JOHN PRINE: biography

He is known as the Mark Twain of American songwriting, a man who transformed the everyday happenings of regular people into plainly profound statements on war, industrialization, religion, and the human condition. Marking the 50th anniversary of the album’s release, John Prinechronicles the legendary singer-songwriter’s Middle American provenance, and his remarkable ascent from singing mailman to celebrated son of Chicago.”Illegal Smile,” “Hello in There,” “Sam Stone,” “Paradise,” “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore,” “Far from Me,” “Donald and Lydia,” and “Angel from Montgomery” are considered standards in the American Songbook, covered by legions of Prine’s peers and admirers. Through original interviews, exhaustive research, and incisive commentary, author Erin Osmon paints an in-depth portrait of the people, places, and experiences that inspired Prine’s landmark debut.

we´re gonna need a bigger bookshelf for book number 22

After exploring John Prine´s roots in rural Western Kentucky and suburban Maywood, Illinois, the book takes readers on an evocative journey through John Prine’s Chicago. Its neighbourhoods, characters, and clubs of the 1960s and 70s proved a formative and magical period in Prine’s life, before he became a figurehead of the new Nashville scene. This book is both a journalistic inquiry and a love letter: to Prine’s self-titled debut and the Midwestern city that made him.

Title                                         John Prine

Author                                     Eric Osmon

price                                         13.90

Publisher                                 Bloomsbury Academic

date published                         November 2021

pages                                       160

dimensions              4.72 X 6.46 X 0.39 inches | 0.35 pounds

Language                                English

Erin Osmon is a Midwest native and a veteran of Chicago newsrooms whose work appears in Uncut, No Depression, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Billboard, The Guardian, and many other publications. She teaches music journalism, writing, reporting and digital at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School, USA. Her debut book, Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost (2017), was named a Best Music Book of 2017