2025 was a landmark year for the genre-bending singer-songwriter Neko Case.
She released a new album, "Neon Grey Midnight Green," and published a memoir, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You. In both, she uses her singular voice to weave together personal stories, the sounds of a diverse musical community and her abundant respect for the natural world.
Case has deep roots in Vermont. She spent some of her childhood years in Lamoille County and now has a farm in the Northeast Kingdom.
On Vermont Edition, she shared stories from her three decades in the music world, the inspiration behind her latest album and what her Vermont home means to her. The following excerpts from the interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Mikaela Lefrak: As a Vermonter, I love that so much of this album was recorded at your Vermont studio, and you brought a lot of musicians in who you've been working with for many years. And it made me think about the parts of your memoir where you talk about how hard it is to make a living as a musician. I was curious if there was a conscious spirit of trying to share your success with many other people — kind of helping to pull in that community.
Neko Case: You know, most people think of music as something that makes you money in a real way. If you end up in the newspaper or on the radio, people think you're making a great deal of money, which isn't always true. There's a small percentage of people that make a lot of money — you know, the Lady Gagas and Beyonces of the world — but the rest of us, most of us, are kind of blue collar, and we are touring to keep visibility up and to engage with fans.
I'm lucky that I started out as a touring musician, because I know how to do it and I really enjoy it. And then there's the fact that I maybe got the last recording advance anybody's ever going to get [laughs], because streaming has made that almost impossible. So I really wanted to make sure that I took this opportunity, which would likely be my last opportunity, to work on that scale and to make sure that there were real musicians.
Lefrak: Neko, I loved reading the parts of your book about your time in Vermont. You said that some of the happiest times you had as a child were growing up in Lamoille County — you spent portions of your childhood here. You said it was the only place you felt like yourself.
Case: I went from living in a place where the kids were pretty mean — and it was weird, because we were all kind of poor — and then when I moved to Vermont. The kids were really kind and also poor, but they didn't care. They didn't make a big deal out of it. Nobody was shaming each other about being poor, and they viewed me as, oh, cool, another person to play with. I felt so welcomed and invited and cherished.
I had a really great bunch of neighbors that let me ride their horses, and it was just such a wonderful time. There was something about the Eastern forests that made me feel very comfortable, like I was in a fairy tale, and my imagination was really happy here.
Lefrak: We just got an email from a listener named Jen in Waterville, where you used to live. Jen writes, "Neko, we are so proud to have known you when you were a child! You worked the neighborhood on our back road, meeting and befriending all the people and animals. After you left, we remembered you often and said, 'Remember that kid.. Neko? She was amazing.' We knew you were going to be something great. Reading your memoir filled in the blanks, and we appreciate you even more. Sending love from all of us!"
Case: Oh man. Jen was one of those people who was so kind to me when I was a little kid. That's when I kind of learned about the the uniqueness of the idea of being a neighbor, which Vermont has like crazy. It's so odd to think of a state as having its own character, because, you know, it's a political outline on a map. But Vermont does have that character, which is really incredible.
Just one example — Hurricane Irene. I got in my truck with my friend and we went out to see if anybody needed help. And everybody was already out in their trucks with their raincoats on and their shovels out, and everybody had already been taken care of! It was phenomenal, and it was really interesting.
Another thing I found really interesting was, we've had a few years here of really extreme flooding. And in contrast with what happened in Asheville, which was the same thing, Vermonters just don't go outside of Vermont to ask for help. There was a lot of fundraising and stuff for Asheville, but I noticed that Vermont wasn't reaching out in that way during its own crises, and I wondered if that was sort of a Vermont New England trait as well. Like, we got this.
Broadcast live on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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