Neko Case’s Blacklisted 20 Years Later

In 2002, my favorite musical obsession, Phish, was on indefinite hiatus. The Grateful Dead with Jerry was long gone and this music obsessive was in search of a new obsession or at the very least some new jams to sink his teeth into. I wasn’t excited by much in the improvisational rock world around that time so I started looking out and back for new inspiration.

I’d been a big fan of the gothic country rock of 16 Horsepower since their inception in the mid-90s. Their bandleader, David Eugene Edwards, had recently started a new project, Wovenhand, whose self-titled debut came out in April of 2002 and I was really digging it. I was spending a lot of time on 16HP message boards trying to find new stuff to get into and someone said, “If you like 16 Horsepower, you’re going to love Neko Case’s Blacklisted.”

This was before streaming services so I put my faith in a stranger off the internet and picked up a copy on CD at a local record store and could not believe what my ears were hearing on first listen. Album opener “Things That Scare Me” had that rollicking and ominous 16 Horsepower stomp, but with the artistic imagery of Nick Cave lyrics sung by someone with an otherworldly voice. To say I was instantly converted would be an understatement. I don’t know how long after the album release I got into it, but I did see her sometime the next year so I imagine it wasn’t too long after the fact.

“Deep Red Bells” kept the enchantment going with its hypnotic chorus of “Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed belllllllllllllls.” I didn’t even know what it meant but it was like the siren’s call to these ears desperately in need of being inspired. I’m not going to go through a song by song breakdown as this isn’t an album review as much as it is a heartfelt happy birthday and love letter to an album that shook things up for me and gave me a new artist to be a fan of. I will say that “Pretty Girls,” “Blacklisted,” “Running Out of Fools,” and “Ghost Wiring” are some of my other favorites. It’s easy to check album release dates on Wikipedia and reel off stories on the tenth, twentieth, etc. anniversary of a release, but how many of those albums are really worth the digital ink all those years later? This one absolutely is. Without a shadow of a doubt. Take 39 minutes and 50 seconds out of your day today and hopefully you’ll be as inspired as I was 20 years ago….