John Prine

About a year ago I posted a song, one that I heard and thought it was the picture perfect idea of how a relationship should be. The song was Impossible Things #2 by Looper, and it is a song that I love listening to quite a bit. I like songs that tell stories, ones you can fall into and wish that it was you the singer was talking about. Even better are songs that talk about relationships, and I am not sure why that is. I do know that every so often a song hits my speakers a... MORE

From the artist: "There's no one person who was the basis for Sam Stone, more like three or four people, like a couple of my buddies who came back from Vietnam and some of the guys I served with in the Army. At the time, all the other Vietnam songs were basic protest songs made up to slap each other on the back like "yeah, this is the right cause." I don't remember any other songs that talked about the soldiers at all." "I came up with the chorus first and decided I... MORE

A live performance with John talking about the genesis of the song prior to his performance.

From the Artist: "I had a job at 15 working at an Episcopal Church as a janitor. I was a pew dustin', cross polishin', lawn mowin', snow shovelin' son of a gun. Early one Sunday morning, I was walking through the alley by the church to shovel snow before the congregation arrived. All thats out on the streets at that time on Sunday mornings are paperboys, altar boys, and guys like me. Turns out one of the Altar boys on his way to the Catholic church was walking down the t... MORE

John says "The woman, she's gonna keep fixing dinner, living in this house, staying married. She probably won't get up the nerve to leave the guy. But it's just that - a portrait of a lot of people who are doing that."

well i Needed to Hear Some Good Americana/Bluegrass Music And I Thought Of John Prine. In Spite of Ourselves is John Prines tribute to the music he grew up with. Good country songs written by folks like Roger Miller and Jack Clement. It is, at the same time, a golden opportunity for him to collaborate with some of his all-time favorite female vocalists. In the liner notes booklet, Prine tells the story: "I made a list of my favorite girl singers and the first nine I call... MORE

John Prine can do more with three chords and two bits than most folks can with 88 keys and a $1,000,000. He essentially taught me the guitar. It's hard to separate John from Neil Young as I reflect on my style influences, but it's easy to affirm that John first taught me how to play. I'm happy to have been brought up in the school of fingerpicking, hammer-ons and subtlety. For an example of all of the above, see his "Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone" from 1978's Brui... MORE

John Prine is a gifted songwriter living on the fringes of popular music. A sympathetic observer of people and their foibles, he crafts little songs of rare grace and insight around ordinary people living ordinary lives. With his gentle humor and sharp eye for detail, his songs are consistently imbued with his genuine love for the everyday people

1. Hans Zimmer, "Fighting 17^th." From the soundtrack to a movie (Backdraft) by one of Hollywood's most overrated directors, Ron Howard. Not being a fan of either the film or of soundtracks in general, I don't have a lot of music like this in my collection. But the Backdraft score served as much of the theme music for one of the great television shows of the time, the original Japanese version of Iron Chef, a favorite in our house from back in the day when it was shown on t... MORE

IS a cover album (but is worth the price for the title track alone), Prines heart and his wit. Are both here in spades on this album. This is a GREAT collection of songs, sung by a fabulous man and A truly awesome women,Iris DeMent. There is more quality lurking in this album than many other artists can muster in a lifetime. I can't think of another performer with the real American soul of John Prine, and here he shows us a side of it that many have never seen before. It ... MORE

an update on the 2007 Hardly, Strictly bluegrass Festival in GG park. the place was packed guys, there must be 100,000 folks out here. on the jr. star stage in front of about 15,000 people, john prine, in about an hour, spit out these gems amoung others:speed of the sound of lonelinessyour flag won't get you into heavensouviners( for late steve goodman)grandpa was a carpenterfish and whistleangel from montgomery( for bonnie raitt)and lake marie if someone can convince me... MORE

AP headline: Iraq vets may suffer depression, stress