Prime Prine-ish

I owe a lot to John Prine. Back when I was a teenager, I could locate myself in his songs — even more than I could in Woody Guthrie's songs. As a matter of fact, listening to Woody sometimes made me feel virtuous, which of course gets in the way of a good listening.

Sometimes the late seventies and early eighties seemed pretty difficult, John Prine seemed to have a tool kit for getting by. Sometimes he was brooding. Sometimes he was goofy. Sometimes he liked to rock.

As a way of saying thanks for helping me make it this far, my friend Jack Erdie is putting on a tribute to John Prine:

Folks,

I'm sorry to reintroduce an idea I'd
bandied about before, then allowed to
drop out of sight, but it just so happens
that something has opened up to make
the John Prine Tribute do-able.

I'm putting together the Three Penny
Show for Friday, September the 30th,
and thought it would be a good time to
have the Prine Tribute; kill two birds
with one stoner, so to speak.

I'd like to get at least ten participants
-- whether groups or solo performers -- to
each do one song by John Prine and one original
tune that can be in some way connected to Mr.
Prine by fewer than six degrees. The connections
may include that the original was 1)inspired in
some way by John Prine, 2)written about him or his
influence, 3)a parody of one of Prine's songs, 4)any
other possible/contrived connection.

Again, I'd love to videotape the show and send a
copy to Prine's manager. I'll edit out any performer
who doesn't wish to be included in the footage.

Please let me know if you're interested, able,
and can line up the two (or more) requisite songs.

YSIS,

Jack