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 Caught in the Carousel - Music Reviews and More
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John Prine and Mac Wiseman
Standard Songs for Average People
Oh Boy Records
For me, John Prine has always been the thinking woman's heartthrob. The first time I heard "Hello In There," (the first song Prine ever wrote), I considered stalking him just to see for myself what a songwriter possessing such vast sensitivity did with his days. It would have been easy, too: Prine was a mailman in Chicago at the time. I later developed a theory that he mined the backs of stranger's postcards for material because his songs were so world-wise, world-weary, and full of everyman angst that they couldn't possibly be derived from one man's psyche. I became a hardcore fan and Prine stopped delivering the mail to become the kind of artist who produces records that you mark the phases of your life with. Now in his sixtieth year, Prine has taken another departure from what we've come to expect from him (the first one being In Spite Of Ourselves, featuring fifteen duets with his favorite girl singers, every cut a classic about cheating) and produced an album of dog-eared, coffee-stained, much-loved country favorites featuring legendary Bluegrass singer Mac Wiseman and fortified with the best players in the business, most of whom are as familiar with the inside of a Nashville recording studio as they are the Grand Old Oprey. Standouts include "Just the Other Side Of Nowhere," penned by old friend Kris Kristofferson, a Charlie Feathers tune called "I Forgot To Remember To Forget," (made famous by Elvis Presley), "The Blue Side of Lonesome" which features some nice mandolin by Ronnie McCoury (son of Del McCoury) and Al Dexter's "Pistol Packin' Mama," which is just good fun. This collection of songs features the old-timey sound I imagine coming from a rag-tag band on the back of a flatbed truck at a picnic, or onstage in a smoky bar at the end of a country road. It makes you want to pull up a chair and order a cold one.
—Yvonne Prinz
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