At Iota, a 'Passport' to Rockin' Blues and Riveting Tales

It's not every night you hear a powerful rendition of the Honeyboy Edwards interpretation of Memphis Minnie's antique "Bumble Bee Blues" performed live, but such is the luck at a Peter Case concert. Case, his stringy hair unfurling from under a porkpie hat, presented an energetic and thoroughly unpredictable show of blues-rock at Iota on Monday night to the surprise of no one who has followed the singer-songwriter for any length of his three-decade-plus career.

Snapping the strings as he thumb-picked acoustic guitar and played harmonica, he delivered the set with bitter passion, putting a snarl into "Put Down the Gun," "Every 24 Hours" and an acid ode to "two kinds of justice" called "Million Dollars Bail."

Then something reminded him of his book, "As Far as You Can Get Without a Passport," and he read a few pages detailing his epic train ride at age 18 from his home town of Buffalo to his new home in California. That led to what he called "my mother's favorite Jimi Hendrix song" -- "May This Be Love (Waterfall)" -- without mentioning her passing away last week.

Case's 2007 album Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John was nominated for a Grammy, and it was during his revealing recollection of the awards ceremony that he remembered meeting fellow nominee Honeyboy Edwards -- "He's 93, he played with Robert Johnson the day he died, that's how cool he is," Case said -- when the "Bumble Bee Blues" suddenly occurred to him. Neither won that trophy on Grammy night, but Case came away with a great way to introduce a song.

-- Buzz McClain, The Washington Post
Click the link below for more information