So today I put the iPod on recently added and let it go and listened first to At Edwards Barn and loved listening again to “Eight Miles High”, “Turn, Turn, Turn” and all the great songs on this album. Then I listened to Spike Flynn an Australian singer songwriter’s new album It’s Alright an album that I like more and more as I listen to it! Will be writing more about it shortly!
Then came an unexpected album and one that I realized wasn’t on the iPod the other night, so I re-ripped it and added it! John Prine’s 1995 release Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings and as I listened to it today I realized that this was a great album with a boatload of great songs. But then you can say that about almost any of Prine’s albums. He along with Jerry Jeff, Steve Goodman and Tom Paxton are probably my all time favorites. But back to this album, as I look down the track list “New Train” love it, “Ain’t Hurt Nobody” ditto, and so on. I guess my favorite tracks are “Humidity Built the Snowman” and “Quit Hollerin’ at Me” which does often come to mind when one is watching commercials and that sound goes way up! But then there’s “All the Way With You” and “Lake Marie” and I forgot all about “He Forgot That it was Sunday”
I think that Prine is unmatched in the wit and humor that go into his songs and the simple and yet complex rhymes! His 2005 album Fair and Square is another album that I know I need to listen to more, maybe tomorrow!
It’s hard to believe that next year will be the fortieth anniversary of his first album and close to that for the first time I saw him live at The Main Point and I’ll never forget the fire alarm from the station across the street going off during the performance and him saying that “I paid extra for that!” But after his cancer scare in 1998 I’m just glad he’s still with us! Wait maybe tomorrow I’ll check out his 2010 release In Person & On Stage yeah that’s the ticket!
Here’s a video for “Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody”