Ingrid:  With the release of your new album “The Rose Experience”, what’s the most important thing you want fans to understand about you as an artist and man?

Case: Definitely musically I want them to understand the music is always honest and never anything contrived. It’s always me doing what I do as opposed to what everybody else is doing or what’s hot at the time or that sort of thing. I just always stay in my lane and do what I do. It always progresses and grows, but it’s always going to be me. It’s going to always come from an honest perspective. That’s the most important thing musically. As a man, I like to have fun. I’m friendly. I know that there is a misconception. A lot of people come up to me and be like, “You’re real cool. I thought you would be mean and this and that.” So I don’t know if I look mean? I don’t know what it is, but that’s not me at all.

Ingrid: I’m not just saying this because of this interview, but, I would have never gotten that impression from your work, previous interviews, etc. So that’s interesting to me!!

Case: Actually I’ve gotten that from people a lot of times. It amazes me too.

Ingrid: With everything you’ve had to overcome over the past several years, what advice can you give to others about learning to stay focused, faithful and inspired to “make it happen” in spite of all things?

Case: The biggest thing is to believe in yourself, and whatever it is that you are trying to do. Also you have to keep your goal in mind. As they say, gold without fire isn’t pure gold. So nothing worth having is going to be easy…you know what I mean? Everything happens for a reason. So a lot times you have to go through bad things or hard times just to get to your ultimate goal—whatever that may be.

Ingrid: (smiling) As my pastor always says, “The greatest tests have the greatest blessings on the other side of them.”

Case: Exactly…it’s never going to come easy to you. Nothing ever is…it isn’t set up like that.

Ingrid: What is your personal mission as a multi-talented artist today—especially in today’s economic times when so many need hope and inspiration?

Case: I think, my thing when I make music is to, talk about my experiences. I’m sure that my experiences are much different from everybody else’s. The things that I go through or have gone through are like what plenty of people have gone through too. So, I think that through my music people can relate and it may make them think sometimes. Somebody called me today actually that heard the album and he was telling me that there is a song on there entitled “Let Me Down Easy.” He said he listened to it for about four hours on repeat because it reminded him exactly of a situation he went through in 2000. You know what I mean? It will make you think. Sometimes it will make you happy or sometimes it will make you sad. However, it’s something that everyone can relate to and that’s what I try to always do. So, that’s why it is important to me to keep the music honest and filled with my experiences. You can really touch people through your music. I’ve had quite a few instances of people coming up to me and telling me how my music touched them or things that it did to them or made them think about—which meant a lot to me.

Ingrid: Now was that a song that you personally wrote—the song he spoke about?

Case: Yes. I actually wrote it and produced it.

Ingrid: How does that make you feel? I know for me as writer when I am sitting down and writing, it doesn’t matter if it’s a song, article or chapter of a book. I don’t necessarily think, “How is this going to actually impact the person that reads this?” I just go with it. However, when someone actually gets it or when they respond and say I completely changed my thought about this or that—in your case he listened to his on repeat for four hours. How does that make you feel?

Case: It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I accomplished what I set out to accomplish. You know what I mean? It made him think about his situation, and how it was handled. You know, just everything about it—which is why I say it’s important to be honest in the music, because people can relate to it like that. People can tell when you’re faking. You know what I mean? That’s my thing.

Ingrid: I think today now more than ever, people are looking for but at the same time want people to be real. Not just say it.

Case: Exactly.

Ingrid: What are you looking forward to most with your new album release?

Case: Actually what I’m mostly looking for when I have an album coming when I’ve been in the studio, made the songs and I think about what they mean to me and I know the process that went into them. But the most exciting thing to me is for it to come out and then wait and start hearing people’s reaction to it. That’s always the most exciting part to me.

Ingrid: Ok. You’re right. We are paying tribute to Stevie Wonder is our upcoming issue as well, and you have said that he is one that has been an inspiration to you. Can you tell us in what way and how has that impacted you to do the same for someone else?

Case: He has been one of the biggest inspirations. His creativity always inspired me since I was a kid. I guess that’s where I got the whole thing of trying to make music to make people really feel—feel certain ways when you are doing certain songs. I always use the example to this day from the time is about four or five years old, I could be having the worse day ever and I’ll listen to “Don’t you worry about a thing” and I’m fine. I’ve felt like this forever—to this very day. That kind of inspired me to be creative and to have a mode set with each record—as opposed to just making a song.

Ingrid: How has that impacted you to be an inspiration for somebody else?

Case: Actually, when I’m making music I don’t look at it as trying to inspire somebody else. I figure if I do the best that I can then hopefully it will inspire somebody. I think you put too much undo pressure on yourself when you go into it trying to inspire somebody else or when you go in the studio and you’re trying to make the number one hit record. t. I would rather just do the best that I can and come from an honest place. Then if that’s what I did, it will impact somebody.

Ingrid: Tell us something about the “man” Case that many would be pleasantly surprised to know?

Case: I guess that everybody that knows me says I should have been a comedian. I joke around all the time.

Ingrid: (smiling) Really?

Case: Yes, like twenty-five hours a day. I like everybody around me to have fun. So I’ve always been like that.

Ingrid: Have you tried to do stand up or anything like that?

Case: Not at all. Actually I was at a comedy show and I performed a song that night. When I got on stage, I was just being myself and clowning around. Then one of the comedians came up to me and said, “You should do stand up.” I was like, “No I would never.” He was like, “That’s what you were just doing.” Then I thought about it and said yes I was. It wasn’t anything I wrote down, I was just up there clowning. I think I would be too scared to try that. I think I would have to get up and just be me. I wouldn’t be able to sit down and just write something. Like if somebody just said, “Say something funny.” I couldn’t be able to do it.

Ingrid: What would you say to our youth today to help them understand the importance of following their dreams and staying focused to reach goals?

Case: I think the main thing I would say to them would be to always have faith in God and in themselves. You know what I mean? Don’t let anyone or anything distract them from whatever their dream may be. I had an eighth grade teacher tell me once I couldn’t sing. So there’s always going to be plenty of people that say that you can’t do this or that, but you have to believe it first and stick to it. It’s hard work and dedication and it’s about how bad you want it.

Ingrid: Take me down one road in your journey into love and relationships that will give us a perspective that has brought you to “this place” in your life?

Case: In love and relationships. I would say I have seen just about everything in relationships. I’ve been in good and bad relationships. I’ve been wronged and I’ve done people wrong. In just seeing the world in general will help you have a better perspective on things. It’s definitely helped mine. Just going through different experiences in relationships and life will prepare you for future experiences. It’s like if you go through different relationships and things that aren’t just about relationships, you are going to keep going through them until you get it right. I just think it’s always a work in progress.

Ingrid: What else can we expect from you outside of the music and as I read in your bio, upcoming big screen moves are coming?

Case: The music is going to always be there. That’s who I am, but as far as acting I am getting into a little bit now. I’m dabbling a little bit now. I shot a TV pilot for a show called “ATL Homicide.” I’m waiting to see what happens to that. I play a narcotics detective and so I definitely want to try some more of that. It was actually a lot of fun. I definitely want to try my hand at acting a little more.

Ingrid: Is there anything else outside of acting and music?

Case: Not right now. Especially right now I am focused on the music. As time passes and as opportunities present themselves I will definitely get into more things. I was actually thinking about writing a book. A friend of mine is an author and he wanted to write an autobiography. So I’ve been kicking that idea around a little bit—to see how much dirt about me that I want to tell.

Ingrid: One thing I thought about when I was reading your bio, was how did it feel when you went through your experience of accidentally shooting yourself in the neck and of course your gift—your voice. In what I read, you could sense the determination. Is there any one thing you could share that really held you there in faith? I think so often times people go through adversity and I find them asking me often “How do you do it? How do you keep faith like that? How do you stay strong? Just know that God is God and He’s going to do this no matter what it looks like?”

Case: For me, I don’t think I could put my finger on one thing that it was. I think that for me, I’ve always been a fighter. So for me it’s never going to be over until it’s over. That was my thing. I wouldn’t say that it was one thing in particular, but I knew this is what I do…what I love to do…this is me. It was just something I had to do. Not having it was never really an option.

Ingrid: This is my signature question that I ask everyone in closing. You have a blank sheet of paper to express yourself “freestyle”. What would you say to the world so that we can feel the “real” essence of you?

Case: I don’t know. I’m a fun-loving person. I’m a sensitive person. I love music. You already know that. It’s more than just making music to me. It’s a way for me to express myself. It’s a way for me to get across the way I’m feeling. A lot of times, it’s a way to make myself feel a different way than I am feeling. It’s therapeutic to me in a lot of ways. I’m definitely a deep thinker. I like to think things out and think of things from different perspectives that the average person wouldn’t necessarily take the time to do. I am definitely a very devoted father. That’s pretty much me in a nutshell.

Ingrid: How do you balance it all?

Case: It’s kind of hard to balance the fatherhood with being on the road and things like that, but I do the best I can. I call when I can, and when I am in town I see the kids or bring them with me to do a show. Whatever it is I have to do, I include them in it and spend as much time with them as possible and let them know I am always there for them.

Ingrid: Is there anything else you want us to know?

Case: I think everybody will like “The Rose Experience”. Everybody that’s heard it so far loves it. I think everybody is going to enjoy it and I enjoyed making it. I think the way I approached this album will impact a lot of people, because I dealt with a lot of the normal relationship issues, but from a little different perspective. I went a little deeper into certain issues and I think that people are going to feel that.

Well if you are like me, you say that Case is back better than ever with “The Rose Experience”! If you haven’t checked it out yet, get it today! Case’s music is timeless and “The Rose Experience” is no exception. Follow Case’s music, performances, appearances and more at www.myspace.com/theofficialcasemusic or on www.twitter.com!