BY HOLLY GLEASON
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
here’s too many volatile things going
on in the world,” says the always
topical song writing legend, John
Prine. Hitting on his fountain of inspiration,
he adds, “It’s always good for journalists,
comedians and folk singers. This country is
in a very odd place right now, paranoid
really... take traveling
around, talking to
strangers. Just saying,
‘Hello. How are you?’ or
‘Nice day, isn’t it?’ People
are scared to talk to you.
“I just came back from
Canada, and people are so very nice, warm.
They don’t have this fear driven into them
like we do.”
Prine - who releases “For Better, Or
Worse” on Sept. 30, is a student of the
world around him. He has served in the
military overseas, delivered mail, spent time
with his grandparents in Kentucky and
written songs that capture major truths
about the human condition in three
minutes, often by illuminating a handful of
moments in a few people’s lives,
By observing and writing, he’s built a
career and body of work that make us all
feel more, well, human. Indeed, those
songs earned Prine a 2016 PEN Award
(which promotes literature and defends
freedom of expression worldwide)
alongside equally singular songwriter/
artist Tom Waits. It can be said no one
T
‘Raw
imagination
and good
instincts’
American
song-writing
legend John
Prine builds on
his long career
of‘showing, not
telling’ life
stories through
song with his
latest album
‘For Better, Or
Worse. ’
Street Roots • Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2016
News
Page 10
brings the empathy to outsiders, lost
souls, broken people and the forgotten
quite like the Grammy winner from
Maywood, Ill.
“Angel From
Montgomery”
captures the
emptiness of
a woman
ignored
in her marriage; “Sam Stone” considers the
junkie Vietnam veteran so strung out on his
memories and drugs that he overdoses; and
“Hello In There” peers on an elderly couple
left behind by life. Then there’s “Paradise,”
the song lamenting Peabody Coal’s strip
mining in Muhlenberg County, recently
vindicated by the Supreme Court in a suit
filed by Peabody Coal to have the song
removed from pending litigation against
them.
With a chuckle, the very first singer/
songwriter to ever read his work at the
Library of Congress marvels, “All I was
trying to do is tell the story about my
mom’s hometown. If you were there, you
saw the world’s largest shovel, tearing up
this little town. The federal judge said my
lyrics not only didn’t defame them, they
were the truth ... and he went on to qiiote
them in his own summary.”
Not that John Prine ever intended to be a
crusader. The aw-shucks Midwesterner is
much more live-and-let-live by nature, but
his idea of living includes making sure a
society grown calloused doesn’t just throw
people away. By showing - through the
people in the songs - not telling, he’s built
a wealth of work
that speaks to
those margin
L" ' -
I '
dwellers he
think matter
§
\
' 5
(and
occasionally
.
L
**•’*.
I
\
skewers some
of the ones
he thinks
could be doing
a better job,
like “Fair &
Squares,”
Some Humans Aren’t Human).
Prine was the kind of kid in school who
was a dreamer with an active sense of
creativity. As he says of the education
process, “I really enjoyed English when I
had a teacher who knew enough to leave
you alone and let you follow your
imagination. If they wanted me to memorise
verbs, not so much, but if they asked me to
write dialogue for two characters on an
escalator, I’d go to town.”
On the verge of 70, that strong streak of
whimsy and play remains. On “For Better,
Or Worse,” Prine teams with another group
of integrity roots singers to cull the vintage
country songbook. After longtime duet
partner Iris DeMent kicks things off with
the bouncy sarcasm of “Who’s Gonna Take
the Garbage Out,” Susan Tedeschi, Alison
Krauss and Amanda Shires join Prine for
“Color of the Blues,” “Falling In Love
Again” and “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and
Loud, Loud Music.”
“I love singing with girls,” Prine
enthuses, as much a fan of the individual
vocalists as the vintage country they
reclaim. “I could make those duet records
all day, every day! Opera, all French,
Spanish. To all the girls I’ve sung before!
Because I really like the sound of a guy and
a girl going back and forth, you know? I’m
not a ‘bro’ sort of guy.”
Making the endeavour particularly sweet,
after the death of his long-time manager, Oh
Boy! Records has evolved into the family
business. His Irish bride Fiona, who once
ran U2’s Windmill Studios, now serves as
his manager, and son Jody stepped in to run,
the label.
“That’s what I’m really working for now,”
he admits. “Everything I do is for the kids
and the grandkids, which feels nice. And
I’ve got my family helping with the
See PRINE, page 11
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g
I w*"
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I ■ ■'* -
John Prine performs after accepting his
PEN New England Song Lyrics of
Literary Excellence Award during a
ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library
in Boston.
REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER