John Prine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Prine
Prine performing at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco, CA, October 3, 2004.
Background information
Born	October 10, 1946 (age 60)
Origin	Maywood, Illinois, USA
Genre(s)	Country Folk Progressive bluegrass
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter Guitarist
Instrument(s)	Vocals Guitar
Years active	1971 — Present

John Prine (born October 10, 1946 in Maywood, Illinois) is an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has achieved widespread critical (and some commercial) success since the early 1970s.

The son of William Prine and Verna Hamm, his grandfather had played guitar with Merle Travis and he started playing guitar himself at age 14. Prine was a postman for five years and served in the Army before beginning his musical career in Chicago.

Prine emerged in 1971 with a highly acclaimed debut album titled John Prine. He and friend Steve Goodman had each been stars in the Chicago folk scene before being "discovered" by Kris Kristofferson. The album included his signature songs Illegal Smile, Sam Stone, and the environmentalist newgrass standard Paradise. The album also included Hello In There, a song about aging that was later covered by numerous artists and Far, Far From Me a lonely waltz about lost love for a waitress that Prine later said was his favorite of all his songs. The album received many positive reviews, and some hailed Prine as "the next Dylan." Bob Dylan himself appeared unannounced at one of Prine's first New York City club appearances, anonymously backing him on harmonica.

Later albums include Sweet Revenge (1973, containing such Prine fan favorites as Dear Abby, Grandpa Was A Carpenter, and Christmas In Prison), and Common Sense (1975, with Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis). Many veteran Prine fans view the release of 1978's Bruised Orange as a creative highpoint. The Steve Goodman-produced album gave listeners songs such as The Hobo Song,Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone and the title track showing that he could capture the human condition as easily as writing political-inspired anthems complete with sledgehammer metaphors.

In 1991 Prine released the Grammy Award-winning The Missing Years, his first collaboration with producer and Heartbreaker's bassist Howie Epstein. The title song records Prine's humorous take on what Jesus did in the unrecorded years between his childhood and his ministry. In 1995 Prine released Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings, another collaboration with Epstein. In 1997 Prine followed with In Spite of Ourselves, which was unusual for Prine in that it contained only one original song; the rest were covers of classic country songs. All were collaborations with Prine's favorite female country vocalists (John referred to the group as "his favorite girl singers"), including Lucinda Williams and Iris DeMent.

In early 1998 Prine was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent surgery to remove the tumor [1]. Listeners believe that the surgery has added "gravel" to his voice. In 2003 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting by the UK's BBC Radio 2 and that same year was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The following year saw his classic Sam Stone covered by Laura Cantrell for the Future Soundtrack for America compilation.

In 2005, Prine released his first all-new album since In Spite of Ourselves. This album, Fair and Square, tended toward a more laid-back, acoustic approach than, for example, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings. The album contains songs such as Safety Joe, about a man who has never taken any risks in his life, and also Some Humans Ain't Human, Prine's protest piece on the album, which talks about the ugly side of human nature and includes a quick shot at President George W. Bush. Fair and Square won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

The 2005 Americana Music Awards marked another significant achievement for Prine. At the September 9th ceremony, Prine was honored with the Artist of the Year award, which was accepted in his name by awards host and long-time friend Billy Bob Thornton.

[edit] Trivia

His song Storm Windows appears on 4 CDs and is track seven on all four of the CDs. This can hardly be just coincidence but nobody seems to know any story behind this unusual occurrence. Prine's The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over was used in a 1999 Mercedes-Benz TV commercial.

Prine has dabbled in movie acting, appearing in the John Mellencamp feature Falling from Grace in 1992 and in Thornton's Daddy and Them in 2001.

John Prine's song Crazy As A Loon was covered by the band Bright Eyes on their 2007 short tour. Before beginning the song at the Washington, D.C., show, Conor Oberst stated, "I didn't write this song but sometimes I swear to God I feel like I did."