John Prine passed away lthree weeks ago, after testing positive for COVID-19. And as I said after posting my Fountains Of Wayne playlist and my Joe Diffie playlist, I'm going pay tribute to every musician who's taken from us by this damn virus that it makes sense to in this column, whether there are many other tributes or not (I'd really like to do a Bohannon one, but most of his catalog isn't on streaming services). In this case, a lot of people who know Prine's catalog better than I do have already written beautiful pieces, but I still wanted to take the opportunity to drink it in a bit, to appreciate his talent.

John Prine deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Pretty Good
2. Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
3. The Torch Singer
4. Often Is A Word I Seldom Use
5. The Accident (Things Could Be Worse)
6. Middle Man
7. If You Don't Want My Love
8. That's The Way The World Goes Round
9. How Lucky
10. Shop Talk
11. Maureen, Maureen
12. Somewhere Someone's Falling In Love
13. I Just Want To Dance With You
14. Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
15. Take A Look At My Heart with Bruce Springsteen
16. Jesus, The Missing Years
17. This Love Is Real with Marianne Faithfull
18. Milwaukee, Here I Come with Melba Montgomery
19. Til A Tear Becomes A Rose with Fiona Prine
20. Safety Joe
21. Clay Pigeons
22. Who's Gonna Take The Garbage Out with Iris DeMent
23. No Ordinary Blue
24. Knockin' On Your Screen Door

Tracks 1 and 2 from John Prine (1971)
Track 3 from Diamonds In The Rough (1972)
Tracks 4 and 5 from Sweet Revenge (1973)
Track 6 from Common Sense (1975)
Tracks 7 and 8 from Bruised Orange (1978)
Track 9 from Pink Cadillac (1979)
Track 10 from Storm Windows (1980)
Tracks 11 and 12 from Aimless Love (1984)
Tracks 13 and 14 from German Afternoons (1986)
Tracks 15 and 16 from The Missing Years (1991)
Track 17 from Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings (1995)
Tracks 18 and 19 from In Spite Of Ourselves (1999)
Tracks 20 and 21 from Fair & Square (2005)
Track 22 from For Better, Or Worse (2016)
Tracks 23 and 24 from The Tree Of Forgiveness (2018)

Obviously, John Prine was not someone who had hits on the singles charts and was consumed as an album artist, so in some ways everything is a deep cut, or nothing is. In any event, I avoided songs that were released as singles, had videos, or appeared on best-of compilations, with maybe one or two exceptions. "Angel From Montgomery" was the first song everybody talked about after he passed so things like that, I stayed away from even though it was never a single.

I didn't hear a lot of John Prine in his lifetime, I had more of a passing familiarity with his reputation than his actual music, so getting familiar with his catalog has been one of the more enjoyable things I've done to pass the time at home this month. I only recently learned after Prine died that my mom saw him at the Stompin 76 festival in Galax, Virginia in 1976.

One thing that really impressed me that I didn't realize is that while John Prine started his career with Atlantic Records, by the mid-'80s he didn't have a record deal and started his own label, Oh Boy Records. So he went indie before a lot of his generation even thought about doing that, and self-released all his albums for the last 35 years of his career, including both of his Grammy wins, and all but one of his Grammy nominations. His self-titled debut was, for a long time, his highest charting album, hitting #55 on the Billboard 200. But he reached #55 again three decades later with Fair & Square, and then his last two solo albums charted even higher, going out on a high note with the #5 debut of The Tree Of Forgiveness less than 2 years before his death.

As John Prine's career grew longer and more respected, his albums attracted more starpower. I thought it was interesting that Prine wrote "Take A Look At My Heart" with John Mellencamp, and then got Bruce Springsteen to sing with him on it, since Springsteen and Mellencamp get compared to each other a lot but have otherwise never really collaborated.

Two of his most popular late period albums, 1999's In Spite Of Ourselves and 2016's For Better, Or Worse were full of Prine's favorite songs covered as duets with female singers, from big names to Prine's own wife Fiona, who sounds lovely on "Til A Tear Becomes A Rose." A lot of the songs on those two albums, including "Milwaukee, Here I Come," were first recorded by George Jones, who Prine was a big fan of and namechecked on his own songs "Jesus, The Missing Years" and "Knockin' On Your Screen Door."

Many of these songs were covered notably. "That's The Way The World Goes Round" was kind of my gateway to Prine after first hearing Miranda Lambert's cover. "I Just Wanna Dance With You" was made into a #1 country hit by George Strait in 1998. "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness" was covered by everyone from Amos Lee to The Lemonheads. "Pretty Good" was covered by Paul Anka, who was at one point Prine's manager and an early champion of his music.

Of all the guys who were labeled 'the new Dylan' in the '70s, John Prine is the one who actually sounds the most like Bob Dylan, especially as the years went on and his voice got craggier, but it's a testament to Prine's talent that the comparison didn't seem to follow him around too much, and Dylan himself was a fan who had kind words upon his passing. And Prine very much has a songwriting sensibility that is all his own, from the wry wit of "Pretty Good" and "Jesus, The Missing Years" to the darker gallows humor of "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" and "The Accident" and the moving heartache of "If You Don't Want My Love" and "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness."

Previous playlists in the Deep Album Cuts series:
Vol. 1: Brandy
Vol. 2: Whitney Houston
Vol. 3: Madonna
Vol. 4: My Chemical Romance
Vol. 5: Brad Paisley
Vol. 6: George Jones
Vol. 7: The Doors
Vol. 8: Jay-Z
Vol. 9: Robin Thicke
Vol. 10: R. Kelly
Vol. 11: Fall Out Boy
Vol. 12: TLC
Vol. 13: Pink
Vol. 14: Queen
Vol. 15: Steely Dan
Vol. 16: Trick Daddy
Vol. 17: Paramore
Vol. 18: Elton John
Vol. 19: Missy Elliott
Vol. 20: Mariah Carey
Vol. 21: The Pretenders
Vol. 22: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Vol. 23: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Vol. 24: Foo Fighters
Vol. 25: Counting Crows
Vol. 26: T.I.
Vol. 27: Jackson Browne
Vol. 28: Usher
Vol. 29: Mary J. Blige
Vol. 30: The Black Crowes
Vol. 31: Ne-Yo
Vol. 32: Blink-182
Vol. 33: One Direction
Vol. 34: Kelly Clarkson
Vol. 35: The B-52's
Vol. 36: Ludacris
Vol. 37: They Might Be Giants
Vol. 38: T-Pain
Vol. 39: Snoop Dogg
Vol. 40: Ciara
Vol. 41: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Vol. 42: Dwight Yoakam
Vol. 43: Demi Lovato
Vol. 44: Prince
Vol. 45: Duran Duran
Vol. 46: Rihanna
Vol. 47: Janet Jackson
Vol. 48: Sara Bareilles
Vol. 49: Motley Crue
Vol. 50: The Who
Vol. 51: Coldplay
Vol. 52: Alicia Keys
Vol. 53: Stone Temple Pilots
Vol. 54: David Bowie
Vol. 55: The Eagles
Vol. 56: The Beatles
Vol. 57: Beyonce
Vol. 58: Beanie Sigel
Vol. 59: A Tribe Called Quest
Vol. 60: Cheap Trick
Vol. 61: Guns N' Roses
Vol. 62: The Posies
Vol. 63: The Time
Vol. 64: Gucci Mane
Vol. 65: Violent Femmes
Vol. 66: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Vol. 67: Maxwell
Vol. 68: Parliament-Funkadelic
Vol. 69: Chevelle
Vol. 70: Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
Vol. 71: Fantasia
Vol. 72: Heart
Vol. 73: Pitbull
Vol. 74: Nas
Vol. 75: Monica
Vol. 76: The Cars
Vol. 77: 112
Vol. 78: 2Pac
Vol. 79: Nelly
Vol. 80: Meat Loaf
Vol. 81: AC/DC
Vol. 82: Bruce Springsteen
Vol. 83: Pearl Jam
Vol. 84: Green Day
Vol. 85: George Michael and Wham!
Vol. 86: New Edition
Vol. 87: Chuck Berry
Vol. 88: Electric Light Orchestra
Vol. 89: Chic
Vol. 90: Journey
Vol. 91: Yes
Vol. 92: Soundgarden
Vol. 93: The Allman Brothers Band
Vol. 94: Mobb Deep
Vol. 95: Linkin Park
Vol. 96: Shania Twain
Vol. 97: Squeeze
Vol. 98: Taylor Swift
Vol. 99: INXS
Vol. 100: Stevie Wonder
Vol. 101: The Cranberries
Vol. 102: Def Leppard
Vol. 103: Bon Jovi
Vol. 104: Dire Straits
Vol. 105: The Police
Vol. 106: Sloan
Vol. 107: Peter Gabriel
Vol. 108: Led Zeppelin
Vol. 109: Dave Matthews Band
Vol. 110: Nine Inch Nails
Vol. 111: Talking Heads
Vol. 112: Smashing Pumpkins
Vol. 113: System Of A Down
Vol. 114: Aretha Franklin
Vol. 115: Michael Jackson
Vol. 116: Alice In Chains
Vol. 117: Paul Simon
Vol. 118: Lil Wayne
Vol. 119: Nirvana
Vol. 120: Kix
Vol. 121: Phil Collins
Vol. 122: Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Vol. 123: Sonic Youth
Vol. 124: Bob Seger
Vol. 125: Radiohead
Vol. 126: Eric Church
Vol. 127: Neil Young
Vol. 128: Future
Vol. 129: Say Anything
Vol. 130: Maroon 5
Vol. 131: Kiss
Vol. 132: Dinosaur Jr.
Vol. 133: Stevie Nicks
Vol. 134: Talk Talk
Vol. 135: Ariana Grande
Vol. 136: Roxy Music
Vol. 137: The Cure
Vol. 138: 2 Chainz
Vol. 139: Kelis
Vol. 140: Ben Folds Five
Vol. 141: DJ Khaled
Vol. 142: Little Feat
Vol. 143: Brendan Benson
Vol. 144: Chance The Rapper
Vol. 145: Miguel
Vol. 146: The Geto Boys
Vol. 147: Meek Mill
Vol. 148: Tool
Vol. 149: Jeezy
Vol. 150: Lady Gaga
Vol. 151: Eddie Money
Vol. 152: LL Cool J
Vol. 153: Cream
Vol. 154: Pavement
Vol. 155: Miranda Lambert
Vol. 156: Gang Starr
Vol. 157: Little Big Town
Vol. 158: Thin Lizzy
Vol. 159: Pat Benatar
Vol. 160: Depeche Mode
Vol. 161: Rush
Vol. 162: Three 6 Mafia
Vol. 163: Jennifer Lopez
Vol. 164: Rage Against The Machine
Vol. 165: Huey Lewis and the News
Vol. 166: Dru Hill
Vol. 167: The Strokes
Vol. 168: The Notorious B.I.G.
Vol. 169: Sparklehorse
Vol. 170: Kendrick Lamar
Vol. 171: Mazzy Star
Vol. 172: Erykah Badu
Vol. 173: The Smiths
Vol. 174: Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
Vol. 175: Fountains Of Wayne
Vol. 176: Joe Diffie
Vol. 177: Morphine
Vol. 178: Dr. Dre
Vol. 179: The Rolling Stones
Vol. 180: Superchunk
Vol. 181: The Replacements

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 10:50 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.