Omaha Music Hall, Omaha, Nebraska
August 25, 2006 with band Jason Wilber and Dave Jacques; Guest: Iris DeMent

By: Wayne Daugherty

Great Show. Iris Dement opened with about 50 minutes/about 9 or 10 songs. After about a 15 minute break, John came on a little after 9 PM and didn't stop till almost 11:30. Lots of energy and great connection with the audience. Our first live concert with John Prine; hope it's not our last. Set List: 1. Spanish Pipedream 2. Flag Decal 3. Six O'Clock News 4. Storm Windows 5. Souvenirs 6. Grandpa Was A Carpenter 7. Fish & Whistle 8. Glory of Love 9. Long Monday 10. Taking A Walk 11. Angel From Montgomery 12. You Got Gold 13. Donald & Lydia 14. Dear Abby 15. That's The Way That The World Goes Round 16. Sam Stone 17. We're Not The Jet Set (with Iris D.) 18. Let's Invite Them Over (with Iris) 19. In Spite Of Ourselves (with Iris) 20. Bear Creek 21. She Is My Everything 22. Ain't Hurtin' Nobody 23. Hello In There 24. Lake Marie Encore 25. Unwed Fathers (with Iris) 26. Paridise (with Iris & all) Link to Omaha World Herald review of Sunday, Aug, 26: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1458&u_sid=2230837

By: CLAYTON MASTERS

read full article here:

    Music Worth A Trip To Omaha: John Prine and Iris Dement -----
   With the availability of home recording equipment, it can be easy for many people to call a recording "folk" music. Music experts say many genres can be manipulated to fit any sound, especially folk. Give a singer an acoustic guitar and, boom, it's folk music. For many fans, the genre is a class of music that invites listeners to tap into a region's culture. Some say over time, though, the definition has dissolved. Many music reviewers call John Prine the true definition of a folk musician, a carbon copy of the everyday guy.

  Sixty-year-old Prine was a postman for five years, served in the U.S. Army and, as a musician, has gained a stature of the voice for the working class.
  "He has an enormous respect for the working class people," said Ted Kooser, former U.S. Poet Laureate and an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with an interesting connection to the musician.

  Early in Kooser's term as the new poet laureate, he wanted to do something off the beaten path.

  One day, Kooser was drinking coffee with English faculty at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., and someone asked if he had any ideas of what he wanted to do as poet laureate.Kooser said he wanted to get Prine to come to the U.S. Library of Congress and perform for a night of music and poetry. One faculty member said he knew Prine and would ask him about it.

  Then, on March 9, 2004, Prine and Kooser sat together on the Library of Congress stage.

  The event was billed not as a concert, but as a literary evening. This was the first time the library had a musician perform since Woody Guthrie in 1936.

  April marked Prine's return to music with his first album release in six years, "Fair and Square," since 1999's "In Spite of Ourselves."

  Prine's voice has lowered and become more gravely since a bout with cancer, but it only adds to his song deliverance and persona.

  Prine will be performing tonight at the Civic Music Hall, 1804 Capitol Ave., in Omaha with Iris Dement.

  "The hall is smaller with a capacity of 2,453, but it definitely has its own niche," said Dana Dyksterhuis, public relations manager for several Omaha venues.

   It's been more than a year since "Fair & Square" was released, but with a man so devoted to family and home life, Prine is slowly getting the songs out.

  "When I got home," Kooser said about his return from the Library of Congress event, "I felt like being on stage with Prine was like being in the presence (of) a large chunk of the people that had been drifting a number of years."