Music vs. Monday: John Prine

We’re kicking off a new series of blog posts this month called Music vs. Monday where we introduce you to a few of our favorite artists, bands, songs, or record companies. We hope this helps you kick start the week and fight off those Monday blues!

Everyone has a John Prine story and I’ll attempt to log mine here for the benefit of those who have yet to be enlightened by his songs. I didn't know it the first time I stepped foot in Chicago, but pretty soon I’d be addicted to John Prine. Not a ‘wake up at 5 am and head to the record store for a fix’ kind of addiction, but a ‘man I’m so damn blue and I need to know someone else sees things the way I do’ kind of addiction. I knew after the first song that I had found someone who spoke the same language. Around the same time I also discovered Richard Brautigan and together Prine and Brautigan were the bookends to my Chicago salad days.

My first introduction to Prine came appropriately from my father, a patient man with a sense of humor that would humble a biker and cause a priest to giggle without offending either. He showed me the way to true enlightenment through less talking and more walking through the woods and listening. He introduced me to Kerouac and said, “I can’t believe you haven’t read this. You are gonna love it!” He also introduced me to my first motorcycle which I immediately drove up the front steps of our house and vowed never to ride again. When I decided to try my luck out in Chicago, he gave me a handful of mixed tapes and on the top of the stack were two John Prine tapes marked ‘Live John Prine.’ I had an Isuzu Rodeo with too many miles on it but it had a great tape deck and so over that 13 hour drive I memorized all the lines. I memorized so much that I felt an odd sense of synchronicity when I passed over the Wabash River and could hear Mr. Prine saying, "I gave her a wink from the passenger side.” Those first long winter months when I didn’t have a penny to my name I’d sit and sip coffee grounds strained through a paper towel while I watched the half frozen pigeons picking at scraps in the alley way, listening to Prine gently preach his gospel and feeling sweetly redeemed as his words melted the cold away.

A few weeks ago I did a show down in Nashville and met Mr. Josh Talley who works for Oh Boy Records. and he said, “Hey Dolan. You ever listen to John Prine?” I was ecstatic to hear about Josh’s involvement with John and am hoping to one day create some artwork for the man himself. A few days after I got home from the Music City, I received two amazing records in the mail. If you haven’t heard the latest brainchild from Mr. Talley, then you are truly in for a treat. Josh grabbed a handful of today’s stellar Indie and Alt-Country performers and they’ve put together a tribute album called Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows. Justin Townes Earle’s cover of Prine’s "Far From Me" is like getting a crew-cut from a 70-year-old barber while drinking an ice cold coke in the middle of July. It’s spot on. And the other performers aren’t too shabby either. Conor Oberst, The Avett Brothers, Josh Ritter, and my boys from Charlottesville, Virginia, Old Crow Medicine Show. So go get this album and let’s compare notes. Oh, and if you are in the mood for a double shot of Prine-ness, then you should check out the latest live album just released as well. Not a bad one two punch from the Oh Boy crew, huh? In the meantime, fingers crossed for a little a creative collaboration between Dolan Geiman and John Prine…..