Fully Formed

I wouldn’t want this normblog post about a John Prine song to pass without mentioning what a brilliant debut Prine made with his first eponymous album. In an era when Country music was a bastion of reaction against the counter-culture and all things un-American, Prine was a welcome voice from the left-liberal side. In fact he was bracketed into the singer/songwriter category at first – even as the new Dylan – but gradually eased himself into the area of quirky left-field Country. Or maybe the definition of Country just got broader. Whatever, his first effort was his best. Not that he ever produced rubbish (this is good), but he was one of those artists who arrived fully formed, and produced a masterpiece at the start of his career which he never improved on.

There’s a whole world of artists like that floating round the edges of Country music. Guy Clark with Old #1: Jesse Winchester: JJ Cale . Minor artists I’d suppose you’d call them. The history of American music’s full of ’em.