone voice, guitar, and harmonica lend these new songs a tangible air of authenticity wrapped around his impressive ability to write a beautifully crafted song. Case says of the new album, "It's the sound of freedom, possibility, companionship, adventure, sex, romance, anti-authoritarianism, life against death, positive social action, satire of the powerful, humor through trouble and despair, with no need for boxes of metal beats, or for filling in the blanks with by-rote-rock- arrangements, your-message-here, walls-of-deadening-sound... This is the album that my fans have been asking me to make for a long time and the record I've wanted to make for longer than that. I've always wanted to make a true solo record in the traditionof the ones I love, from Jimmie Rodgers and Robert Johnson to Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads and Dylan's first four albums, on through Bert Jansch's and Nick Drake's solo recordings, (and) Sleepy John Estes's Broke and Hungry has been an inspiration to me ever since I started playing." This will be Peter
Case solo and amazing, please try to join us.

Here's a taste of "Just Hangin' On" from the new album.

The video isn't fantastic on this one, but Peter's impromptu playing while strolling after hours on Pico is pretty cool.

You can also check out Peter performing at the Mississippi John Hurt Tribute last March.

"It's very much in the spirit of Guthrie, with Case lashing out vehemently at injustice -- the "Million Dollar Bail" that sprung Phil Spector (who isn't named but is clearly the subject of the song), corporate treachery, the plight of the homeless. He also describes the allure and demands of the vagabond life, with a focus and a ragged-voiced authenticity that makes you feel every bump in the road."      - LA Times