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John Prine


Aggie87

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Any Prine fans on the board? Tell me about him - I really don't know any of his music, I don't think. He's one of those names I've heard mentioned over the years, but never listened to. What albums are worth checking out? What are some of his signature songs?

He's playing here in town on Saturday night. Is he worth seeing live? Alejandro Escovedo is opening, and is the main reason I was interested, but I'd like to learn a bit about Prine too.

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Prine's good. Starting out, he was marketed as another "The New Dylan," but he insisted on being himself. "Bruised Orange" is a great album from 1978; Miranda Lambert recently covered a song from that album. He realized he wasn't making any money recording for the majors, and started his "Oh Boy" label in 1984. "Aimless Love" is a great album from that time. He's a good maverick; you should check him out.

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This is just me, and I know that many Prine fans would vehemently disagree with this. To me, his first album is by far his best. To me, he had his best songs saved up and used them on his first album, and then never reached that level again. I like the first album a lot, but do not like the rest of his career nearly as well.

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Edited by Hot Ptah
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Ended up going to the show last night, and it was fantastic!

Alejandro Escovedo opened, and played for about 45 minutes - too short for my tastes. The band was two acoustic guitars, bass & drums. It was a great set, touching on some new tracks from his latest album (Big Station) back through some of his early tracks. I wish he'd pass through here as a headliner, like to hear a much longer set.

Prine came out after a 30 minute intermission, with a bassist and another guy who was mainly a guitarist but played a few other instruments as well. His set lasted 2 1/2 hours, which surprised me, given the cancer he battled. He was definitely "on", talking about how he wrote some of his songs, which were favorites of his mother and a recently passed brother, and about his experience playing brothers in a movie with Billy Bob Thornton. Thoughout all of his stories there was a sense of humor, and you could tell he really enjoyed what he was doing, and appreciated being there.

He played some of the songs mentioned above, as well as some that were clearly some of his biggest hits - Sam Stone, Jesus the Missing Years, Bear Creek Blues, Angel from Montgomery, Dear Abby, Hello in There, John Garfield Blues, Clay Pigeons, and many more.

Glad I went!

Edited by Aggie87
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This is just me, and I know that many Prine fans would vehemently disagree with this. To me, his first album is by far his best. To me, he had his best songs saved up and used them on his first album, and then never reached that level again. I like the first album a lot, but do not like the rest of his career nearly as well.

5174X5AJ9PL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I agree, in my opinion John Prine's first album is his best by far. I picked it up when it came out in 1971 and still love it after all these years. Great songwriter.

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Ended up going to the show last night, and it was fantastic!

Alejandro Escovedo opened, and played for about 45 minutes - too short for my tastes. The band was two acoustic guitars, bass & drums. It was a great set, touching on some new tracks from his latest album (Big Station) back through some of his early tracks. I wish he'd pass through here as a headliner, like to hear a much longer set.

Prine came out after a 30 minute intermission, with a bassist and another guy who was mainly a guitarist but played a few other instruments as well. His set lasted 2 1/2 hours, which surprised me, given the cancer he battled. He was definitely "on", talking about how he wrote some of his songs, which were favorites of his mother and a recently passed brother, and about his experience playing brothers in a movie with Billy Bob Thornton. Thoughout all of his stories there was a sense of humor, and you could tell he really enjoyed what he was doing, and appreciated being there.

He played some of the songs mentioned above, as well as some that were clearly some of his biggest hits - Sam Stone, Jesus the Missing Years, Bear Creek Blues, Angel from Montgomery, Dear Abby, Hello in There, John Garfield Blues, Clay Pigeons, and many more.

Glad I went!

Not to derail - I'm a BIG Escovedo fan too.

Early in Dec. I'm going to a show where he & David Hidalgo will be trading songs. :excited:

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  • 2 weeks later...

For those that like Prine's debut album, the recent release "Singing Mailman Delivers" would be worth checking out. The first disc is a set of recordings he made at WFMT Studios in Chicago for copyright purposes, about a year before the first album, with alot of the same songs. The second disc is a great live set from November 1970.

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