"MADE ME FEEL LIKE A BUCK & A QUARTER..."

prine was mike's "discovery". i have to say that at the time i wasn't as impressed as he seemed to be but kristofferson was big on prine & i was big on kris so i went along. eventually, i was playing most of the songs off prine's first album at the quaint lounge. still, i remember being the first in the group to get springsteen's born to run. we played it in philip's cave & as the last extraordinary notes of "jungleland" faded, mike blurted out, "o john!" he'd conceded whatever point there was to concede.
funny but when ken or mike or philip & i talk, prine usually isn't in the conversation but the fact is, he's endured & continues to produce good music. the same can't be said of some of our other music heroes. the second video here is from costello's show & it's a song from his 1995 album, lost dogs and mixed blessings. the duet w/iris dement is from his 1999 album, in spite of ourselves.
i've been fortunate to see prine twice. once way back when in atlanta & just recently at the hardly bluegrass festival out here in cali. the atlanta show was in a tiny venue & i sat just a few feet away from him. he had an odd stage presence back then, very nervous & spasmodic. he seems to have mellowed w/age.