When Maow drummer Neko Case set down her sticks, presumably temporarily, to record a solo disc -- 1998's "The Virginian" -- she could hardly have expected to quickly become a Wanda Jackson for a new generation. Her brassy voice and sassy poise combined with some fine retro country pop to make Case the freshest voice on the alt.country scene.

By the time Case took The Pabst Theater stage in Milwaukee Thursday night, she'd left Maow behind, done double duty with The New Pornographers and released her sixth solo disc -- if one counts the "Canadian Amp" EP of 2001. She had also become far more complex a performer than could be hemmed in by a genre like alt.country.

In fact, on her latest disc, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood," with its almost formless southern Gothic vignettes, Case trades the Jackson bluster for Flannery O'Connor's dark subject matter and Biblical imagery.

Backed by a quintet that included former Bloodshot Records labelmates singer Kelly Hogan and talented pedal steel guitarist Jon Rauhouse -- who has accompanied Case on all her records since "Canadian Amp" -- Case offered one reading of her catalog, namely the more introspective and lower-key one.

Eschewing older barnburners like "Guided By Wire" and "High On Cruel," Case opted instead to focus on more majestic numbers like "Maybe Sparrow" and "Deep Red Bells" and folksier ones like "Wayfaring Stranger" and "I Wish I Was the Moon." The down tempo show did nothing, however, to dampen the enthusiasm of a crowd which filled the lower levels of The Pabst and even sent at least a few dozen people looking for seats in the balcony.

One thing Case has never been is distant and whatever her subject matter or musical bent, she can't shed her personable onstage patter and ebullient sense of humor, which always makes her a crowd favorite.

At her second Milwaukee appearance -- the first was at the Miramar on a tour promoting her 2002 "Blacklisted" disc -- Case gave her fans a look at what often one-dimensional alt.country acts could become: engaging songwriters combining diverse elements into something new and interesting.

And did we mention that she still has the kind of pipes that can rattle The Pabst's rafters?

Even if we wouldn't ever trade "Fox Confessor" for the "Honky Tonk Hiccups," it's a shame that she didn't get here more often in the past so we could have also seen the kind of high-energy shows that made her nearly legendary in other towns.

Opening the show was Martha Wainwright, sister of Rufus and daughter of Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, alternating between tunes with a bassist and drummer and songs on which she accompanied herself on acoustic guitar.

Fiery and stark, Wainwright's music was alternately tender and full of rage, driving and rambling and she's something of a punk rock Sandy Denny.