Neko Case

Neko Case, a singer and songwriter, built a devoted following through her husky, elegant delivery and the somber elegance of her songcraft. An autonomous artist who departed home at fifteen, she first honed her skills in Pacific Northwest punk ensembles before her path took shape during art studies in Vancouver throughout the nineties. She performed in Maow and the Weasles before initiating a solo venture steeped in country traditions, backed by the Boyfriends. Neko Case & Her Boyfriends issued their opening effort, The Virginian, in 1997, with Furnace Room Lullaby arriving in 2000. Blacklisted, released in 2002 and widely praised by critics, ventured into more introspective and atmospheric realms while softening overt country elements. Balancing solo work with commitments to the New Pornographers and the Corn Sisters, Case edged toward broader visibility and aligned with Anti- Records, which put out the expansive 2006 indie-rock statement Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Following two further refined solo releases, she paused to join k.d. lang and Laura Veirs on a joint album that surfaced in 2016, then reclaimed the spotlight with Hell-On in 2018 and assembled a reflective survey titled Wild Creatures in 2022.

Case entered the world in Alexandria, Virginia, and relocated repeatedly during childhood, passing most of her early years in Tacoma, Washington. She separated from her parents at fifteen; three years afterward she began drumming in various punk outfits across the Northwest circuit. In 1994 she relocated to Vancouver for art school and simultaneously entered the punk outfit Maow, which issued material on the Mint label. She also collaborated with roots-rock group the Weasles and assembled her own supporting unit, the Boyfriends, initially drawing members from the Softies, Zumpano, and Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.

Her solo bow, The Virginian, emerged in 1997 and embraced classic country through a blend of covers and original material. She later teamed with Carolyn Mark for the vintage-styled Corn Sisters and forged an enduring association with Vancouver indie collective the New Pornographers. Completing her studies in 1998, she returned to Washington once her student visa lapsed and commenced work on a second solo record. The wistful, somber Furnace Room Lullaby appeared on Bloodshot Records in 2000 and earned acclaim for its shadowy songs, all written or co-written by Case.

She subsequently settled in Chicago amid its flourishing alt-country community and issued the home-recorded Canadian Amp EP in 2001. Its hushed, nocturnal tone informed 2002’s Blacklisted, an even more shadowy yet varied collection. Blacklisted drew Case’s most enthusiastic notices to date, appearing on numerous year-end lists and securing an opening slot on Nick Cave’s tour. In 2004 she joined the Anti- Records roster in the United States and delivered the live set The Tigers Have Spoken, captured across several performances with Canadian surf-country band the Sadies. She then withdrew temporarily from the New Pornographers, with whom she had recorded and toured intermittently since their formation, to concentrate on studio work.

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood arrived in 2006, reaching number 54 on the Billboard charts and exposing a wider listenership to Case’s shadowy, country-noir approach. The concert document Live from Austin, TX followed in 2007, preserving a 2003 Austin City Limits appearance, after which she contributed vocals to the New Pornographers’ Challengers and returned to her longtime base in Tucson, Arizona. Sessions for the next album unfolded in that setting as well as Brooklyn, Toronto, and the barn on her newly acquired Vermont farm. Middle Cyclone emerged in March 2009. The New Pornographers’ fifth album, Together, appeared in 2010, succeeded by Case’s fifth solo outing, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, in 2013. In 2015 she revisited her catalog with the box set Truckdriver Gladiator Mule, encompassing all solo releases from 1997 through 2013.

During 2016 Case issued case/lang/veirs, a collaborative effort with fellow Canadian country-pop artist k.d. lang and acclaimed singer-songwriter Laura Veirs; the three co-wrote the material and embarked on a shared tour. She returned in 2018 with Hell-On, her first solo album in five years and one she also produced. Fellow case/lang/veirs participants Laura Veirs and k.d. lang appeared alongside Beth Ditto, Kelly Hogan, Mark Lanegan, Joey Burns, and John Convertino. Case rejoined the New Pornographers for sessions yielding their 2019 release In the Morse Code of Brake Lights and that same year contributed to Spread the Feeling, the Pernice Brothers’ first album in nine years. The New Pornographers’ Continue as a Guest surfaced in 2023, while M. Ward’s Supernatural Thing, also issued in 2023, included Case’s duet with him on “Dedication Hour.” In 2022 she presented Wild Creatures, a twenty-two-track anthology spanning recordings from 2000 to 2018 plus the previously unreleased “Oh, Shadowless.” Initially offered digitally, the collection received a deluxe vinyl edition in June 2023 featuring artwork by artist and animator Laura Plansker and liner notes from Susan Orlean, David Byrne, Margo Price, Amy Ray, Jeff Tweedy, Rosanne Cash, Mayim Bialik, and additional contributors.