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By Grainne McLoughlin

Singer and songwriter John Prine has secured himself a place in the music hall of fame. Delighting audiences for over 30 years with his story-like songwriting, Prine has seen his work covered by people from Bonnie Raitt to Bette Midler and the Everly Brothers. On the release of his new album Fair & Square the former postman and cancer victim tells Grainne McLoughlin how it all came about.

This is your first album in over nine years, how have you found it?

Yes it’s the first one I’ve produced on my own and it took me a long time to get it right but I was happy with it in the end. Reaction to it has been great. The only thing I can complain about is that I’ve been working too hard. Usually my wife — who’s from Galway — and I go over to Ireland for the entire summer but because I'd just put the record out I couldn’t get away.

The fact that it’s been nine years since my last album was a bit of a surprise to be honest. I only realised it had been that long when I started doing press for it.

Did you ever worry that it wouldn’t happen?

No, I wasn’t worried at all. It’s just a matter of accounting for the last nine years. We toured whether there was a record or not and I suppose we’re just lucky that we’ve got a really loyal audience.

Whenever we go out there we normally get a full house. Of course people ask about when your next record will come out but with my followers it doesn’t seem to be as important as it might be to others.

It’s not like they don’t want to listen to you just because you haven’t anything new.

Your music has been described as everything from acoustic folk to rockabilly to straight-ahead country? How would you describe it yourself?

I think it’s pretty good myself. I like older country music. My mother and father were huge country fans and I suppose that influenced me. The thing that maybe makes me different from anything else is probably that it takes me four times as long to say the same thing.

With this album I played with people I was very familiar with — friends or musicians I’d played with in Nashville before.

There’s an element of politics that seeps through Fair & Square. What kind of message are you trying to impart?

It’s just really calling a spade a spade. I mean there’s a lot about George Bush that I don’t understand or like and I don’t consider myself too political. But when it’s in your face it’s hard to get away from it.

With my music I thought it was a chance to make some sort of stand. I’m not trying to change anybody’s mind but I just want to state my own. I don’t want to die and have people think I subscribed to the view in office today.

Fair & Square showcases your new style compared to the singing style of the craggy-voiced troubadour. But rather than it being through the help of a vocal coach it’s been the result of your suffering from neck cancer. Did it worry you that the cancer treatment might affect your vocal chords?

When they found out I was a singer the radiologist told me that he wanted to build a shield around my vocal chords so as they wouldn’t be exposed to the radiation which would have to be used in the treatment.

But I said to him: “Have you ever heard me sing? There’s nothing there to shield. As long as I can talk when you guys are done with me I’ll be able to sing. Because all I could do in the first place was talk.”

My voice dropped a little bit after the surgery and I actually feel more comfortable having to listen back to it now whereas I never felt comfortable before. It’s a great story anyway — it’s certainly not one you could easily make up. Every cloud and all that.

It must have been a very difficult time all the same?

Well I’ve got a great family and great friends. They looked after the kids so my wife could come with me to Texas for my treatment where I had to stay for long periods of time.

Funnily enough I actually felt for the first time in my life that I had a parachute on and I was just floating around. But I had every confidence that everything was going to be alright when I got to the ground. It was a pretty good feeling. I’m sure I was scared at the time but I didn’t really realise it.

It wasn’t until after a stint in the US army and a job as a postman that you made your debut as a singer-songwriter in a local bar. How did you make the transition to what you’ve become today?

I took up playing the guitar as a hobby because I saw my brother play. I thought if he can play it I can too. He taught me a couple of chords and I started playing a few old-time country songs. But before I knew it I found it was easier and quicker for me to sit down and make up a song than it was to learn someone else’s.

But I always considered it a hobby. I never even considered the possibility of becoming a professional. I thought you either had to have a lot of money or to be from France in order to be an entertainer.

It wasn’t until a dare one night in my local bar led to me getting up and singing three of my songs. They didn’t just like me, they hired me.

Has there been anyone in the industry who has particularly influenced you?

Kris Kristofferson was instrumental in helping me. It was all because of Kris that I got my record contract. He

never really wanted to talk about himself and so he’d say to the press about me: “You should hear this kid he’s great.”

They suddenly started taking notice of me.

The essential guide to John Prine...

Albums:

Video:

John Prine Live from Sessions at West 54th [DVD] — 2001

New album/great hits...

Fair & Square — which was released in the summer — features special guests Alison Krauss, Mindy Smith, Jerry Douglas, Shawn Camp and Kenny Malone.

Some of his biggest hits include Sam Stone, Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness, Hello In There, Blow Up Your TV, Unwed Fathers, I Ain’t Botherin’ Nobody, Angel From Montgomery, Souvenirs, Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore and The Great Compromise.