Peter Case
The Sportsmen’s Tavern
Buffalo, NY
October 16, 2007
By Kevin J. Hosey
It was as simple and as good as a singer/songwriter, a guitar, harmonica, microphone and enthusiastic hometown audience as Peter Case entertained and enthralled a crowd for about 2 hours as part of the Private Party Series at the Sportsmen’s Tavern in Buffalo.
Case, a former Buffalo/Western New York resident who moved to California more than 30 years ago where he found some success with the Plimsouls and then as a solo artist, was in a pretty good mood, telling jokes and conversing with some of the audience during the show, with friends, musicians and fans lining the bar and seats.
He opened the evening, which comprised of just Case with no opening act, with one of his early favorites, “Put Down the Gun,” and from the start his voice sounded strong and pretty clear as he decried violence and lack of communication between lovers and people in general. “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” followed as Case energetically reminded us that regrets, he’s had a few, but that it’s better to move on than wallow in the past. Case added a dirty, bluesy cover of Blind Willie McTell’s “Broken Down Engine Blues,” feeling lonesome and heading to gamble.
After joking with a couple of old friends and early bandmates, Case said he was about to play “the first song I ever wrote, in 1970,” which involved a roving guy (friend?) who kept getting into trouble even though he sounded nice, went to Woodstock and so on. Case went on to “Million Dollars Bail” off of his new Yep Roc Records’ CD, “Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John,” about an apparently rich and privileged man on trial for shooting a woman to death. The simple but sadly too true chorus goes: “There’s two kinds of justice/everybody knows/one’s for folks up on the hill/the other for those below.” As I was trying to figure out any recent references to the song, bassist Tom Fischer (Pine Dogs, Outlyers) turned to me and asked “Phil Spector?” and I think he hit the nail on the head. “Every 24 Hours,” which leads off the new CD, had an interesting Mid Eastern feel and sound, not surprising since Richard Thompson sings and plays guitar on the CD version.
Case next performed “Ain’t Gonna Worry No More” off of “Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John,” and after telling a few jokes about another singer in the news, said, “This song goes out to Britney Spears.” The song had a nice feel, somewhat smooth but nowhere near boring. Next, Case smiled and said, “this song goes out to me,” before playing a stark version of “Whiter Shade of Pale” that, stripped of Procol Harum’s bombast, worked as Case seemed to play it in that land between absurdity and genius. Staying in a rawer mode, he followed this with the country blues of Memphis Minnie’s “Bumble Bee.”
A couple of songs later, Case sang and played a great, bouncy version of “Who’s Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile,” with some heavy, punchy strumming. The beautiful and painful “Hidden Love” became the center of some levity; Case, with a mischievous look on his face, started by playing the song in a slow, mournful manner as it normally goes before he stopped, looked at the audience and asked, “What would this sound like in reggae style?” Before the laughter stopped, Case began to play it in just that style and in a stunningly accurate manner. After a full verse and chorus, he went back to the original arrangement. He continued to draw laughter when he introduced the thick, deep “Drunken Harmony” by noting, “this song is about the spiritual side of getting shit-faced drunk.”
Case ended his show with “Until the Next Time,” a fantastic, stark rendition of “Beyond the Blues” and “Waiting for the First Light,” which he smartly and successfully blended with Bukka White’s “Fixin’ to Die,” a much better segue than expected. Several times during the show, including at the end, Case joked about moving to Belize when this tour was over and never playing in front of crowds again; it is doubtful this is true, and shows this good from a performer this good just don’t come along every night.
Val and I ended the night the best way we could, talking to Case for a moment and buying both the “Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John” CD and a copy of his new book, “As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport,” from Everthemore Books.

One interesting sidelight: just before the show started Kenny MacDonald, studio producer and audio reporter for WBFO Exponential who was at the show to interview attendees and report on, came to the table Val, Fischer and I were sitting at and asked us about Case and what we know, unaware that we each have seen Case live about 10 times, have, respectively, photographed, played with and interviewed/reviewed him. We ended up have a good series of conversations as we, particularly Fischer add I, answered his questions and volunteered information on Case to MacDonald, who is a very friendly and professional person.