The Benefits Of Benefits       
By Tommy Womack

Peter Case is a buddy. We’ve worked together in Nashville, Memphis, Lexington, KY, Decatur, GA, and – I kid you not – Sesto Callende, Italy. He’s a true hardcore troubadour who has lived it to his toenails out of a suitcase for decades, playing his guitar and weaving stories with his words, wearing a rumpled suit, with an old hat, looking like a man who took a train into town. 



Peter had open heart surgery earlier this year. A benefit gig was at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in California back in May. Dave Alvin played, T-Bone Burnett, others.They did it because yet another exorbitant medical fix-it bill affected yet another life that has value.



There were benefits for Duane Jarvis and Tim Krekel too, before the hammers fell. Perry Baggs of the Scorchers was a beneficiary of a big two-night one here in town two years ago. A few years back, Government Cheese reunited to help an old friend deal with her bills.



There was even a posthumous benefit once when Jack Emerson passed away suddenly, leaving a mountain of bills. So it goes.