John Prine

Farmer Steve Jul 28, 2020

This is crazy ... this makes the 4th Prine concert I have added to the internet in the last week that seems to not exist anywhere else . I was there on this night on 4-27-1990 . The other concerts I added photos of my tickets ... I can’t find or did not get one for this outdoor festival . I can’t believe I can’t find more about this night . John hit the stage right after Richie Havens finished his set with a staggering performance of “Freedom”. We had just watched Peter Frampton on another stage! We saw Ray Charles perform shortly after John’s UNBELIEVABLE show ! As soon as John began that night ... it began to rain ... but he never quit & did an incredible show . Very few if any people left & we were very close to John @ the front of the stage . It was intimately pouring & we were having a blast & everyone was singing along to every song . John at one point said “Y’all are some brave souls !” He is the one who was brave . There was a big blue tarp hanging over his head that would quickly begin to fill w/ water 💧. Occaisionally someone would push up on it w/ a broom handle & the water would come gushing off the sides . “Saddle In The Rain” never sounded so good ... I remember he did “Blue Umbrella” & slightly flubbed the intro to it & began to laugh ... not sure he meant to perform it that night but it seemed appropriate in that downpour . He began again & did the same thing a second time ... he gave up trying to keep his cigarette lit at that point & got super concentrated & handed in a performance of Blue Umbrella that left us weeping in the rain . I definitely remember “One Red Rose” being in that sweet little block of songs that brought us all to tears . It seemed so easy for John ! I had met him finally just a year before in 1989 in Jackson MS & I had a couple of Polaroid photos from that night ... I took them with me after the shows & sat down in the Peabody Hotel lounge close to the fountain where the ducks swim . Sure enough within a few minutes John Prine got off the elevator & started to head to the bar ... when he saw us sitting at a table he actually walked over to US to say hello & visit ! That was my 2nd opportunity to tell him how much his music had meant to me over the years since I had discovered him right after his 1st album & got each one as it came out . I ask how he thought he was ever going to top his other albums but that I had seen him do it repeatedly & that he had overtaken my other favorite lyricist Roger Miller . John laughed & said he had picked up a guitar because he wanted to BE Roger Miller & he laughed that awesome John Prine laugh . He signed the Polaroids we had taken the year before & we realized the bar was closed & they could not sell him a drink . I ask the people please he had just entertained a huge crowd in the pouring rain ... they quickly said they could not charge him a drink but could give him one . Now I’m tripping because he has sat down with us to chat . I told John that I had just gotten a phone call & that if I skipped seeing Stevie Ray Vaughn there the next night ... I could have a front row ticket to see David Bowie in Pensacola FL 2 nights later on the 29th . I actually did make it to the Bowie show “Sound & Vision” that night . When the lights suddenly came up David Bowie was standing right in front of me . Way more to that story but damn what a great week for me & music ! I did get to see Stevie Ray also because he later came to Jackson MS coliseum with Joe Cocker . I ask John that night what I had already ask him before ... how ... HOW do you even begin to write lyrics like that ? He said when he heard something he liked or a turn of phrase he kept it sometimes for years ... “you just have to put it together like a puzzle”. Very humble ... we all know that only John Prine could have put those puzzles together. I ask who was he listening to at the moment music wise & he said that week he was listening to J. D. Souther & some new Lou Reed album . It is a good thing for that Bowie concert because I would have never remembered this happened in 1990 . Little did we know John was about to release “The Missing Years” & his career was about to take on a whole new life . I told him that night I would be sad when he got too big to get to & visit with in the future . He said to always try to come by & say hello after shows . Such a sweet guy ! We saw him about another 15 times through the years & did get to visit him about 10 more times . 2 years later @ the Peabody again & years later sitting w/ Keith Sykes & John came in & sat down . I left after a brief visit so those 2 old friends could catch up . Craziest ever though had to be after a show in Jackson MS during a festival called Jubilee Jam in either 1996 or 1997 ... I had a “Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings” backstage pass I had already gotten from a friend & used in 1995 ... it got me through the back gate after that show & John saw me & said hey just come get on the “bus” and visit . It was just me & John & he put me completely at ease & we must have sat & talked for over 30 minutes . That is the day I gave him my old MS license plate that said “PRINE” . Yes I had flag decals all over that old 1979 baby Blue Lincoln Towncar... lol ... some folks “got it” back then . John signed a couple of old 1950 comic books for me that time ... they were copies of “Sabu the Elephant Boy”. I ask if he had ever signed one before & he said he had never even seen one before . I sat down & read most of one . Then he turned back to the 1st page & signed them for me . When I got home & looked one said “Hey look ma here comes the Elephant Boy-John Prine” ... the other said “The movie wasn’t really doing so hot!-John Prine . “ 2 of my favorite “souvenirs “. I’ll never forget the brief times I got to talk to John . What a charming fellow & most definitely inspired by the Devine . Somehow the wife & I made it to Nashville to see him at the Opry New Years Eve 2019 ... pretty much front row center . Another night we will never forget . We love you John ! Heaven has an awesome band ... and I hope to one day get another chance to get a front row seat to hear Ole Johnny play ! 🎸😇❤️🙏😎✌️