John Prine: C or D? (plus RFI: new album)

I have the s/t and SW on LP, will blast both tonight.

errr SR

Jesus fuck, Adam Schlesinger, Bill Withers, Hal Willner and now JOHN PRINE, and three of them because of that shitty virus. Goddammit.

i feel like between Charles Portis & John Prine we have lost some true magic

i came to him very late, within the last year or so & saw him live for the first time just last year... god what a gift he gave us

My dad used love to to sing & play “Please Don’t Bury Me” to us as little kids, only in hindsight did I realize it’s kind of a weird tune to sing to your kids, but we turned out fine I guess. Glad I finally got to take my pop to see Prine last year. That tour seemed like a victory lap, I’m glad he got to get out like that again, he was clearly having the time of his life playing those shows.

i’m so sad

I came to him via “angel from Montgomery” via Dave Matthews via a college friend
Rip

I never got to see him in person either, despite having chances.

A neat thing about said chances though was that when he got cancer, he was treated at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. After he recovered, every time he came through town, he donated the proceeds from those shows to back to them.

Michael Hurley better be staying the fuck home, that's all I gotta say rn

Sorry to hear you’re going through this Alex. As a two time cancer survivor I want you to know that I’m rootin’ for you. I watch Jeopardy twice a day & I look forward to seeing you on there for many years to come. Against all odds you’re the big door prize. Your friend John Prine

A Message from Alex Trebek: pic.twitter.com/LbxcIyeTCF

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) March 6, 2019

"Lonesome Friend of Science" (what a title!) is as sharp as anything in the last thirty years.

"Knockin' on Your Screen Door" is so beautiful, such a perfect balance of funny and bittersweet. "I can see your back porch, if I close my eyes now/ I can hear the train tracks, through the laundry on the line."

And I've always thought "No Ordinary Blue" was oddly overlooked; it's one of the best songs about depression I know.

She said,
"What were you thinkin?"
"Just a-wonderin',
is it something that I did?"
I said, "It's nothing,
just something
I picked up as a kid."

The Tree of Forgiveness is as good as anything he’s ever done, and one of my favorite albums of the last decade.

aw

Egg & Daughter Night feels like a much older song

"Lonesome Friend of Science" (what a title!) is as sharp as anything in the last thirty years.

Yeah, love that one. "I don't live here anyway."

I sent that song to my dad the first time I heard it, I knew he'd like it. I was right.

much like with Withers it's uncanny how fully formed and simply impactful his songs were right out the gate, fuck.

RIP

much like with Withers it's uncanny how fully formed and simply impactful his songs were right out the gate, fuck.

― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Tuesday, April 7, 2020 11:29 PM

Like Withers, he'd already lived some life before the rest of us heard him.

I can't think of a better metaphorical job for Prine to have had than mailman.

Lots of tears at the house tonight. Tried to sing this a few times .& failed. https://youtu.be/F0t7bBwtwwI

RIP, you funny perfect little man.

I’m playing Lake Marie on repeat.

«Ah baby, we gotta go now».

fucking hell, and bolsonaro and johnson are alive. disgusting.

I've mostly known and loved his songs through famous versions by other singers, mostly female singers, as well as his duets with Iris Dement. To expand on what Simon H said, I think what always struck me about them is their empathy and their literary sense of story, scene, character. The imagery in Angel from Montgomery for instance: The subsiding clapboard house, the disarrayed kitchen. Somehow so detailed in how its depiction between the lines. The torn, faded, rodeo poster still flapping on a telegraph pole, long after it's left town. The voice of the woman in it, worn and hopeful: "just give me one thing, that I can hold on to."

I think what JF says is right, and its why so many songs by lifelong professional musicians leaves me cold. Songs that are only a reflection on the other side of fame. Or worse, about 'fame' or love and heartache shorn of contextual specificity into a platitudes. I think the wit and empathy in prine definitely emanates from living in the world. Its probably just a weakness of mine, a fetishism for the voice of 'experience,' for images of life seen elsewhere and shaped into something resonant. Its why so many of his songs are so funny ("I caught him once, and he was sniffin' my undies"), right? They have the ring of something torn from observation. Sad that voice is gone.

I put on "When I Get to Heaven" this morning, with the bit about vodka and ginger ale and forgiveness

My musical friends and I are participating in a Facebook "quarantine covers" group. When he first got sick, I posted a mandolin cover of "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" - I'm glad I did it then, because it'll be a while before I feel up to doing a Prine song either online or live.

Also I admire ilx's stubborn perversity in having RIP threads for people who are alive, while confining discussion of a dead artist to a C or D thread

a wish is a fine thing in these hard times

don't know how well known this is but I was amazed to learn that part of his break into the biz was this review by Roger Ebert, who was supposedly compelled to write it after just happening to see him play out one night. On top of how remarkable that story is, it's amazing to read about that first album's worth of classic songs all so fully formed and affecting when he was still working his day job.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/4/7/21199183/john-prine-dead-review-first-roger-ebert-sun-times-1970-fifth-peg

RIP.

saw kristoffersons liner notes from the first album too, a nice heartfelt run through of kris, post-gug himself, being dragged across town to see this guy after the bar hed played was closed and sitting there amidst upturned chairs for two dozen songs

xpost I was coming here to post just that Ebert piece.

After all the health problems this man battled and kept on singing and playing, and this shitty virus takes him out when he had so many great songs in him. Fuck this.

If I was to try the music of John Prine, knowing that smart lyrics are not something I care very much about, which album should I try? Which one has the most interesting music, in other words? Did he ever work with a producer who tried to get him out of “rootsy” country-folk-singer-songwriter land?

Sweet Revenge has some of the sympathetic musical settings, thanks to Arif Mardin.

I just compared that album elsewhere to Shotgun Willie.

unperson, the Howie Epstein-produced albums are far from staid too if uneven. I know you're a Petty and the Heartbreakers fan.

Agree that Sweet Revenge is your best bet, but really if you're not into lyrics or "rootsy"/songwriter sonics then JP just might not be your bag

I hate to say it but that's pretty much otm. Prine epitomizes "rootsy singer-songwriter known for his lyrics." Maybe "In Spite of Ourselves" for the novelty of the excellent duet partners?

I think Common Sense is a great album, though I get the impression that might be a minority opinion. But yeah, if you're not into lyrics, John Prine might not be for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZDuoH_g8Gw

Ebert remained a fan--I recall a little 'last album I bought' blurb in Blender of all places wherein Ebert mentioned he'd finally replaced his Prine vinyl with CDs, and that he was "America's Greatest Living Songwriter".

could also just listen to bonnie raitt sing angel from montgomery, kris and joan sing hello in there

Is there a song about going for some form of martial arts lessons and being left one armed by the huge japanese teacher so who's going to pick a fight with him?
Have been having this crop up on my walkman for ages and assuming its him . Cos it sounds like some of his other work musicall y and vocally I think.

Awesome poster my friend was commissioned to make for Prine a few years ago:

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/92505802_3103574356376258_6935745160764456960_o.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_sid=110474&_nc_ohc=QXmekrmJ9mIAX8bJ8hH&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=5bbfd841c82e7ef578ac2c870922f204&oe=5EB2CBFB

That's the house Prine grew up in. It's about a mile west of where I live.

Straight up bawling while listening to "Hello in There" and "Boundless Love" today.

I have a vivid memory of seeing an educational film in elementary school when I was in 5th grade (1976-77), that used that song to teach us younguns about how old people are people too

(re: "Hello In There")

xp that’s townes van zandt’s “talkin karate blues”

Farewell to an idea.

Alfred, I don't always agree with your opinions, but your writing is very, very good and I always feel I learn something when I read it.

Looking at all the John Prine quotations that people have been posting online, it's amazing how many of them are from his last album. How rare is that? A late-career album so good that when people think John Prine, those songs come to mind just as readily as "Hello in There" or "Angel from Montgomery."

He was having one of those moments, kind of like Roy Orbison had at the (also unexpected) end of his career where everyone woke up and realized he was amazing.