John Prine's "The Singing Mailman Delivers" Releasing On October 25

Long before the awards and accolades, all the concerts and many, many albums, John Prine trudged through snow in the cold Chicago winters, delivering mail across Maywood, his childhood suburb. “I always likened the mail route to a library with no books,” says John Prine. “I passed the time each day making up these little ditties.”

On October 25th, 2011, Oh Boy Records (founded in 1981 by Prine and manager Al Bunetta) will release The Singing Mailman Delivers. This two-disc archival release features the earliest studio and live recordings from Prine dating back to 1970, one year before his prolific, self-titled, debut album.

In August 1970, John Prine went to Chicago’s WFMT Studios to be interviewed by Studs Terkel. “I asked after the show if it were possible to stick around and tape all the songs I had written up until then,” Prine continues. These studio recordings were simply and sincerely recorded with Prine’s trademark guitar finger-picking and early vocal style. The disc closes with the unreleased track titled “A Star, A Jewel, And A Hoax,” a brief and whimsical look into an often-overlooked cranny of everyday life.

The live performance was recorded at the Fifth Peg in Chicago in November 1970, where Prine would play three nights a week, while still delivering mail during the day. Prine says, “I still maintain that Chicago winters and postman-hungry dogs finally drove me to songwriting.”

With just his acoustic guitar, some audience banter and a friend on bass, 24-year old Prine takes the live audience through 12 of his classic tunes, a few of which already sound like crowd favorites. “I was just learning how to sing a full set of my songs and still manage to talk in between without getting shot or anything thrown at me,” he admits. The one cover track is a Hank Williams medley that Prine learned for his father with the songs “Hey Good Lookin’” and “Jambalaya (On The Bayou).”

This fall marks the 40th anniversary of that first album, John Prine, and these amateur recordings on The Singing Mailman Delivers truly show Prine as a poet whose consummate songs were refined since inception. Even the then-titled “Great Society Conflict Veteran’s Blues,” his studio and live versions of “Sam Stone,” bestow the listener an intricate sense of understanding and compassion from a humble and unassuming songwriter who wrote such words to pass time on his mail route.

Oh Boy Records will begin a presale for The Singing Mailman Delivers on Wednesday, September 21 via John Prine’s official online store MusicFansDirect.com. The full tracklisting for the album is as follows:

Disc One - Studio Performance:
1. Hello In There
2. Souvenirs
3. Great Society Conflict Veteran's Blues (early "Sam Stone")
4. Paradise
5. Blue Umbrella
6. Aw Heck
7. Illegal Smile
8. Flashback Blues
9. The Frying Pan
10. Sour Grapes
11. A Star, A Jewel, And A Hoax

Disc Two - Live Performance:
1. Flashback Blues
2. Hello In There
3. Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
4. The Great Compromise
5. Blue Umbrella
6. Illegal Smile
7. Angel From Montgomery
8. A Good Time
9. Hey Good Lookin' > Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
10. Quiet Man
11. Paradise
12. Great Society Conflict Veteran's Blues (early "Sam Stone")
13. Spanish Pipedream

John Prine September Concerts

September is officially here, and John Prine is ready to hit the concert trail once more. Click here to visit John's official tour page, or check out below to find out where you can find him this month:

Friday, September 9 - Chateau Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville, WA
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Saturday, September 10 - McMenamin's Edgefield Concerts On The Lawn in Troutdale, OR
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Monday, September 12 - McDonald Theatre in Eugene, OR
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Wednesday, September 14 - Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane, WA
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Friday, September 16 - University Theatre in Missoula, MT
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Saturday, September 17 - Mother Lode Theatre in Butte, MT
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Friday, September 23 - Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore, MD
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Wednesday, September 28 - Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA
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Friday, September 30 - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, CA
Free Show