John Prine is 68 years old today. A country/folk singer-songwriter, Prine has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s. Prine started playing guitar at age 14, taught by his brother, David. He attended Proviso East High School in in Maywood, Illinois, and was a member on the schools gymnastic team. He was a postman for five years and served in the Army during the Vietnam War era, serving in Germany, before beginning his musical career in Chicago. In the late 1960s, while Prine was delivering mail, he began to sing at open mic evenings at the Fifth Peg on Armitage Avenue. Prine was initially a spectator, reluctant to perform, but eventually did so in response to a You think you can do better? comment made to him by another performer. Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert heard him there and wrote the first review Prine ever received, calling him a great songwriter. He became a central figure in the Chicago Folk Revival, which also included such singer-songwriters as Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc, Jim Post and Fred Holstein. Joined by such established musicians as Jethro Burns and Bob Gibson, Prine performed frequently at such clubs as the Earl of Old Town, the Quiet Knight, Somebody Elses Troubles, The 5th Peg and the Bulls. Prine is currently living in Nashville with his third wife, Fiona Whelan. They have three children, stepson Jody Whelan, Tommy and Jack. Prine has a second residence in Pinellas County, Florida. In 2009, Bob Dylan said that Prine was one of his favorite writers, stating Prines stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about ‘Sam Stone,’ the soldier junkie daddy, and ‘Donald and Lydia,’ where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. In Johnny Cashs autobiography Cash, he admitted I dont listen to music much at the farm, unless Im going into songwriting mode and looking for inspiration. Then Ill put on something by the writers Ive admired and used for years (Rodney Crowell, John Prine, Guy Clark and the late Steve Goodman are my Big Four)... Here, Prine performs “That’s The Way That the World Goes Round” in 1978.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 10:15:06 +0000
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