Wogs Souvenirs

Subject: The things I do for some people!
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 96 01:48:36 PST  
From: jerry To: reeda
While chatting one night with Jerry the WOG (Wise Old Geezer), he "dug out" some old stuff...(23 years old if you're counting) and he "read" to me. Being the fan that I am I just had to share these with you. He's still digging, too...

SENIOR SCHOLASTIC
JANUARY 25, 1973

   "Dylan was just a Jewish kid from Hibbing, Minnesota, with an ambition and an active imagination before he made up a new name and a new past for himself. John Prine didn't change his name, but the young Chicagoan and former post office worker did take some liberties with his background. He taught himself to speak in a strong Southern drawl, and he began writing country songs. His crude singing style completed the transformation: this was no city slicker. This "John Prine" was a young drifter with a guitar slung over his shoulder, singing songs and seeing things-quite a bit like the young Bob Dylan. Prine's songs, though, are very different from Jackson Browne's. Most often they tell stories, about people completely separate from the writer. He sings about young soldiers, amusement hall ticket takers, old couples, housewives from Montgomery. ("I've never been to Montgomery," he says, "but I know what it's like.") If Prine's best songs resemble poems, then Prine's best are short stories. And his harsh, wrecked voice makes these stories all the more intense. Most of John Prine's songs are sad."

This article also had a small picture of a very young Prine, with the lyrics for "Hello In There" reprinted. The reference to Jackson Browne is because the same article reviewed him, and the following one reviewed Loudon Wainwright III.
© Senior Scholastic 1973 

Billboard Magazine
May 6,1991
"DISCS DUE:"
(really it is concerning John Mellencamp)...
'Pure Mellencamp rock 'n' roll with no holds barred' is manager Harry Sandler's description of the new John Cougar Mellencamp album, "Whenever we wanted," due this summer from Mercury/PolyGram, with a summer-fall tour likely to follow. The album, with one of Mellencamp's paintings used as cover art, features David Grissom, former Joe Ely sideman, on guitar, replacing long-time Mellencamp band mate Larry Crane. Crane has amicably split from Mellencamp to pursue solo record and production projects. In early '92, Mellencamp is due to release "Falling From Grace," the film he directed and co-stars in with Mariel Hemmingway, Claude Akins, and John Prine. A soundtrack album will feature three new Mellancamp tunes and new tracks from Dwight Yoakum, Janis Ian, Ely, Crane, violinist Lisa Germano, and others..." 

Billboard Magazine
October 19, 1991
"PRINE'S POTENT YEARS"

  "Serendipity played a big role in the making of John Prine's star-studded new album, "The Missing Years," and his opening slot on the current leg of Bonnie Raitt's tour. 'Things were just fallin' right in a row,' the much-admired singer/songwriter says with a husky laugh. The record, released on Prine's own label, Oh Boy Records, features backup vocals by such notables as Raitt (who once recorded a memorable version of Prine's "Angel From Montgomery"), Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Petty, and instrumental contributions from such players as Benmont Tench, John Jorgensen of the Desert Rose Band, and David Lindley, Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein handled production chores.
  "Prine says no heavy pressure was brought to bear to recruit all this heavyweight talent for the album, the first he has ever cut in Los Angeles. 'They just kind of stopped by,' Prine says. 'People just hear who all's in the studio. I guess everybody just happened to be at home." . 'I run into Springsteen at an Italian restaurant,' he says. 'He was already committed before we started making the record.'
  "Chance also played a role in the landing of the coveted opening spot on Raitt's current tour leg, which began Sept 19 in Tampa, Fla, and concludes Oct 22 in Irvine, Calif. Chris Isaak, who supported earlier dates with Raitt, made a commitment to the upcoming David Lynch film of "Twin Peaks," leaving the slot open for Prine, who also secured the services of Isaak bassist Rolley Salley for his touring band. The group is rounded out by multi-instrumentalists Phil Parlapiano and Bill Bonk, who record as the Brothers Figaro for Geffen. Prine says his band is touring without a drummer 'because of the songs. We're getting a bigger sound without one. They usually tell bad jokes, anyway.' "
  "Al Bunetta, Prine's manager and partner in Oh Boy Records, believes the guest start on "The Missing Years" and the prime slot on Raitt's tour should result in the biggest sales ever on the independently distributed label. Prine's biggest selling Oh Boy release, a live album, sold 60,000 units. . 'We shipped 38,000 units (of "The Missing Years") the first day,' Bunnetta says. 'We have our independents in line, and this tour. We have everything in place.' " .
                                                            ---Chris Morris--- 

from the Muncie Evening Press
Friday, December 27, 1991
By Lynn Van Matre of the Chicago Tribune

   At first glance, the title of John Prine's latest release, 'The Missing Years', seems all too appropriate. Six years have passed since Prine released his last studio album, and between then and now the idiosyncratic singer-songwriter has gone through some tough times, including a painful second divorce and a bad case of writer's block that had him wondering if he would ever record again. "I've had writer's blocks before, but this time when I could write again I didn't care to," muses Prine, the author of such folk-country cult classics as "Sam Stone." about a Vietnam veteran's tragic homecoming, and "Hello In There," an affecting look at loneliness. "I didn't understand why I didn't want to write, and it confused me and scared me. But once I regrouped [emotionally], I pulled a bunch of songs together and decided to do another record." "Divorces have a way of turning into memorable songs for me," adds Prine cheerfully. "After my first divorce, I did the 'Bruised Orange' album, which did real good for me." Now, "The Missing Years" promises to do even better. (The album actually takes its title from Prine's good-naturedly irreverent talking blues about some 'missing years' in Jesus' life, rather than his own.) Recorded with the help of producer Howie Epstein--bass player for Tom Petty's Heartbreakers--and pals Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and Bonnie Raitt, the collection of engagingly surreal and straightforwardly poignant songs sold more than 1000,000 copies in six weeks this fall." "Toss in the exposure he received as guest artist on Raitt's recent tour, the excitement generated by his own tour, and his role in the upcoming John Mellencamp film, 'Falling from Grace,' and you have the makings of Prine's biggest shot yet at mainstream success. It was in small Chicago folk clubs that Prine got his start at the beginning of the 1970's. At first he was a mail carrier during the day and performed at the Fifth Peg and The Earl of Old Town at night, singing songs that drew on his blue-collar and rural Kentucky roots as well as his own wryly humorous, sensitively insightful outlook on life." "At 45, Prine acknowledges that he has become more conservative in his outlook, even if 'the person who does the songwriting' hasn't." "The point of view that I come from as a writer doesn't seem to have changed that much," Prine explains. "I can't tell you exactly what that point of view is, though. I've got even less of an idea today where some of my songs come from than I had 20 years ago. For me, songwriting sometimes is like having an alien inside you. It's like having a strange friend who visits every once in a while, and you always have a bed made up for him."

© The Chicago Tribune

much thanks to jerry aka WOG and his over flowing collection.