I first found Peter Case by accident, which still seems the right way to find him. It was the mid-1980s, and I was reading the album review section in the Christchurch Star, the Christchurch evening newspaper . The review was about R.E.M's Life's Rich Pageant , the follow up to Fables of the Reconstruction, an album that raarely left the turntable. For the second review following REM it was mentioned a great opening act for REM would be Peter Case.

The reviews are still coming in for Foreign Tongues, and most critics seem relieved simply to have another Rolling Stones album. Fair enough. Mick Jagger is now approaching 83, Keith Richards is 82, and nobody seriously expected another studio record after Hackney Diamonds. Listening to it, though, I kept thinking of another Stones album - one that almost nobody rates - Dirty Work.

August 2019. Justin Townes Earle, promoting what would be his last album The Saint of Lost Causes, stood alone on stage in Ōtautahi Christchurch, midway through a set that would barely stretch beyond an hour.