John Prine

There’s a warm, inviting breeze rolling through country-folk legend John Prine‘s recent work. On 2005’s Fair & Square and 2007’s Standard Songs for Average People, the goofball humanitarian serves up songs steeped in the music of his youth: classic honky-tonk, bluegrass, rockabilly and folk. While his voice has deepened after a struggle with cancer in the late-’90s, Prine performs with the zeal of a grateful and generous survivor, offering up his trademark wit, syrup-smooth turns of phrase, and hard-earned life wisdom with a raconteur’s grin. Onstage, Prine and a small backing group tap their boots to the new stuff while gladly reviving old faves, such as the soothsaying ’70s anti-war ballad “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” and the Prine-penned heart-buster “Angel From Montgomery,” made famous by Bonnie Raitt.