From the Prine Shrine mailing list:
Songwriting hero John Prine will release the album Fair & Square on
April 26 on his own Oh Boy label. It's his first solo studio project
since 1995's Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings. He is expected to tour in
support of the album. Fair & Square features guest appearances from
Alison Krauss and Mindy Smith. Prine's previous studio album, 1999's
In Spite of Ourselves, included duets with female singers such as
Lucinda Williams and Trisha Yearwood on covers of his favorite
country songs.
New John Prine Album in April
Moderator: SMLCHNG
Here's more from the Oh Boy web site:
John Prine - Fair and Square
First New Original Music In 9 Years Hits Streets April 26
Nashville: John Prine takes his own sweet time dancing with his muse -- and truly writes what's in his soul. So if it takes him a little longer to write the songs that capture moments and reveal the gently folded human truths that bind us all together, it's always worth the wait. Now, nearly
nine years since the release of his Grammy-nominated Lost Dogs & Mixed
Blessings, the iconic American writer is putting the finishing touches on Fair & Square, which will be released on Prine's Oh Boy label April 26th.
"It was just time," says Prine in his always understated way. "I had a bunch of songs. I'd started recording'em, and it turns out, I liked 'em pretty well. So, now, I get to get'em all just the way I like 'em -- and then I get to let'em go out to meet the world."
Drawing on Prine's incomparable sweetness, his wicked wit and social commentary and his split rail simplicity, Fair & Square turns on the phases of the human heart -- and the way the people getting by live, dream, love and survive their lives. With the occasional wheezing
accordion, curlique electric guitar parts, quick-wristed mandolins, billowing B-3 pads and puddles of pedal steel guitar, the rough-voiced singer/songwriter's first self-produced record is a homey affair that
draws generously from the palette of traditional American music -- be it folk, bluegrass, shuffles, almost vintage rock & roll, torch, country -- for an amalgamation that would be at home on any Wurlitzer in a whiskey-soaked tavern with beer signs flickering from age and the walls
stained deeper than sepia from the years of constant smoke.
Whether it's the sultry celebration of post-encounter rapture "Morning Train," the afterglow burning until the next moment can happen "Long Monday" or the down-stroke electric guitar charged "She Is My Everything," Fair & Square captures Prine's candy heart. But there's
also the Joshua Tree dry wit of our culture's tabloid obsessive culture "I Hate It When That Happens To Me" and the fame-chasing self-mockery of "Crazy As A Loon", not to mention the gentle political nudge "Some Humans Ain't Human" that's soft-spoken indictment at its most aw-shucks.
With bluegrass queen Allison Krauss on the ode to his Irish refuge "My Darlin' Hometown" and the street corner desolation of "The Moon Is Down" and alt.country princess Mindy Smith bringing allure and tartness to "Morning Train, "Long Monday" and the melted neon ponder of "Taking A Walk," Fair & Square is the work of a man at ease with his life, secure with his place in the world and willing to share the things that he sees.
"It's been a while, so I'm pretty excited," Prine admits with that Oh!
Boy! grin. "And that's a really good place to be."
Tour dates will follow shortly. Advance music is being pulled together.
But given the working class Midwestern origin of the Grammy-winning songwriter, you can bet the songs will be served -- and the fans who want to see and hear them will have their chance.
John Prine - Fair and Square
First New Original Music In 9 Years Hits Streets April 26
Nashville: John Prine takes his own sweet time dancing with his muse -- and truly writes what's in his soul. So if it takes him a little longer to write the songs that capture moments and reveal the gently folded human truths that bind us all together, it's always worth the wait. Now, nearly
nine years since the release of his Grammy-nominated Lost Dogs & Mixed
Blessings, the iconic American writer is putting the finishing touches on Fair & Square, which will be released on Prine's Oh Boy label April 26th.
"It was just time," says Prine in his always understated way. "I had a bunch of songs. I'd started recording'em, and it turns out, I liked 'em pretty well. So, now, I get to get'em all just the way I like 'em -- and then I get to let'em go out to meet the world."
Drawing on Prine's incomparable sweetness, his wicked wit and social commentary and his split rail simplicity, Fair & Square turns on the phases of the human heart -- and the way the people getting by live, dream, love and survive their lives. With the occasional wheezing
accordion, curlique electric guitar parts, quick-wristed mandolins, billowing B-3 pads and puddles of pedal steel guitar, the rough-voiced singer/songwriter's first self-produced record is a homey affair that
draws generously from the palette of traditional American music -- be it folk, bluegrass, shuffles, almost vintage rock & roll, torch, country -- for an amalgamation that would be at home on any Wurlitzer in a whiskey-soaked tavern with beer signs flickering from age and the walls
stained deeper than sepia from the years of constant smoke.
Whether it's the sultry celebration of post-encounter rapture "Morning Train," the afterglow burning until the next moment can happen "Long Monday" or the down-stroke electric guitar charged "She Is My Everything," Fair & Square captures Prine's candy heart. But there's
also the Joshua Tree dry wit of our culture's tabloid obsessive culture "I Hate It When That Happens To Me" and the fame-chasing self-mockery of "Crazy As A Loon", not to mention the gentle political nudge "Some Humans Ain't Human" that's soft-spoken indictment at its most aw-shucks.
With bluegrass queen Allison Krauss on the ode to his Irish refuge "My Darlin' Hometown" and the street corner desolation of "The Moon Is Down" and alt.country princess Mindy Smith bringing allure and tartness to "Morning Train, "Long Monday" and the melted neon ponder of "Taking A Walk," Fair & Square is the work of a man at ease with his life, secure with his place in the world and willing to share the things that he sees.
"It's been a while, so I'm pretty excited," Prine admits with that Oh!
Boy! grin. "And that's a really good place to be."
Tour dates will follow shortly. Advance music is being pulled together.
But given the working class Midwestern origin of the Grammy-winning songwriter, you can bet the songs will be served -- and the fans who want to see and hear them will have their chance.
John Prine Joins Poet Laureate Ted Kooser
1st Singer/Songwriter To Read/Play at Library of Congress March 9
Washington, DC: Grammy-winning songwriter John Prine has always fashioned his craft, based on telling universal truths about people not so very different from us all. With a gentle eye, he coaxes meaning from mundane moments and major truths from things that go unseen -- and his gift of uncommon insight delivered with common language has earned the former postman and American songwriting icon an invitation to read -- and perhaps play a song or two -- March 9th in the Library of Congress' Coolidge Auditorium.
Prine was invited by Ted Kooser, the current Poet Laureate. Sharing Prine's Midwestern roots, Kooser has been described as "a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains." The pair will come together for "A Literary Evening with John Prine and Ted Kooser," which promises to be a lively discussion of how and why lyrics in popular songs often mirror people's emotions and ideas of the world better than some contemporary poetry.
"I have been following John Prine's music since his first album came out and have always been struck by his marvelous writing: its originality, its playful inventiveness, its poignancy, its ability to capture our times," explains Kooser. "For example, he did a better job of holding up the mirror of art to the '60s and '70s than any of our official literary poets. And none of our poets wrote anything better about Viet Nam than Prine's 'Sam Stone.'
"Lyric poetry is called that because it once was sung, and accompanied by the lyre. All that's left of the music in contemporary poetry are things like assonance and alliteration and rhyme, Prine's writing and music returns us to that earlier way of delivering poetry."
For Prine, who has captured the desolation of marriage ("Angel From Montgomery"), the unthinking jingo-ism of fill-in-the-blank patriotism ("Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Any More"), the isolation of the elderly ("Hello In There"), the innocence of romantic attraction ("I Just Want To Dance With You") and the weight of young male irresponsibility on their partners ("Unwed Fathers"), songwriting is as much about the people he sees as his own measured interpretation. Long a stalwart on the singer/songwriter circuit, The Missing Years, German Afternoons, Aimless Love, Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings and his upcoming Fair & Square -- due April 26th -- reveal an artist whose worldview has only become richer, clearer and wiser over time.
"I've been asked to do a lot of things," says Prine with a big smile, "but this is definitely a first… And I don't even know how to quite respond to it. For a guy who carried mail, was in the service, did so-so in school, this is kind of beyond the stuff I usually think about. It's the kind of honor that's beyond… So, you can bet I'm looking forward to it - taking all these people in my songs to the Library of Congress and letting 'em look around a little bit. It should be great, and an honor, and everything else."
News Release from the Library of Congress - 02/07/2005
Singer-Songwriter John Prine To Join Poet Laureate Ted Kooser in Conversation on March 9 The Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress presents “A Literary Evening with John Prine and Ted Kooser” at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.
Although this event is free and open to the public, seating is limited and free tickets will be distributed at the Information Desk on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 5 p.m. the evening of the event. There is a limit of two tickets per person.
The program will include a lively discussion between the songwriter and the poet as they compare and contrast the emotional appeal of the lyrics of popular songs with the appeal of contemporary poetry.
Born in 1946, the son of a tool and die maker, Prine enjoyed a childhood imbued with classic American values and traditions that would later be incorporated into his songs. Following military service in Germany and a job with the U.S. Postal Service, Prine made his public debut at an “open mic” session at a local bar, whose owner promptly hired him. After Kris Kristofferson heard Prine perform at the venerable Earl of Old Town music club in Chicago, he assisted in Prine’s career move from local singer-songwriter to a national recording artist, who has won praise from critics around the country.
After moving to Nashville in the early 1980s, Prine formed Oh Boy records with his longtime manager Al Bunetta and associate Dan Einstein. Since 1986, Prine has recorded several Grammy-nominated albums with Oh Boy, and he won a Grammy for his 1991 album, “The Missing Years,” which featured appearances by Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington named Ted Kooser, a visiting professor in the English department of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the 13th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, calling Kooser “a major poetic voice for rural and small-town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains.” The author of 10 collections of poetry and the recipient of numerous awards, Kooser studied at both Iowa State University and the University of Nebraska. His book of essays, “Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps” (2002), was chosen as the Best Book Written by a Midwestern Writer for 2002 by Friends of American Writers, and his most recent book, “Delights & Shadows,” published by Copper Canyon Press in 2004, has been widely praised.
The origin of the Poetry and Literature Center of the Library of Congress dates to 1936, when Archer M. Huntington endowed the Chair of Poetry at the Library. The center itself was founded in the 1940s and has been almost exclusively supported since 1951 by a gift from Gertrude Clarke Whittall (1867-1965), who wanted to bring the appreciation of good literature to a larger audience.
Today, the Poetry and Literature Center is the home of the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress. In addition to supporting the Poet Laureate’s activities and interests, the center sponsors an annual series of public poetry and fiction readings, lectures, symposia, occasional dramatic performances and other literary events.
In addition to scheduled public events, the center administers the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, a biannual $10,000 award for the best book of poetry published by a living U.S. author during the two years preceding the year of the award as well as the Witter Bynner Fellowships for emerging poetic talent.
For more information about the programs of the Poetry and Literature Center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, DC 20540-4860; telephone (202) 707-3302, fax (202) 707-3595, or visit the Library’s Web site at www.loc.gov/poetry.
1st Singer/Songwriter To Read/Play at Library of Congress March 9
Washington, DC: Grammy-winning songwriter John Prine has always fashioned his craft, based on telling universal truths about people not so very different from us all. With a gentle eye, he coaxes meaning from mundane moments and major truths from things that go unseen -- and his gift of uncommon insight delivered with common language has earned the former postman and American songwriting icon an invitation to read -- and perhaps play a song or two -- March 9th in the Library of Congress' Coolidge Auditorium.
Prine was invited by Ted Kooser, the current Poet Laureate. Sharing Prine's Midwestern roots, Kooser has been described as "a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains." The pair will come together for "A Literary Evening with John Prine and Ted Kooser," which promises to be a lively discussion of how and why lyrics in popular songs often mirror people's emotions and ideas of the world better than some contemporary poetry.
"I have been following John Prine's music since his first album came out and have always been struck by his marvelous writing: its originality, its playful inventiveness, its poignancy, its ability to capture our times," explains Kooser. "For example, he did a better job of holding up the mirror of art to the '60s and '70s than any of our official literary poets. And none of our poets wrote anything better about Viet Nam than Prine's 'Sam Stone.'
"Lyric poetry is called that because it once was sung, and accompanied by the lyre. All that's left of the music in contemporary poetry are things like assonance and alliteration and rhyme, Prine's writing and music returns us to that earlier way of delivering poetry."
For Prine, who has captured the desolation of marriage ("Angel From Montgomery"), the unthinking jingo-ism of fill-in-the-blank patriotism ("Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Any More"), the isolation of the elderly ("Hello In There"), the innocence of romantic attraction ("I Just Want To Dance With You") and the weight of young male irresponsibility on their partners ("Unwed Fathers"), songwriting is as much about the people he sees as his own measured interpretation. Long a stalwart on the singer/songwriter circuit, The Missing Years, German Afternoons, Aimless Love, Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings and his upcoming Fair & Square -- due April 26th -- reveal an artist whose worldview has only become richer, clearer and wiser over time.
"I've been asked to do a lot of things," says Prine with a big smile, "but this is definitely a first… And I don't even know how to quite respond to it. For a guy who carried mail, was in the service, did so-so in school, this is kind of beyond the stuff I usually think about. It's the kind of honor that's beyond… So, you can bet I'm looking forward to it - taking all these people in my songs to the Library of Congress and letting 'em look around a little bit. It should be great, and an honor, and everything else."
News Release from the Library of Congress - 02/07/2005
Singer-Songwriter John Prine To Join Poet Laureate Ted Kooser in Conversation on March 9 The Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress presents “A Literary Evening with John Prine and Ted Kooser” at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.
Although this event is free and open to the public, seating is limited and free tickets will be distributed at the Information Desk on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 5 p.m. the evening of the event. There is a limit of two tickets per person.
The program will include a lively discussion between the songwriter and the poet as they compare and contrast the emotional appeal of the lyrics of popular songs with the appeal of contemporary poetry.
Born in 1946, the son of a tool and die maker, Prine enjoyed a childhood imbued with classic American values and traditions that would later be incorporated into his songs. Following military service in Germany and a job with the U.S. Postal Service, Prine made his public debut at an “open mic” session at a local bar, whose owner promptly hired him. After Kris Kristofferson heard Prine perform at the venerable Earl of Old Town music club in Chicago, he assisted in Prine’s career move from local singer-songwriter to a national recording artist, who has won praise from critics around the country.
After moving to Nashville in the early 1980s, Prine formed Oh Boy records with his longtime manager Al Bunetta and associate Dan Einstein. Since 1986, Prine has recorded several Grammy-nominated albums with Oh Boy, and he won a Grammy for his 1991 album, “The Missing Years,” which featured appearances by Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington named Ted Kooser, a visiting professor in the English department of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the 13th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, calling Kooser “a major poetic voice for rural and small-town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains.” The author of 10 collections of poetry and the recipient of numerous awards, Kooser studied at both Iowa State University and the University of Nebraska. His book of essays, “Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps” (2002), was chosen as the Best Book Written by a Midwestern Writer for 2002 by Friends of American Writers, and his most recent book, “Delights & Shadows,” published by Copper Canyon Press in 2004, has been widely praised.
The origin of the Poetry and Literature Center of the Library of Congress dates to 1936, when Archer M. Huntington endowed the Chair of Poetry at the Library. The center itself was founded in the 1940s and has been almost exclusively supported since 1951 by a gift from Gertrude Clarke Whittall (1867-1965), who wanted to bring the appreciation of good literature to a larger audience.
Today, the Poetry and Literature Center is the home of the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress. In addition to supporting the Poet Laureate’s activities and interests, the center sponsors an annual series of public poetry and fiction readings, lectures, symposia, occasional dramatic performances and other literary events.
In addition to scheduled public events, the center administers the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, a biannual $10,000 award for the best book of poetry published by a living U.S. author during the two years preceding the year of the award as well as the Witter Bynner Fellowships for emerging poetic talent.
For more information about the programs of the Poetry and Literature Center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, DC 20540-4860; telephone (202) 707-3302, fax (202) 707-3595, or visit the Library’s Web site at www.loc.gov/poetry.
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For those interested here's a link to Prine's appearance at the Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/kooser-prine.html
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/kooser-prine.html