There are innumerous articles and interviews published about John Prine, his career having spanned fifty years. Widely admired for his lyric writing, I’ve always enjoyed Prine for the complete package: great songs, great recording arrangements, and great live performances.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve seen him live, at least five or six, probably more. And although Prine is often lumped into the singer-songwriter bucket, he’s so much more than that. When playing live, he was often accompanied by a small group, often just bass and guitar or mandolin, the sound coming across as full, and layered, rooted in Prine’s simplistic yet engaging picking.

There’s more than a modest amount of country influence - especially evident in the last two decades or so of his career when he repeatedly went back to the well of deep country cuts.

John Prine: The Songwriter’s Songwriter

Essential John Prine Listening:

For someone starting out to discover Prine, I’d suggest a few places:

#1 and most logical is his first album: John Prine, released in 1971. The entire first side of that albume is a string of what have become classics. Every song on Side A is one of his best.

Next, jump to 1999 And In Spite of Ourselves in which Prine duets with a talented line-up of female country and folk singers on a series of country break-up and cheating songs. The opener alone “We’re Not the Jet Set” is worth the price of the album.

For those who like things folky, try his second album, 1972’s Diamonds in the Rough. This is a brilliant album with really stripped down arrangements alongside more country-fed songs even than in his first album.
There are so many other great albums out there: Sweet Revenge combines both rock and folk influences, German Afternoons featuring “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” the adventurous Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings; and his last studio release The Tree of Forgiveness shows that even in his 70s, Prine still had it.

For More on John Prine:

John’s record company Oh Boy Records continues his legacy and that of artists like him.

For all things John Prine: JohnPrine.com

Picking a few of John’s songs to portray is nearly impossible. So, I just picked a few I really like. Listen here:

  • Live video of a 1992 performance of “All the Best”

  • Live “Angel From Montgomery” with Bonnie Raitt.

  • John Prine “Quit Hollerin’ at Me” Live from 1996 on Conan O’Brien

John Prine “All the Best” 1992 Live Recording from Texas Connection.

John Prine & Iris Dement live on “Angel from Montgomery”

John Prine “Quit Hollerin’ at Me” Live from 1996 on Conan O’Brien

John Prine & Iris Dement - The Jet Set, live at Sessions at West 54th.