Peter Case w/ John Austin

From his beginnings as a street singer in San Francisco, during his time in the '77 power-pop icons, the Nerves, and through his years as bandleader of the soul-punk Plimsouls (who scored an enduring hit with “A Million Miles Away”  featured on the Valley Girl soundtrack of 1982), Case has lived many lives. But none of his guises have proved as enduring as his over 20 year career as a solo artist.  He has been nominated twice for a GRAMMY and had a solo record named album of the year in The New York Times. He received a Grammy nomination for the track “ Old Blue Car,” from his self-titled Geffen Records solo debut.  Following two subsequent Geffen releases, he signed with Vanguard and released 1993’s Sings Like Hell.  Case received a second Grammy nomination in 2001 for producing Avalon Blues, A Tribute to The Music of Mississippi John Hurt, featuring artists such as Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Beck.

Case has written hundreds of songs since then including "Hidden Love," "Deja Blues," "Beyond the Blues," "Space Monkey" and "Walking Home Late."  He's written with John Prine, Tom Russell and Bob Neuwirth, among others; his work has been covered by artists diverse as Robert Earl Keen, the Goo Goo Dolls and Alejandro Escovedo.
Throughout the last twenty years Peter has released album after album of benchmark material, material significant enough to warrant a three-disc tribute album featuring roots music royals Dave Alvin, Todd Snider, Chuck Prophet and James McMurtry. 

Peter Case is back with Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, his most raw, direct work in nearly a decade. This album of politically-fueled and personally-visionary songs about now finds America's golden troubadour in his finest form, laying down intricate and driving finger-style guitar with his uniquely delivered dusty road-poetry. Sleepy John is yet another volume in the career of one of the most storied singer/songwriters of his generation.

John Austin will open the show.  John was born in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, and started writing songs at age thirteen. Soon after high school he moved to Chicago and began performing on street corners and in subway stations. After winning a national songwriting contest, Austin secured a record contract and recorded his first album, with Mark Heard as producer. Backed by the likes of David Miner, Buddy Miller, and Erin Echo, Austin’s The Embarrassing Young (1992) introduced the music world to an artist rich in both melodies and lyrics.

A sparse second album—Authorized Unauthorized Bootleg—was released in 1994, and remains an adrenaline-drenched document of a Chicago caught in his rearview mirror.

Austin lived out of his car after leaving Illinois, ending up some time later in Atlanta to begin work on Byzantium (1996). Acclaimed as a “do-it-yourself masterpiece” by Performing Songwriter Magazine, the album showcases a fully backed Austin placing his lyrics with such precision that it is only in stepping back for reflection the listener sees in the mosaic of metaphor a piercing analysis of American cultural and spiritual decay.

The self-produced If I Was A Latin King, was released in 1998. The album revisits Austin’s encounter with gang violence in Chicago, and is filled with Latin rhythms and musical styles; it is a sonic and often experimental concept album that cruises the back streets of violence, love, death, and hope.