Living-Room Vibes From Peter Case and Company

There is something agreeably homespun in folkies Bob Neuwirth (of the old guard), Peter Case (of the new guard) and Steve Young (of the not-yet-proven guard) getting together for some fairly informal acoustic shows in town, sharing songs one by one with the slightest of accompaniment from one another, as you’d guess they might do in one of their own living rooms. But at Cafe Largo on Wednesday, the atmosphere during the first set was more akin to a living room in which little sister has invited over a score of friends, as incessant crowd chatter prevailed over on-stage chirping.

Being a rock ‘n’ roll veteran, unlike the other two, Case came through all this the easiest. While still in the Plimsouls, he learned the tricks of winning over distracted barroom audiences, and the energy in his performing and the touching novelty in his songwriting are still inherently attention-getting.

Neuwirth and Young are more reticent performers, and cover the much more well-traveled ground of lost love and the-road-as-metaphor. Their often funereal approach had a far harder time breaking through, but as the crowd grew thinner and more attentive during the late set, Neuwirth and Young’s lot improved, as it no doubt will further still when the threesome plays folk-haven gigs tonight at Bogart’s Bohemian Cafe in Long Beach and Saturday at the Breakaway in Venice.