Although his other recent works, Missing Years and Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings, have been good discs (his duet on the latter with Marianne Faithful is not to be missed), the Grammy award winning Fair & Square from 2005 seems to have recaptured the intangible elements of his songwriting and performing that made his earlier work so memorable.
If that person you used to see on the bus all the time began to sing you his songs and managed to make it feel that, of all the people on the bus, he was singing only for you, it would go some ways in describing Prine at his best. Although Fair & Square wasn't written for you alone, it sure feels like it was, and there's no finer feeling than having a CD performed just for you.
Article comments
1 - Bliffle
Always enjoyed Prines songs and delivery. Very intimate. I especially like "Paradise".
2 - Mat Brewster
I found Prine on The Missing Year and then went back to his old records. If you haven't heard the duet with Bonnie Raitt on "Angel in Montgomery" you simply must do so.
I haven't gotten around to checking out Fair and Square. Thanks for reminding me that I need to.
3 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article was chosen as a Editor's Pick!
4 - Melissa
John's music is wonderful! It reminds me of another artist, Denny Brown. What do you guys think?
5 - elaine
I grew up w/ John Prine's music.
It is as much a part of my life, as it is for my, now, adult sons.John Prine's music, runs , like a tapestry, throughout the last 30 years of my life, & secured a place in the warp & weave of my adult sons' lives as well.My husband died in July of 2000, a single motorcycle accident,he had a headset on, the headset was stopped in the middle of track 11 on the Great Days Anthology CD- the song, Please Don't Bury Me. Ironic??? I think not!But, I am touched deeply by the fact, that just 3 nights prior, my husband & I were riding around with the top down, on back country roads, & singing our guts out to this anthology. Who knew?Since then I moved away from Pa., to Florida, a few months ago I went on my first real road trip, since my husband's death. I drove my sister & myself from St. Pete., Fla. to Pensacola, Fla., across a time zone!- I stocked up my CD changer & of course loaded John Prine's Anthology. My sister was in utter shock, when she heard the music. This is exactly what John Prine would have liked to have witnessed, I believe. I got to learn some things about my sister,& she, got a chance to learn some things about me! No miracles-just some small opening of another kind of door.