Who is That Kid on the Bale of Hay?

Last week an American musical legend came to Portland and I missed him! John Prine is the type of artist that leaves a permanent mark on your soul. You remember where you were when you first heard a John Prine song! I remember where I was when I first heard OF John Prine!

I had just moved to Portland (about a decade ago) and was bellied up to a bar that no longer graces the corner of SW 1st and Oak Streets. There was hardly anyone there but the pathetic gamblers in the smoky Keno room: the shifty, middle-aged white guy with a very obvious toupée, an old Asian woman who was perpetually angry, an overweight white guy that drank endless refills of diet Coke and a youngish Latino guy who was positive that he was gonna hit the jackpot "any day now". These folks were there every night and so were my buddy Patrick and I... long story.

The only thing that made this night different was that a business man with a well-trimmed goatee and an English accent came and sat at the bar next to us. He wasn't particularly memorable for any other reason than that he was clearly not from Portland. We soon found out that he was in town from Denver and had been living in the states for about fifteen years. He was married and had some kids in Denver, but worked in Portland quite a bit.

Midway through a conversation of run-of-the-mill niceties a Dylan song came on the jukebox. Patrick and I both began humming and singing along. That's when the conversation shifted into a musical conversation. Everyone agreed that they enjoyed Dylan's music, but before the conversation ended the song did. The following song was a Stones song. The Brit, Tony, quickly lambasted them. He laughed, saying "only a true wanker could spend one decade slagging off the Queen and another keeping up appearances being knighted and all! He was right, of course!

This comment made the conversation much more interesting. It moved back towards the creativity, power and impact of Dylan. Again, he agreed, but said that John Prine was better in his opinion. Who? Patrick and I looked at each other in complete puzzlement. He charged us with tracking down some Prine albums and getting to know his music because, he promised, if we liked Dylan we would like Prine.

I never saw the man again, but I also never forgot the conversation. I immediately began looking for his stuff. I am somewhat ashamed that it took a Brit to show me one of the most talented American artists of all time. The first album I came across was, luckily, Prine's 1971 debut.

Look at him sitting there on a bale of hay with his gi-tar! I didn't even have to think about buying this album! I could tell right away that there was something I was supposed to hear. He was only twenty-five, but I would spend countless lonely nights listening to this record in the dark trying to pick his twenty-five year-old brain... WOW! This record is unbeatable! With songs like: "Hello In There", "Sam Stone", "Paradise", "Far From Me", and "Angel From Montgomery" the American musical landscape was changed forever. These songs could have been the dying reflections of a war-weary, heart-broken soldier, but instead they were the musings of a mere whippersnapper!

The only thing on par with John Prine's first album is John Prine's second album! He followed up one of the most auspicious debuts in history with an equally heart-stopping effort from 1972, Diamonds in the Rough. This album featured amazing songs like: "Souvenirs", "Late John Garfield Blues", "Sour Grapes", "Billy the Bum", "Take the Star Out of the Window", "The Great Compromise" and "Rocky Mountain Time". I am NOT exaggerating when I say that these songs are among the most distinctive, pensive, emotive, harrowing, heartfelt examples of American music.

Sweet Revenge (1973) followed Diamonds in the Rough and was also a record that demanded attention. If you don't know John Prine's name or his work, I beg you to go find his music. He is a national treasure and criminally unsung!