John Prine (born October 10, 1946, in Maywood, Illinois) is an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has achieved widespread critical (and some commercial) success since the early 1970s.
Prine is the son of William Prine and Verna Hamm. It is widely believed but untrue that his grandfather played guitar with Merle Travis, and Prine himself started playing guitar at age 14. He was a postman for five years and served in the Army before beginning his musical career in Chicago.
Prine emerged in 1971 with a highly-acclaimed debut album titled John Prine. He and friend Steve Goodman had each been stars in the Chicago folk scene before being "discovered" by Kris Kristofferson. The album included his signature songs "Illegal Smile", "Sam Stone", and the environmentalist newgrass standard "Paradise." The album also included "Hello In There", a song about aging that was later covered by numerous artists and "Far From Me," a lonely waltz about lost love for a waitress that Prine later said was his favorite of all his songs. The album received many positive reviews, and some hailed Prine as "the next Dylan." Bob Dylan himself appeared unannounced at one of Prine's first New York City club appearances, anonymously backing him on harmonica.
Later albums include Sweet Revenge (1973), containing such fan favorites as "Dear Abby", "Grandpa Was A Carpenter" and "Christmas In Prison", and Common Sense (1975), with "Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis". The latter album was Prine's first to be charted in the US top 100 by Billboard, reflecting growing commercial success. Many veteran Prine fans view the release of 1978's Bruised Orange as a creative highpoint. The Steve Goodman-produced album gave listeners songs such as "The Hobo Song", "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone" and the title track showing that he could capture the human condition as easily as writing politically-inspired anthems.
In 1991 Prine released the Grammy Award-winning The Missing Years, his first collaboration with producer and Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein. The title song records Prine's humorous take on what Jesus did in the unrecorded years between his childhood and his ministry. In 1995 Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings was released, another collaboration with Epstein. Prine followed in 1997 with In Spite of Ourselves, which was unusual for him in that it contained only one original song - the rest were covers of classic country songs - and all were duets with well-known female country vocalists, including Lucinda Williams and Iris DeMent. (John referred to them as "his favorite girl singers".)
In early 1998 Prine was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent surgery to remove the tumor followed by radiation therapy.prine_letter.html" target="_blank">http://www.jpshrine.org/john_prine_letter.html. Listeners believe that the surgery has added "gravel" to his voice. In 2003 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for songwriting by the _UK's BBC Radio 2 and that same year was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The following year saw his classic "Sam Stone" covered by Laura Cantrell for the Future Soundtrack for America compilation.
In 2005, Prine released his first all-new offering since In Spite of Ourselves, the album Fair & Square, which tended toward a more laid-back, acoustic approach than, for example, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings. The album contains songs such as "Safety Joe", about a man who has never taken any risks in his life, and also "Some Humans Ain't Human", Prine's protest piece on the album, which talks about the ugly side of human nature and includes a quick shot at President George W. Bush. Fair and Square won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. The album contains original songs plus two covers: A.P. Carter's "Bear Creek Blues" and Blaze Foley's "Clay Pigeons."
The 2005 Americana Music Awards marked another significant achievement for Prine. At the September 9th ceremony, Prine was honored with the Artist of the Year award, which was accepted in his name by awards host and long-time friend Billy Bob Thornton.
His song "Storm Windows" appears on 4 CDs and is track seven on all four of the CDs.
