PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Thursday, May 18, 1995
BY NICK KREWEN
Even though JOHN PRINE has been making records for nearly 25 years, he follows no formula or structured theme when it comes to planning his next album.
"Usually, I just base an album on the next collection of songs," says the 48-year-old folk singer over the phone from his home in Nashville.
"A lot of times I'll look at the songs at the beginning, and I can't figure out for the life of me how these are going to fit on the same record. But then I figure that's the producer's problem -- making it fit all on one record."
For his newest album, Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings, Prine enlisted the services of HOWIE EPSTEIN, producer of his Grammy winning The Missing Years, and TOM PETTY's bass player.
"Howie is meticulous," says the author of such folk favorites as "Hello In There", "Sam Stone", "Dear Abby" and "Jesus: The Missing Years".
"These two records with him are the longest I've spent in the studio on any of my projects. Basically, Howie can work on a record until Tom Petty goes back on the road.
"If Petty wasn't on the road right now, we still might be in the studio," he laughs.
Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings is Prine's tenth album, a varied mix of country-flavored folk, Nashville blues, and mainstream rock with subject matter that ranges from the absurd wordplay of "Leave The Lights On" to the poignant sentiment of "I Love You So Much It Hurts."
"The only conscious approach we made for this record was not to make The Missing Years Two," says Prine. "We wanted to make a really good record."
Also present in such songs as "Quit Hollerin' At Me" and "We Are The Lonely" is Prine's deliciously sublime sense of humor.
"Yeah, it's always been part of my life," says Prine. "It's saved me in a lot of different situations, having a sense of humor about stuff. When I was a kid, it saved me from getting beat up. It's hard to hit somebody when you're laughing."
Six years before he was discovered in a Maywood, Illinois club in 1971 by KRIS KRISTOFFERSON and PAUL ANKA, Prine paid the bills as a mailman.
"It was darn good for songwriting," says Prine. "There's nothing that the job requires. Once it's your route, you're traveling the same four streets every day. You're just walking around, and your imagination reels. I would use my time and knock around songs in my head. I wrote `Hello In There' and part of `Sam Stone' on the mail route."
Prine says the best thing about not having a day job is the free time.
"I'm real lazy," he admits. "The more free time I get, the more of nothing I do. To be able to sleep late every day is a real plus in this business."
Since the December 1 birth of his son JACK WHELAN PRINE, late mornings have been rare commodity for the folksinger, who doesn't seem to mind fatherhood.
"We got another one coming in October," announces the proud father. "I'm 48 years old, and all of a sudden I'm starting a family. The kid looks exactly like me. When he grows old enough to start asking questions, God knows the answers I'll give him."
Other Fall projects include Prine hooking up with his producer's boss Tom Petty for a series of dates later this Fall, as well as an extensive Canadian tour.
"We're in the planning stages now," said Prine, who entered rehearsal this week with a five-piece band that includes former JOHN MELLENCAMP guitarist LARRY CRANE.
Less certain is Prine's future as an actor, although the singer received rave reviews for his performance in John Mellencamp's 1992 flick, Falling From Grace.
"I sure wouldn't mind it," says Prine. "I had a lot of fun doing that. Part of my deal for doing that movie was that they pay my Screen Actors Guild dues for five years. So I get a magazine every two months, and for a day I feel like an actor."
Falling From Grace wasn't Prine's first brush with acting. He reveals that he was also up for a role in the mid-70s for the DUSTIN HOFFMAN movie Straight Time.
"I was going to play an ex-con friend of his," recalls Prine. "This wasn't something I was pursuing. I talked to his producer who thought I was just great for the part, and thought I should meet with Dustin Hoffman. It got all the way up to me having a meeting with Dustin Hoffman.
"He wasn't anything at all like I thought he'd be. He was totally movie star. He had a big pair of sunglasses and a white poodle in his lap that he was petting to death. So Dustin Hoffman is asking me if I 'd ever had any acting experience, and I said, nothing.
"He said, `You've never done anything?' And I said, `Nothing -- not even in high school.' There was a long silence. We were out in the balcony, and he had me facing the sun. Finally he said, `Well, how did you get here?' And I said, `I don't know. Maybe somebody boinked your secretary.' Then he gave me the book that the movie was from, and I never heard from him again."
-30-
DISCOGRAPHY
1972 -- John Prine -- Atlantic
1972 -- Diamonds In The Rough
1973 -- Sweet Revenge
1975 -- Common Sense
1977 -- Prime Prine: The Best Of John Prine
1978 -- Bruised Orange -- Asylum
1979 -- Pink Cadillac
1980 -- Storm Windows
1984 -- Aimless Love
1988 -- German Afternoons
1988 -- John Prine Live
1991 -- The Missing Years -- Oh Boy
1993 -- Great Days: The John Prine Anthology - - Rhino
1993 -- A John Prine Christmas -- Oh Boy
1995 -- Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings
1997 -- Live On Tour
1999 -- In Spite Of Ourselves
COLLABORATIONS
1991 -- Various Artists, Collected Works (with Bonnie Raitt)
FILMS
1996 -- Falling From Grace
AWARDS
1991 -- Grammy, Best Contemporary Folk Album, The Missing Years
TIMELINE
Born October 10, 1946, in Maywood Illinois.
John's grandfather had played with Merle Travis
Prine started guitar at the age of 14.
Worked five years as a postman
Was almost signed to a Paul Anka publishing company by Kris Kristofferson!!!
John has admitted that he suffered a bout with cancer in 1998, but has fully recovered
THANKS: Richard Flohil, Margaret Spence Krewen, Wade Hemsworth, Glen Nott
©1995, 1999 Nick Krewen, Octopus Media Ink.
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