John Prine – Live from Sessions at West 54th

Product Description

Song list:

1. Blow Up Your TV
2. Six O’Clock News
3. Souvenirs
4. Far from Me
5. All the Best
6. Milwaukee Here I Come (with Iris DeMent)
7. (We’re Not) The Jet Set (with Iris DeMent)
8. Let’s Invite Them Over Again (with Iris DeMent)
9. When Two Worlds Collide (with Iris DeMent)
10. In Spite of Ourselves (with Iris DeMent)
11. Sam Stone
12. Lake Marie
13. Hello in There

Amazon.com

John Prine’s 2001 appearance on the PBS concert series Sessions at West 54th was easily one of that program’s most exciting and satisfying offerings. In a rare instance of improving upon perfection, this DVD record of Prine’s taping before a studio audience includes priceless material left out of the hourlong broadcast as well as the singer-songwriter’s excellent supplementary interview with Sessions host John Hiatt. With only his spare, guitar-and-bass backup band, a bemused Prine quickly achieves glory revisiting three decades of eclectic material. From rockabilly satire (“Blow Up Your TV”) to wintry folk (“All the Best”) and compressed epics (“Lake Marie”), Prine underscores his reputation as a modernist master of storytelling. The show’s centerpiece is a remarkable five-song duet with the great Iris DeMent, including a hilarious yet poignant tune (“In Spite of Ourselves”) Prine wrote for an unreleased Billy Bob Thornton film. The show ends with the crystalline “Hello in There,” a beautiful portrait of time and destiny. –Tom Keogh