Favorite John Prine Song

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TonyT

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I've said it before and I'll say it again, how he does that with his thumb and index finger will forever mystify me. I'd love to see a close up of him (or anyone) doing that.
 
dreadnut

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About 1976 I had a very stoic old English/Literature prof who fed us a steady diet of ee cummings, Walt Whitman and so forth. I turned him on to Prine by way of "Hello In There", "The Ballad Of Sam Stone", "Ontomontopia", etc - he loved it :D The man obviously had good taste in writers. (I aced the course, too :D )

I think Prine tells as good of a story as Dylan, but with ten times less words :wink:
 
killdeer43

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TonyT said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, how he does that with his thumb and index finger will forever mystify me. I'd love to see a close up of him (or anyone) doing that.
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Next time I'm in Chicago, Tony, I'll stop by and give you a demo. Piece of cake. :D

Joe
 
12stringer

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Graham said:
Where should a Prine Newbie begin? :shock:

I have heard Angel From Montgomery and Souvenirs but I think that's it.
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Hi Graham...The speed of the sound of lonliness is a nice song that has 3 chords in the same order throughout...it can be strummed as well if you don't fingerpick...here is a cool version strummed with harmonica.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbOHMFUjAZA&feature=channel_page

and of course, here is John doing his song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pqYcbvjqoU
:wink:
 
12stringer

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killdeer43 said:
Pick up a copy of the JP Anthology (2CDs) "Great Days." It has everything you'll need....and then some. :D

Joe
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Hi joe

Thanks for mentioning that, I will pick that set up soon. I used to listen to JP years ago and a friend of mine played some of his songs...I am so glad to have rediscovered him.

randy :D
 
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TonyT

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Graham said:
Where should a Prine Newbie begin? :shock:

I have heard Angel From Montgomery and Souvenirs but I think that's it.
Click to expand...
Oh man, this is gonna be fun! I'm on it.
 
12stringer

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Jeff said:
Hello In There is is my nominaton of all time best John Prine. Timeless story & primo example of John Prine's haunting & distinctive fingerstyle.
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When I learned to fingerpick, I copied the pattern of "Hello in There" as well as the simpler "Sour Grapes".

I still use these 2 patterns almost exclusively :wink:
 
dreadnut

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Young kid in the gas station comments on my John Prine Live On Tour t-shirt, turns out he's one of the latest (3rd?) generation of Prineheads :D

I told him "there's grooves in my guitar where the John Prine songs are". He laughed and said "that'd be a good line for a song right there!" I'm working on it... :D

Seriously, I use a lot of Prine style fingerpicking, and I've found it really transfers well to other musical genre. But then, it's hard to define JP by a genre in the first place, you folks know what I'm talking about - when you tell someone about Prine and they say "What style of music does he play?" That question has repeatedly left me at a loss for words :lol:
 
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Folk doesn't really do it justice, but I can't think of anything better.
 
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John Prine and Steve Goodman were best of friends. Being a local in Chicago at the time, I got to hang around those guys in my late teens and twenties...John's "Guild" years. I can't remember how many times I got to watch them play, but it had to be alot. I'm more a huge Goodman fan, so logically, "Souvenirs is my favorite. He usually uses a capo. With Steve it was on the 5th fret.

Prine learned travis picking early on, and pretty much stayed with it througout his career. He let "Steve" play all the hard parts on his albums.
I have taught myself most of the Steve Goodman songs along with Prine's..."Hello in There", "Sam Stone", and "Angel from Montgomery".
 
dreadnut

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Wow, c70man, what a nice musical legacy :D . Yeah, "Souvenirs" is definitely one of my favorites, the live recording, where John says "Steve Goodman, c'mon back out!"

Gee, no wonder I love this one so much, John's playing a Guild :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOTbg39-I5Q
 
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