28 April 2005
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Holly Gleason
Joe's Garage

John Prine's Fair & Square Tops Americana Chart --
Three Weeks To #1 Is A New Record


   Nashville: With the covers of No Depression, American Songwriter and The Nashville Scene on stands now, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter John Prine finds himself sitting at #1 on the roots-driven, heavily authentic Americana chart. It took just three weeks for the album -- which took 9 years to complete -- to hit the top spot, making it the fastest chart-topper since the inception of the genre's chart.

   "We didn't make this thing to be competitive with other artists," says the dark-headed artist with the craggy voice and melt-your-heart chuckle. "But it's always a nice thing when you see your music go up the charts like that; means people really like it, and that's all you can ask for. You know? You get to where you write these songs and you wanna share 'em with everybody else."

   Co-produced with engineer Gary Paczosa, the Chicago-born Prine focused on getting to each song's core -- and reflecting the myriad influences that've always been present in his music. In addition to the almost punk turbograss of his take on the Carter Family's "Bear Creek Blues" or the languid yearning of "Long Monday," there's a cognizant effort to make sure each instrument's true personality is maximized on stark rockers like "She Is My Everything," neon tavern laments "Taking A Walk" or spare folk of the political commentary "Some Humans Ain't Human."

   To that end, the sweeping musical undercurrents of Fair & Square are connecting across the board -- no doubt energizing the quick rise to the top of the Americana chart. A diverse group of records, the musicologists' chart has always been a place where the eclectic rules and the song is king.

   "Just the idea of being #1 kinda tickles me," Prine confesses. "Because, you know, that's not what this is all about. I write these songs. I play'em for people. When they like'em, it makes me feel like people see the world a little bit more like I do. But that's all you can do; the rest is just whatever happens."

   Whatever happens in the world of John Prine has a way of continually expanding. Having already graced USA Today, ICE, Blender, Billboard, The Boston Globe, in addition to the covers of No Depression, American Songwriter and The Nashville Scene, look for Prine in upcoming issues of Rolling Stone, The Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice, Harp, Paste, The Tennessean, The Chicago Sun Times, The Washington Post and The New Yorker, who named Prine's duet record In Spite of Ourselves one of the Top 10 Albums of 1999.

   Touring through the end of the summer with two other musicians, the man who became the first songwriter to read at the Library of Congress -- at the invitation of Ted Kooser the U.S. Poet Laureate -- continues weaving an intimate connection between the people in his songs and the people who love them.

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