RIP John Prine

The phrase I see most often to describe John Prine is an "American Treasure". And that he was.  Prine's songs were wry, touching and always delivered with just the right amount of vocal warmth and wit. He became one of the Fathers of the Americana genre.

His 1971 self-titled debut is the classic Prine album.  Most of his classic songs are here: "Illegal Smile", "Hello In There", "Sam Stone", "Angel From Montgomery." My second favorite Prine albums is 1991's Missing Years, which was his first studio album in 5 years at that time.  But his whole catalog is a wonder.  Not a bad one in the bunch.  And he went out on top with 2018's Tree of Forgiveness.  Happily there's also a good compilation in his catalog: 1993's Anthology (Rhino).  A solid 2-CD set that went from his debut to the Missing Years.  Streaming playlists will fill you in after 1991 (be sure to check out his 1999 Country covers album with female singers, especially Iris DeMent on the title track that Prine wrote called In Spite Of Ourselves.  I saw Prine in concert at a KPIG-FM (an Anericana station in Northern California) jamboree in the mid-90's.  By then I was a fan (thanks to the Pig playing his music constantly).  He had a laidback stage presence, that worked with the songs he was singing. And his introductions to each of them were ace. 

Prine was finally inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.  The year before he was a nominee for the Rock Hall Class of 2019.  He didn't get into the latter, but should have (that's another argument).  

For those of you unfamiliar with all he left us behind, now is the time to catch up to one heck of an American Treasure.