LOOKBACK MACHiNE: NEKO CASE

ROUTES & BRANCHES

featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music

October 16, 2024

Scott Foley, purveyor of dust

By the time Neko Case released Furnace Room Lullaby at the turn of the century, she was already dipping into the dark, wild musical frontier for which she would establish her reputation. Her debut as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends colored in the alt in alt.country nicely, though the album stands apart from the remainder of her oeuvre. A live set recorded with the Sadies as her backing outfit, Tigers Have Spoken included an excellent assortment of covers, most notably a memorable run through Dylan's "Buckets Of Rain" and a revved-up take on Buffy St Marie's "Soulful Shade Of Blue", neither of which landed on this list. We did include two other covers, however, in Case's take on Harry Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me" and a gorgeous duet with Eric Bachman on his "Sleep All Summer". We also flirted with the idea of incorporating something from her case/lang/veirs collaboration with kd lang and Laura Veirs, and even reached back to a duo with Carolyn Mark, the Corn Sisters (see also Case's longtime relationship with New Pornographers). As we eagerly await Neko Case's January memoir (The Harder I Fight the More I Love You), we're also curious about recent mention of forthcoming new music, as well as involvement in a Broadway musical, which might or might not be a stage production of Thelma and Louise. There are few voices as wild and as spirit-filled in our kind of music, as immediately identifiable and as uncompromised over the years. Like PJ Harvey or Fiona Apple, Neko Case has long existed in her own lane. 

NEKO CASE: thirty favorites

- "Timber" The Virginian  (Mint, Jul 97)

- "Bowling Green" The Virginian

- "Lonely Old Lies" The Virginian

- "Thanks a Lot" The Virginian

- "Porchlight" Furnace Room Lullaby  (Mint, Feb 00)

- "Thrice All America" Furnace Room Lullaby

- "Furnace Room Lullaby" Furnace Room Lullaby

- "Things That Scare Me" Blacklisted  (Mint, Aug 02)

- "Deep Red Bells" Blacklisted

- "I Wish I Was the Moon" Blacklisted

- "If You Knew" Tigers Have Spoken  (Anti, Nov 04)

- "Favorite" Tigers Have Spoken

- "Margaret vs Pauline" Fox Confessor Brings the Flood  (Anti, Mar 06)

- "Star Witness" Fox Confessor Brings the Flood  

- "Hold On Hold On" Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

- "That Teenage Feeling" Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

- "John Saw That Number" Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

- "This Tornado Loves You" Middle Cyclone  (Anti, Mar 09)

- "People Got a Lotta Nerve" Middle Cyclone

- "Magpie To the Morning" Middle Cyclone

- "Don't Forget Me (Harry Nilsson)" Middle Cyclone

- "Night Still Comes" The Worse Things Get ...  (Anti, Sep 13)

- "Man" The Worse Things Get ...

- "Calling Cards" The Worse Things Get ...

- "Hell-On" Hell-On  (Anti, Jun 18)

- "Last Lion Of Albion" Hell-On

- "Halls Of Sarah" Hell-On

- "Bad Luck" Hell-On

- "Sleep All Summer (Eric Bachman)" Hell-On

- "Oh Shadowless" Wild Creatures  (Anti, Apr 22)

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