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Credit: Ebru Yildiz<\/p>\nCredit: Ebru Yildiz<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s stop calling Neko Case the grande dame of Americana already. At this point, it\u2019s plain that she\u2019s just one of the best voices and most visionary and literary songwriters of her generation, full stop. And now, the legend returns to Orlando riding the wind of her first album since 2018, Neon Gray Midnight Green, which has had the critical sphere abuzz in glowing unanimity for its dizzying sonic adventurism. Bask, marvel, genuflect, whatever \u2014 just go to this unmissable engagement. Orlando Weekly spoke to Neko Case last week and found an unexpectedly fierce Florida stan.<\/p>\n
How are these shows going so far, and are there any moments of audience connection or maybe just getting sort of lost in the music?\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of moments of getting lost in music during the shows, and those are always very nice. It means that you trust the audience, and audiences have been utterly kind and supportive, and \u2026 it\u2019s been a hard few weeks. But, you know, I\u2019m hanging in there.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re a well-traveled performer, but did the notion of touring in the U.S. in early 2026 give you any pause?<\/p>\n
The problem with touring right now is, you know, that me and every other woman I know are really upset in our bodies and in our minds since Renee Good was shot, and we\u2019re not OK. People need to check in with all the female-identifying people out there, and trans men too. It\u2019s terrifying and we\u2019re just not OK, and to be up in front of people every night \u2014 I\u2019m not afraid of the world. I\u2019m afraid of my own anxiety. I\u2019m afraid I\u2019ll fuck up, or I\u2019ll forget something or that I am noticeably shaken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Do you see the role of a touring musician changing in terms of going beyond entertainment to maybe providing a moment of, maybe, community?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been really focused on community. I think people feel very helpless right now. And I just, I try to remind people every night how capable and smart and powerful they are, and that they are the answer to all this horrible stuff happening, even though there are forces doing their best to make the everyday person feel absolutely useless. It\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve expanded your tour at a time when it\u2019s challenging to get people out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not a band that sells out everything, so it\u2019s hard to tell. But I feel that the emotional connection with the audience has been way more intense and way stronger, and it feels like something it\u2019s important to do \u2014 not that I\u2019m an important person \u2014 just to provide a place where people come together. And a local venue is often one of the only things in a neighborhood that isn\u2019t a chain, like it\u2019s one of the places that is authentically of the community that lives there. So it\u2019s a great honor that they come together there to see us play. I really want to honor that, and make people feel rejuvenated or recharged, or any small piece of happiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in America kind of shit on Florida, and it\u2019s not cool. There are great people in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neko Case<\/p>\n
Would you talk a little bit about the writing and recording of Neon Grey Midnight Green? You produced it yourself and you worked with an orchestra extensively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I really wanted to own [producing] this time more, because when I think about producers, I think about a large group of men. And even though I\u2019m a producer, I forget that there are women and nonbinary people out there who are producers. So I wanted to remind myself, as well as representing, and it\u2019s just the greatest job that there is. I want young women and female-identifying people to really feel like there\u2019s a place for them in that world, because it\u2019s creative thinking. It\u2019s not penis-having, it\u2019s problem-solving, creative thinking, rabbit-hole diving, gear nerdery \u2014 there\u2019s so much in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the Plainsong Chamber Orchestra, my friend Tom Hagerman wrote the arrangements for the songs and he plays in the Orchestra as well. I went out to Colorado, where there\u2019s a really great studio that can accommodate an orchestra-sized group of people. I went there basically to observe and to hang. I didn\u2019t play anything; I just watched, and it was so incredible. I\u2019ve never witnessed anything so moving, as far as in my own music-making. It was really the closest a person can get to hearing their own music like an outsider. It was really terrifying and beautiful and validating and exciting. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever experience that again. I cried through the whole thing \u2014 the crying lady at the studio.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve been working on a musical version of Thelma & Louise for a number of years now?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m gonna be in London for the summer, and it\u2019s going to open in September at a theater called the Young Vic in London for its first shows that are open to the public. So there\u2019s a lot of work to be done still.<\/p>\n
Ten years of work seems so daunting, like are any of us still going to be alive?<\/p>\n
Yeah, it\u2019s not unusual for Broadway, I\u2019m told, but it seems unusual for anything to me. I was told it would take probably anywhere from seven to 12 years, and I was like, \u201cOK, I\u2019ll try it.\u201d That\u2019s because Callie Khouri \u2014 who wrote Thelma & Louise and won the Oscar for it \u2014 asked me.\u00a0 So I said yes. I mean, if it had been anything else, I would not have taken the job because I don\u2019t know anything about Broadway. I was very clear with them. I was like, \u201cAre you sure you want me? I can\u2019t even read music. You gotta make sure that\u2019s OK.\u201d And everybody was OK with it.<\/p>\n
The last time you played in Orlando was 2023. Do you have any particular memories from that Florida run?<\/p>\n
I remember just feeling like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we go to Florida more?\u201d Because people come out to the shows and they\u2019re great. People in America kind of shit on Florida, and it\u2019s not cool. There are great people in Florida. I remember living in Arizona, and everybody shit on Arizona. And I was like, \u201cWhat are you talking about? There\u2019s incredible people everywhere.\u201d Don\u2019t let a few spoiled apples make some blanket statement about your own people. It\u2019s wrong. And you know, people were always so excited, like, \u201cGod, thanks for coming to Florida.\u201d I love playing Florida and always will.<\/p>\n
Neko Case\u00a0with Des Demonas: 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, Plaza Live, 425 N. Bumby Ave., plazaliveorlando.org<\/a>, $50.70-$62.72.<\/p>\n Orlando\u2019s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tWe chat with one of the best voices and most literary songwriters of her generation about writing musicals, concerts as community, and being the \u2018crying lady\u2019 in the studio\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tDyer, who\u2019s not seeking re-election next year, says their hands are tied by the federal supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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