Following the Miami Book Fair, PRINE ON PRINE; Interviews & Encounters keeps rolling along. Having met an unprecedented critical reception from The Chicago Tribune to Variety, No Depression to CBS News and beyond, the collection tracks the storied American songwriter’s career from young working class kid in Chicago through his ascendance as one of the most iconic voices in Americana, folk, country and rock music of the last half century continues selling out print runs, anchoring conversations among its contributors and expanding the understanding Prine’s life and evolution.
Following the Thanksgiving feast, fans of the songwriter, Grammy and Austin City Limits Hall of Fame 2023 inductee can enjoy a special two-hour episode of “Buddy and Jim Radio” on SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country Channel 62. Debuting Saturday night, November 25 at 10 pm EST/9 pm CST, then again Sunday morning, Nov. 26 at 10 a.m. EST/9 a.m. CST, the program featuring rare performances from Prine and others will re-air Monday, Nov. 27 at 2 a.m. and 2 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 28 at midnight, then Wednesday, Nov. 29-Friday, Dec. 1 at 10 pm (all times EST).
“Buddy and Jim were there when John, along with Dan Einstein and Al Bunetta, were building Oh Boy Records,” Gleason offers of the extended conversation. “They knew us as people who were creating a new way of doing business, back when they were part of the vibrant Palomino scene; they were around when Howie Epstein was making the Grammy-winning Missing Years and Lost Dogs + Mixed Blessings before Oh Boy moved to Nashville. Not only were they fans, they were people who were around – and it was wonderful and strangely emotional going back through time and space with them.
“When you get to remember with people who are part of the fabric of a journey, it’s special. And knowing how much Buddy and Jim loved John – and what they were creating – made for an incredible visit.”
Editor and contributor Gleason has been full-tilt at bringing this book to those who loved Prine. Having won the Southern California Journalism Award for Entertainer Journalist, Music Criticism and Entertainment Feature (News) this spring, she heads to Los Angeles for the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards on Dec. 3 where she is nominated for nine awards, including Print Journalist, Music Critic and Online Columnist, as well as Diversity in the Entertainment Industry, Celebrity Profile, Music & Other Arts Personality Profile, Celebrity Feature, Obituary/In Appreciation, Music/Other Arts Personalities and Book, Non-Fiction.
From there, she travels directly to Cleveland, Ohio for a conversation with Grammy-winning songwriter, artist and producer Lyle Lovett and Fiona Whelan Prine, Prine’s beloved wife, manager and founder of the Prine family’s Hello In There Foundation. Tickets for the Dec. 7 event at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Foster Theater are available here: https://bit.ly/46syy3h.
“To have Lyle and Fiona taking time from their busy schedules to celebrate the legacy and impact of someone we all love so very much is a precious thing,” Gleason says. “John had such respect for Lyle and his writing from the moment that first self-titled album was released; John was pleased to introduce Lyle on ‘The Sessions,’ when it was taped in Dublin so many years ago. And it was on that trip where a tour of U2’s Windmill Lane Recording brought Fiona Whelan into John’s life. Talk about a magical intersection of people to discuss this book, the legacy and humanity? I can think of no finer place to do this, nor better people to share a discussion about one of the smartest, kindest hearted people to have ever lived.”
The collection of newspaper and magazine features, tv appearances, award presentations, film scripts, recipes, an award presentation from John Mellencamp and even Prine’s evening at the Library of Congress has struck a chord with the myriad fans Prine collected over the years. Whether fans who bought John Prine when it was first released in 1971, young Americana songwriters and artists raised on his music through friends, siblings or parents, folks who discovered him through covers by Bonnie Raitt, George Strait, Joan Baez, Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe, Swamp Dogg, Bettye LaVette, Miranda Lambert, Roger Waters among many or his exquisite final album The Tree of Forgiveness, which earned three Grammy nominations for Americana Album and a pair of Americana Song nods.
Chicago Tribune legend Rick Kogan raved, “In this book you get the man, in all his charming, introspective, self-deprecating and inspiring facets. It can serve as a biography, with the details of signposts and bumps on Prine’s road to fame.” HITSDailyDouble.com headlined, “Gleason’s Prine Tome Digs Deep,” entertainment bible VARIETY declared, “to love and know Prine is to spend a lot of hours in his presence via Gleason’s essential compendium, which finds his observational candor, fierce, intelligence and genial warmth to be unwavering,” and No Depression offered “PRINE ON PRINE brings John Prine to life in ways no single biography could ever do.” Even the international Globe & Mail raved, “the closest thing we will ever get to an autobiography of a genius wordsmith” in a wrap up of 12 Music Books This Fall that included Barbra Streisand and Britney Spears.
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Early Praise for PRINE ON PRINE: Interviews & Encounters
As close to an autobiography as we’re going to get from John Prine, Prine On Prine captures the inimitable, whimsical voice of one of our greatest songwriters, from the beginning of his career to his final days, evolving from the shy, self-effacing, uncertain youngster film critic Roger Ebert discovered to the wise, cunning veteran who left a body of work probably second only to Dylan. Nashville legend Holly Gleason knew the man and assembled this brilliant collection with a knowing eye and loving heart.
-- Joel Selvin, Here Comes The Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm + Blues; Fare The Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead’s Long Strange Trip
I’m so grateful that Holly has put together this fantastic collection of the best interviews and articles about our beloved John Prine, spanning the whole six decades of his extraordinary career. For all of us who loves and miss him so, this book is truly a treasured gift.
-- Bonnie Raitt
Holly has created a beautiful collage by using John’s words to bring us into the center of his world where family music imagination and love reside with his struggle to remain that kid from Maywood whose curiosity birthed the beautiful songs and music he gifted to the world.
-- Fiona Prine
So much insight and so many great personal stories behind this legendary, super talent. If you’re a John Prine fan, you’re going to love this book. If you’re not, please read it and listen to his music. You will then no doubt be one.
-- George Strait
Listening to John Prine instantly jolts me to a higher vibration and feels like I’m walking on holy ground, free, fearless and naked as the eyes of a clown. He shakes me, wakes me, conjuring up emotions I didn’t know I had, reminding me that tenderness is a virtue. His words make me want to be a better person, to recognize myself in everyone’s eyes, to hold all humanity in high esteem - because we’re all in it together.
Praise be to Holly Gleason for this oh so important, exquisitely curated collection. John Prine improved the world by being alive. Let’s do our best keep that big, beautiful ball rolling.
-- Pamela Des Barres, I’m With The Band and Lets Spend The Night Together
The brilliant genius of John Prine was not only the magic he had in writing about everyday life for everyday people; but just as important was that his lyrics provoked you into thinking about everyday things that you may never have given much thought to and after he woke up those feelings, you realized you couldn’t have said it any better. The respect, admiration and love for Prine and his songs that Holly Gleason has is obvious not only in her eloquent introduction, but in the interviews she selected to pay proper homage to him.
-- Linda Moran, President & CEO, Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Nobody wrote songs like John Prine, filled with humor, humanity, and perfectly cock-eyed detail. But what this elegantly curated collection—culled from interviews, TV and radio appearances, and even recipes—reveals is that...well, that’s just who the guy was. Whether he’s at the Library of Congress or in the pages of Hot Rod magazine, Prine’s wit and fierce independence constantly shine through.
—Alan Light, The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”
I’ve loved John Prine since I was a little girl. PRINE ON PRINE makes me feel like he’s been talking to me since he was a young man, and seeing him go through the phases of his career is a real gift. Holly Gleason knew John, so she understood how to take these interviews, movie scripts, tv shows and recipes and create a sense of who he was when he got done writing or performing. Now even more than a legend, he feels like a favorite uncle.
-- Miranda Lambert
With a deep understanding and knowledge of John Prine – the man and his music – Holly Gleason has searched every nook and cranny to curate a thoughtful biography of one of our greatest singer-songwriters. Her insightful text sets the scene as we experience Prine, the unfiltered raconteur, via five decades of media coverage, from major magazines to niche publications, television scripts to a recipe book, talk show appearances, movie roles and his PEN Award presentation. Prine on Prine is both revelatory and entertaining.
-– Holly George-Warren, Janis: Her Life & Music and A Man Called Destruction: The Life & Music of Alex Chilton
Reality can involve a lot of imagination, and no one was better at imagining and painting real pictures about people you felt you knew. I enjoyed getting to know John more through Holly’s curation and writing. A true master.
--- Eric Church
This book is a stunner! Only the glorious Holly Gleason could assemble such a magnificent collection to celebrate the life and world-changing artistry of her friend John Prine. Perhaps the most joyful history book you’ll ever read. His music explodes from the pages.
-- Tom DeSavia, Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of LA Punk and More Fun In The New World: The Unmaking and Legacy of LA Punk
