Ten Favorite Rock Songwriters: John Prine (#4)

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I'm looking at three categories for favorite songwriters: country, rock, and teams. Here comes the next person on the list of rock songwriters, one I so highly regard that I've counted down my ten favorites of his. #4: John Prine And don't give me that "he's folk" stuff. Listen to songs like "Crooked Piece of Time" and you'll see he can rock. (Of course, he did an album with Mac Wiseman to prove he can bluegrass, too. ) One of the greatest songwriters of our generation. Even Bob Dylan says that. Like my previous entry, David Byrne, Prine has a brilliant knack for taking a photograph from life and telling you more about the leaves on the trees than the main action in the foreground. Consider his classic ode to the now-defunct town of Paradise, Kentucky (where his parents hailed from): "where the air'd smell like snakes, we'd shoot with our pistols but empty pop bottles was [sic] all we would kill." (Drakesboro, Kentucky, the closest town to where Paradise used to be, renamed its main street "John Prine Boulevard" in Prine's honor thanks to "Paradise.") Prine can be hilarious ("The Frying Pan," about a man finding a note from his wife telling him, "Fix your own supper, babe, I've run off with the Fuller Brush man") or heartbreaking ("Sam Stone," about a disabled veteran who eventually overdoses). His lyrics are simply brilliant. Prine has survived both throat cancer and lung cancer, and he continues to tour. He's a national treasure. John Prine Born John Prine, October 10, 1946, Maywood, IL) Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame - 2003 Three Grammy awards Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement - 2003 Best-known songs: "Paradise," "Sam Stone," "Illegal Smile," "Angel From Montgomery," "Unwed Fathers" (covered by Tammy Wynette). This song is from one of Prine's live albums, included because of the "Happy enchilada" story: