A teenager traveling to California with only his guitar and a dream ... It’s not a song, it’s Peter Case’s life, which could begin to explain the extraordinary power of his musical portraits.

From his early days, Case has navigated a musical journey unlike any other. He began with the legendary San Francisco punk rock band the Nerves. Not long after, he formed one of rock ’n’ roll’s most heralded acts, the Plimsouls. Critical acclaim doesn’t deposit well at the bank, so the Plimsouls broke up in 1984. But the band’s untimely demise was an unexpected plus for music fans everywhere, as Peter Case picked up his guitar and began singing.

Pulse! magazine has hailed Case as “an iconoclastic singer-songwriter possessing an equal grasp of folk idioms and rock ’n’ roll aggression,” and Song Talk lauded his ability to write “songs that seem like old folk songs, like they are already part of the fabric of our lives.” Viewers will be moved by powerful portraits and stinging despair as Case pounds out his art.

“I really had a great time that night,” says Case about the performance recorded here. “I always love playing in Kentucky; there’s such a rich tradition of music there.”

Joining Case for the evening is rising country/folk star Kate Campbell. Critics have praised her sweet, smoky vocals and compared her literate songs to the writing styles of Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, and Flannery O’Connor. Accolades have appeared everywhere from National Public Radio’s All Things Considered to the now legendary and critically acclaimed “Southern Music Issue” of the Oxford American. Even the Farm Journal has praised Campbell, awarding her with 1995’s “Farm Song of the Year” citation.