John Prine

Born and raised in Maywood, Illinois, John Prine picked up a guitar at the age of 14 and, with his brother's help, learned to hold down a chord without muffling it. From then on, it was John sitting alone in a room, singing to a wall. Basically, he learned how to play a Carter Family song and "Freight Train," and then he found he could sit and pick out a simple melody and put words to it.

;In those days, he was only writing songs to amuse himself, or to get some girl's attention. In fact, he didn't write anything down until he got out of the army in 1967. Then, in 1970, when he was at an open stage night at a club in Chicago, he got up and played "Sam Stone," "Hello In There," and "Paradise," and people seemed to like it. A few months later, he quit his job at the post office and started singing three nights a week. In the summer of 1971, Kris Kristofferson was playing in Chicago, with Steve Goodman as his opening act. During his set, Steve played a song that Prine had written. The next thing he knew, he was in Memphis making his first album for Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records.

Four albums later, John switched to Asylum Records and stayed with them until 1980 when he put on the brakes. "I was wondering where the fun was with the music, this thing that I took on as a hobby years earlier." By the time he was ready to record again, he didn't want to go shopping for a label, so he made his own. Oh Boy Records was born and he released the magical Missing Years album. With the overwhelming success he received, John got back into the studio and started on Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings at the end of 1992. The album caught a lot of people's ears that weren't used to listening to him-and his old fans took to it immediately.

Joining John Prine are David Jacques on bass; Jason Wilber on mandolin and guitar; and Phil Parlapiano on mandolin, accordion and keyboard.