John Prine: Singletary Center, Lexington, KY

Now my grandma was a teacher went to school in Bowling Green; Traded in a milking cow for a Singer sewing machine... (John Prine - Grandpa Was a Carpenter) I had the privilege of seeing John Prine at the beautiful Singletary Center on the University of Kentucky's campus on Friday (April 1). This was my 5th John Prine concert since 1995. It seems like every 3 years or so old John comes around and I try to go see him. John is 64 years old and you hope he's around for a long time, but you never know. As a friend of mine told me that when she saw Bonnie Raitt in concert a few years ago, Bonnie called John a "national treasure". On this evening John was backed by his fantastic musical mates Jason Wilber on guitar and David Jacques on bass. The song selections for the show was pretty standard; the set started with as alway Spanish Pipedream and ended with Paradise. John played mostly songs from his earlier albums including 8 songs from his 1971 debut album.

My highlights were Angel From Montgomery; Jason Wilber's slide guitar and David Jacques bass fiddle made the song hauntingly beautiful; Grandpa Was a Carpenter, on the introduction John said he originally debut the song at a family reunion and his aunts later cornered him to point out the mistakes in the song - Grandpa smoked Kools not Camels and Grandma went to school in Berea not Bowling Green, at which John replied that they didn't have to rhyme Berea with singer sewing machine; Lake Marie is always a treat; Clay Pigeons, That's the Way That the World Goes Round and In Spite of Ourselves were also excellent. On In Spite of Ourselves John sang the boy part and girl part which was quiet funny.

Complete Setlist:

• Spanish Pipedream


• Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore


• 6 O'Clock News


• Aimless Love


• Souvenirs


• Grandpa Was a Carpenter


• Far From Me


• Fish and Whistle


• Glory of True Love


• Angel From Montgomery


• Oldest Baby in the World


• Clay Pigeons


• In Spite of Ourselves


• Dear Abby


• That's the Way That the World Goes Round


• Sam Stone


• Bear Creek Blues


• Crooked Piece of Time


• Humidity Built the Snowman


• Hello In There


• Lake Marie


• Encore:


• Please Don't Burry Me


• Paradise