John Prine was never destined to be another Elvis Presley. For one thing, Prine has a face that wouldn't win any beauty contests. For another thing, Prine's voice sounds a bit like Froggy from the Our Gang comedies. Not exactly the "right stuff" for rock and roll royalty. And, yet, Prine has been releasing quality albums for 26 years now--something Elvis stopped doing in about 1958.
Prine is an oddity, no matter how you look at it. For instance, he’s from Chicago and yet he sings with a dirt-road, Southern accent: "Hello in tharrrr, hello." He’s not another Dylan trying to sound like Woody Guthrie, or another Ramblin’ Jack Elliott trying to sound like he’s from Oklahoma rather than Brooklyn. He sounds like no one other than John Prine. Another extreme oddity is that he was first "discovered" by Kris Kristofferson after a heads-up from (are you ready for this?) Paul Anka.
Prine’s songs aren’t folk; they aren’t blues. There are country elements, but nothing Nashville would come close to claiming. There are rock elements, but nothing to appease your average air guitarist. It sure as hell isn’t "world music" or "new age" or any of that happy PC hoowah. If I had to categorize his songs, I’d opt for "country-folk roll filtered through electro-acoustic rock." Or not. And, the lyrics--funny, sad, over-the-top, yet ever on target. (More from
A Big, Fat Retrospective by Steve Cooper)
14 Comments
silvercordA very sad song. John Prine is one of my favorites . . . thanks mlx.
mlxI've loved Prine's work for years, sc: Sam Stone, Illegal Smile (recreational use only), Souvenirs....saw him in concert at the Ryman in Nashville recently. Nobody writes songs like John Prine.
I doubt this will make it out of the Queue, but...I had to try.
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Zifnab*save
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FletchRock-n-roll?
mlxRock & roll ain't just head-bangin, my friend.
Thanks for the save!
ant*live ?
ridesallyridencsays...Didn't know there were so many John Prine fans around. "Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols..."
Reminds me of childhood!
8140I've been sandbagging Videosift for years now and never felt a need to "join", but seeing JP on here sort of renewed my faith in humanity and I felt a need to say thank you. So thanks mlx.
"It was Christmas in prison and the food was real good
we had turkey and pistols carved out of wood....."
8208Ditto, d4dave1, I was raised in Chicago and had heard of JP but his music wasn't played on radio. I moved to California in the mid 70's and found some of his albums and have listened to him since. His music evokes memories and emotions for me like very few songwriters. Thanks, mlx
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