Peter Case – 3-time GRAMMY Nominee; Eclectic Americana Troubadour Blending Rock, Pop, and Country | with our guest, Zack Keim

Peter Case returns to the stage as one of America’s most enduring and respected songwriters. With a career spanning more than five decades, Case draws from a deep catalog shaped by his solo work and his time with the Nerves and the Plimsouls. His songs blend rock, pop, and country influences while reflecting on love, loss, and the American experience. In the intimate setting of Godfrey Daniels’ Live Music Listening Room, audiences can expect a performance rooted in craft, history, and connection—an evening where the stories behind the songs matter as much as the songs themselves.

Opening the night is our guest, Zack Keim. A Pittsburgh-based singer-songwriter whose musical background bridges the gap between garage-rock scuzz and kaleidoscopic folk reveries. He has done enough performing for several lifetimes, as he first picked up a guitar at age 13, when he enjoyed pretending to play along with his dad’s Beatles Anthology CD. He formed his earliest bands in middle school, performing Strokes and Arctic Monkeys covers to pubescent classmates. His life changed when he started sneaking out of the house to catch indie-rock concerts, particularly the acclaimed Pittsburgh group 1,2,3. “Seeing 1,2,3 definitely had an impact on me as a musician,” Keim says.

Peter Case
petercase.com

"Eclectic Americana Troubadour blending rock, pop, and country with heartfelt lyrics."

Peter Case is an American singer-songwriter who has released 14 solo albums and is a founding member of the bands Nerves and Plimsouls. He was born in San Francisco, California in 1954 and began his music career in the early 1970s. His solo debut album, Peter Case, was released in 1980 and was followed by a string of critically acclaimed albums, including The Plimsouls (1981), Easy Rider (1983), and ¡Viva Zapata! (1985).

Case's music is a mix of rock, pop, and country, and his lyrics often deal with themes of love, loss, and the American dream. He has been praised for his songwriting and his live performances, and he is considered one of the most respected singer-songwriters of his generation.

In addition to his solo career, Case has also been a member of the bands Nerves and Plimsouls. The Nerves were a punk rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1975. They released two albums, The Nerves (1976) and Stand Up (1977), before breaking up in 1978. The Plimsouls were a power pop band that formed in Los Angeles in 1978. They released four albums, Plimsouls (1981), Easy Rider (1983), ¡Viva Zapata! (1985), and Out of the Blue (1990), before breaking up in 1990.

Along the way, the Nerves—unbeknownst to the band at the time—began experiencing a resurgence with a new generation of fans. Bootlegs of the group’s early material circulated widely, leading to the official Alive Natural Sound Recordings reissue of the One Way Ticket EP and the Live at Pirate’s Cove LP. The Plimsouls also reemerged with the release of three well-received live albums: One Night in America (1981), Live, Beg Borrow and Steal (Live at the Whiskey, 1982), and Beach Town Confidential (Live at the Golden Bear, Huntington Beach, 1983). These releases stand as some of the strongest evidence of the band’s recorded legacy. That same period included a series of electric U.S. shows in various configurations, followed by a Peter Case Band tour of Australia with the Flamin’ Groovies and the Hoodoo Gurus.

In 2012, Case returned to San Francisco and began work on HWY 62. Featuring Ben Harper on guitar and DJ Bonebrake, and addressing contemporary American themes, the album was recorded at Sheldon Gomberg’s Carriage House and released by Omnivore Recordings in 2015. Omnivore also reissued his debut solo album in expanded form in 2016.

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With Our Guest, Zack Keim
zackkeimmusic.com

Zack Keim can find inspiration nearly anywhere. The Pittsburgh singer-songwriter hatched the hook for his new single, “Canyon,” while driving around Washington, D.C. making food deliveries. “I was delivering Uber Eats, and I wrote that on my phone—just a voice memo,” Keim recalls. An insistent vocal refrain (“Can-yonnn!”) was all it took; Keim started strumming the melody on his guitar, and pretty soon the song blossomed into a buoyant folk-pop gem of a tune. Keim’s first solo single since his 2017 debut First Step, “Canyon” is both a monumental leap forward and the first taste of Keim’s forthcoming sophomore effort, Battery Lane. 

At 27, Keim—whose musical background bridges the gap between garage-rock scuzz and kaleidoscopic folk reveries—has done enough performing for several lifetimes. Born and raised in the factory town of Blawnox, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, Keim first picked up a guitar at age 13, when he enjoyed pretending to play along with his dad’s Beatles Anthology CD. He formed his earliest bands in middle school, performing Strokes and Arctic Monkeys covers to pubescent classmates. His life changed when he started sneaking out of the house to catch indie-rock concerts, particularly the acclaimed Pittsburgh group 1,2,3. “Seeing 1,2,3 definitely had an impact on me as a musician,” Keim says.

Keim’s father started taking him to local open mics around Pittsburgh. It was at one open stage that Keim met Bob Powers, a veteran slide guitarist 40 years Keim’s senior who introduced him to garage-rock staples from the Stooges to Black Lips. Keim and Powers hit it off and, after working together on blues standards, formed the garage-punk outfit Nox Boys. Keim was just 16 when the band was signed to Get Hip Records, and his life became a whirlwind. Nox Boys rose through the local underground scene, released two gloriously scuzzy albums with Get Hip, and toured nationwide and—more recently—Europe.