After more than a decade, Dutch songwriter Case Mayfield is back. He made a jump start back in 2010, released a couple of beautiful records that were as volatile as his live performances had a tendency to be – and then seemingly disappeared. To the eye of the public that is, because in the meantime, Kees Veerman created something more important than any record: a life worth living and a family. Only to return early 2025 with a brand-new album Dying Day – and of course; another The Influences session. At the Vincentiuskerk in Volendam, straight after AWKWARD i finished his session, Case Mayfield recorded Crawl, Josh Ritter’s Girl In The War and Jackson Browne’s For A Dancer.

When I first filmed a session with Case Mayfield in 2010, I opened the article with: ‘This guy is something special. Every time he picks up his guitar and starts singing, all things around you tend to stop happening.’ Since then, we filmed another session at Mailmen studio, he performed at multiple of my live shows and recorded Stepstone for The Traditionals II album.

Case Mayfield: ‘I’m not really a ‘cover guy’ and to be honest, I’ve always been jealous of musicians who’ve been able to capture the essence of someone else’s song and in some cases even surpass it. I guess my muse won’t allow me to cheat on her, not even for a song or two. So, when Matthijs asked me to play and record another session with him, I took on the daunting task of finding songs capable of earning my muse’s approval.’

‘It hasn’t been able to leave my guitar since.’

‘Dear Josh. You ain’t an easy guy to cover man but somehow this beautiful song of yours slipped into my daily warm-up and routine. Didn’t think too much of it, just another song I wouldn’t be able to cover and do right by. One morning though it kind of hit me and it hasn’t been able to leave my guitar since. The eloquent way the song fuses that religious ‘awe’ with a powerless savior complex, all in the name of love. Chapeau.’

‘For A Dancer has turned me into the songwriter I am today.’

‘Dear Jackson. Every sunday night, and I mean évery sunday night, my dad (after quite a few beers) would turn on your record ‘Late For The Sky’. I used to call it ‘ouwelullenmuziek’ which translates to music-for-very-old-people. But, as you probably know, fate has a way of teasing, guiding and making fun of us. “Maybe the old geezer is onto something” I remember myself thinking whilst turning on the record… and that was that. That record, and particularly this song, have turned me into the songwriter I am today. It turned me into the songwriter I am today and my father into someone I respected, even.’ 

Dying Day

You can stream Case Mayfield’s new album Dying Day wherever you do such a thing, but you could also order it on vinyl, direct from the singer himself.

Photos

Keep watching

Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like these earlier ones we filmed at TakeRoot festival.