Neko Case

Equally well-regarded in the indie rock and alt-country worlds, Neko Case has built a career defined by both strong will and musical versatility. Her chief attribute is her astonishing, siren-like voice, which she applies to songs that are simultaneously rugged and heartbreaking. Case was born on a military base in Alexandria, Virginia to teenage Ukranian immigrants, and moved shortly thereafter to Tacoma, Washington. This pattern of uprooting would define much of her early life, as her family moved from city to city frequently. In interviews, Case has described her father as an alcoholic, and characterized her youth as sitting mostly alone, talking and singing songs to her dogs. At age 15, Case left home entirely, initially gravitating toward the Pacific Northwest punk scene, crossing paths with the members of Nirvana and befriending that band's bassist, Krist Novoselic. In 1994, she moved to Vancouver to attend the Emily Carr Institute of Design and Technology. It was around this time that she began playing drums for a series of local punk rock bands (among them Cub and Maow, both of which garnered small local notoriety). Her first solo album, The Virginian, was released by... more...