I have enjoyed John Prine’s music for more than three decades and wept when he died of COVID early in the pandemic (see that post here, which includes my rendition of his lovely little bit “It’s a Big Old Goofy World”). His music is potent (I love that phrase Erin) and has a sophisticated, yet simple, humor similar to that of a Wes Anderson movie. As Bonnie Koloc said in the book, “John Prine had an interesting way of looking at the world and could project that in his writing.”
John Prine once compared songwriting to taking the roof off someone’s house. “You just kind of look down and see how they live.”
Author Osmon so wonderfully says that “Prine was tender recorder of everyday absurdity, a man who found bright patches in the darkest of landscapes.”
Two days ago while taking a much needed break from the ski slopes in Deer Valley, UT, sitting by the fireplace with a glass of tequila I got lost in book about John Prine by Erin Osmon. I learned new things about the man and his storybook path towards the recording of his debut album, “John Prine”.
SIDE NOTE: I didn’t know until I read the book’s endnotes…. author Erin Osmon also wrote a book about Jason Molina, the singer from one of my favorite, not so well-known bands, Magnolia Electric Co. I just ordered it off Amazon and will report back soon. I actually recorded a new song wearing the shirt that was inspired by Mr. Prine’s passing called “Groundhog’s Day with You” (click here for that).
I already knew a whole bunch about Prine, such as his stint as a postman and its impact on his lyrics. He often rambled about his time as postman during his shows. I didn’t know (though) that he wrote “Hello in There” while hidden away from the cold in one of those postal transfer station boxes (see below).
Seven other super-cool things I learned and want to share about John from Osmon’s book…
1. John Prine and Bill Murray became buddies in Chicago while Murray performed pre-SNL with The Second City across the street from Prine’s “home court” of “The Earl”. There is a similar deadpan silliness in both men’s art. Here is a nice article that shares Bill Murray’s appreciation of Prine and how he “saved” his life.
The Earl sounds like it was very Prine-like.
Another great Chicago music club important to Prine was The Fifth Peg. Click here to read Roger Ebert’s 1970 review of Prine at The Fifth Peg that helped bring national attention to his residency at the Chicago club.
2. John’s father Bill Prine, also a music man, taught the singer at a young age to always order two beers when at a bar… one to drink, and one to hit someone over the head if trouble comes your way.
John wrote the song “Paradise” for his dad. The book describes the emotional first time John played the final record for his dad. Bill Prine asked his son to turn the lights off so he could imagine “Paradise” being played on a jukebox. John knew it was really because his father didn’t want to see him cry. John played along. Bill wept with joy.
3. Atlantic Records flew in famed rock photographer, Jim Marshall (who took the great shot of Johnny Cash giving the bird), to take the cover image for Prine’s first record. Not knowing what to do with Prine’s music since he was not really folk, and not country, the idea that Marshall photographed Prine sitting on a hay bale is quite funny, since as Osmon said… Prine grew up in Chicago and never saw a bale of hay. I thought this funny like a Prine song.
4. My favorite story in the book is how Steve Goodman sacrificed his chance at signing a record deal for John Prine so that he could be discovered instead.
Click here to hear
a great radio interview from 1984 on WNEW-NY with Steve Goodman talking about John Prine and singing the song John wrote for him called “Souvenirs”.
The story goes that in 1970 Kris Kristofferson and Paul Anka offered Steve Goodman a “red carpet” trip to NYC to record a professional demo in their studio after seeing one of his shows in Chicago. Goodman surprisingly passed on the offer, and told them they should give the offer to his good friend John Prine instead. The two mega stars were floored, but stayed around in Chicago another few days to catch Prine live very late one evening… Both Goodman and Prine flew to NYC and the rest in history! Anka would go on to manage both of them in the early days.
5. John Prine was often compared to Bob Dylan when he broke on the scene. Other than they both were singer-songwriters raised in the mid-west, the two couldn’t be more different. Dylan was mysterious and led the protest. Prine was mischievous and a “poet-jester”.
6. Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker named John Prine the state’s first honorary poet laureate in 2020.
Thanks to Erin Osmon for pulling this together. I highly recommend all my music friends grab a few books from the 33 1/3 series off Amazon. I just bought the Television book!
Lots to read, lots to hear.
Peace and love.
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