Neko Case "Thrice All American"

I got a big kick out of this Neko Case/Kelly Hogan goof on Sci-Fi and Fanboys and such.

And because I was sitting at the kitchen table on a late afternoon, I decided to go to the basement and pull out some of my older Neko Case records, like "Furnace Room Lullaby."

It's been a while since I'd gone back to the Neko Case of the 90s.  The think that struck me was that on top of loving the record as much as ever, I just couldn't get over how little-of-a-clue that record offered, as to what Neko Case would sound like in 2014.

I mean, the voice is still there.  The mystery.  The confidence.  The sly humor amid the darkness.

I guess I'm mostly talking about the country references, which are pretty much gone without a trace now.

In the late 90s, Neko Case seemed like she was going to be an enigmatic Patsy Cline for the modern age, crafting timeless, country-tinged dark ruminations.

And while the music of 2014 still feels timeless and dark, there is a complete absence of twang.

The strangest part about it is that it happened slowly and quietly, subtly.  I mean, there's still a bit of twang in Case's voice in current songs like "City Swans."  Just not in the instrumentation.

I was trying to think of another artist who so quietly, easily slipped out of country, without calling attention to it---so much so that you kinda forgot that's where they came from.

Wilco came to mind at first.  But I do recall an interview with Jeff Tweedy, pre-"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," where he was contemplating a future "zero Country reference" record.

Maybe Joe Henry?  He was alt-country before alt-country was alt-country.  Now he makes records as timeless and dark and somewhat-uncategorizable as Case.

Anyway, just an observation.  It's nice to still be surprised by an artist.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Joe Henry "Ohio Air Show Plane Crash"

Most of the time, if I write about a song that evokes a certain memory, the memory is of a time or a place or a person or an event.

But there are a handful of songs, when I hear them, I simply think about listening to them and enjoying then, and advocating for them.

I can't say that this song reminds me of a particular time or place, (I've been listening to it regularly for years), but every time I hear it, I want to tell people about it.

Simply, I think this is one of the best pieces of short story songwriting I've ever heard.

Listen to it and pay close attention to the lyrics.


See the video on Youtube.

I just find it so impressive that the narrator tells the entire story of a failed relationship, in the split second it takes his girlfriend to turn her head, as an air show plane is crashing.

The chugging, repetitive guitar gives the vignette its slow-motion feel as that one little motion illuminates everything in the relationship that had led up to that moment and their subsequent break-up.

Some short story writers could take pages to paint as clear a picture as Henry does in just a few lines.

And hell, the 6 minutes of song do a far better job of selling it's brilliance, that the 15 minutes I spent writing this entry.