MOG

“I need a cup of tea.”

Neko Case had just jumped into a car taking her to soundcheck for her Chicago show Wednesday afternoon and was yawning her way through an interview.

Over a year after “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood,” her fifth and best selling album, was released, Case remains on the road supporting that disc, which was among the best reviewed records of 2006. Was she surprised by the way the record was received?

“Well, yeah, definitely,” Case said. “You never think that when you put out a record.”

But always down-to-earth and a more than a little self-effacing, Case said the glowing reviews and spots on critics’ top 10 lists didn’t have all that much impact on her and her band in and of themselves.

“For us, all that stuff is definitely nice, but it’s just kind of floating around out there,” she said. “Where we notice it is that there’s more people at the shows.”

That will certainly be the case in Lincoln. The last time Case was through town, in 2002, she played Knickerbockers and drew about 150 people. On Tuesday, Case and her band will be at the Rococo Theatre, capacity of more than 1,000, where tickets have been selling briskly.

“Awesome,” she said, when informed of the venue and ticket sales. “That’s great. I’ve got the whole band, with Kelly Hogan, Jon Rauhouse is going to open the show and all the rest of the fellas. It’s going to be great.”

Playing places the size of the Rococo or slightly larger is fine with Case. She has no desire to play arenas, ever.

“This is it,” she said. “I don’t want that. I definitely want this (smaller venues). They can be intimate, you can see everybody’s face. This is something I understand, where I don’t understand arenas at all.”

Case, who has one of the most distinctive, powerful voices in popular music, started out playing drums in punk bands. But she harbored greater musical ambitions than just flailing away on the drum kit.

“I always wanted to be a singer,” she said. “I got in a band where I did both. I decided I wasn’t a good drummer and that I should just move on.”

While she said she wanted to sound like every woman on every record she had in her collection, in the end, Case wound up with a unique sound that melds country, rock, soul and even a hint of jazz into her rich, supple vocals.

“I can’t really sound like other people I don’t think,” she said. “I’ve tried to imitate people. I can only get close to Cher, and that’s only in the privacy of the car.”

Case, 36, was born in Virginia and spent her childhood traveling with her archaeologist father, who finally settled near Tacoma, Wash. Striking out on her own at 15, she wound up in Canada, where she went to art school in Vancouver. It was then she became a singer.

Not surprisingly, Case said, she looks at songwriting and making music in much the same way she approaches visual art.

“They’re the same process,” she said. “I don’t know how to explain that very well. They seem like the same thing to me. I don’t make the difference at all in my head. (In art school) there are a lot of discussions about artistic process and the subconscious and about how to try to make a connection with that. That’s important when you’re trying to write a song about something that isn’t about you.”

Case’s songs, which tend to capture a moment, generally aren’t pure autobiography. But she admits there’s no question that there’s some of her in every song.

The last time I interviewed her, which was four years ago, she called her music “weird country,” expressing her dislike for the term alt. country and her diffidence toward the Nashville mainstream. And she said moving from punk to country was a natural transition.

The “weird country” description has largely held true for the music of her solo career, which has seen her release five well-received albums, the first three on small “insurgent country” indie Bloodshot Records, the last two for Anti-, a larger independent label that is the home of, among others, Tom Waits.

Anti-’s larger size helped “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” gain momentum and wider exposure. Now Case has to deal with the pressure of having a very successful release. Or not.

“The only pressure is to make new records, which I’m slow at,” she said. “I’m starting on a new record. There are lots of things written down. But nothing’s demoed, really. Well, there’s one song that’s demoed.”

In part, Case hasn’t progressed far on a “Fox Confessor” followup because she’s still a part of New Pornographers, an excellent Canadian band that has been recording an album set for release later this year.

The more straightforward pop-rock of the New Pornographers provides another showcase for Case’s brilliant vocals and it also lets her have a little fun without having to constantly be the center of attention.

“It’s nice to have both outlets,” she said. “One’s like Six Flags. The other one, I have more responsibility. I’ve got responsibility in the New Pornographers, but it’s not the same. It’s rock ’n’ roll Six Flags.”

Case was clearly fighting off a little road weariness when we talked Wednesday. But she’s recently had a rest.

“I just got a month off,” she said. “I put in some tomatoes. I’m hoping they will actually grow some tomatoes. It’s my first time with tomatoes.”

Those tomatoes were planted in Tucson, Ariz., the place that the peripatetic Case now calls home.

“I’m kind of halfway between the big city and the little tiny place in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “Tucson and Lincoln are a lot alike. They’ve both got the university and they’re both friendly. They’re not too big. But you still get movies, and good bands still come through.”

By the end of the interview, the conversation turned to movies, specifically “Blades of Glory,” which I saw Tuesday night. Case wanted a full report on the picture. She’s a Will Ferrell fan and was excited to hear that I thought it was better than “Talladega Nights.”

“Very cool,” she said. “We’re going on Easter. Anyway, that’s our plan.”

Posted on 03/30/2007