John Prine At The Power Center

Who would have thought that the young boy who used to travel to Meuhlenburg County, Kentucky to hunt snakes would one day travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to rock and roll? Well, that's the transition we saw in John Prine tonight al Power Center as he played his first gig with this new band.

He opened as the country boy in the first set, solo and acoustic, and we saw the sensitive troubadour of such songs as "Paradise," and "Sam Stone." we also saw the iconoclastic wit of "'Dear Abby" and "The Accident." His voice was the husky, raspy style that immediately reminds the listener of what's-his-name.

The entire acoustic set was cliaracterized by a deep-felt sincerity in the lyrics (even the humorous ones). When I saw John Prine in Sept., '73, he was all jokes and humor. Now, in early '75, gone are the stones, gone are the opening raps for each tune. The current presentation enhances the drama of the lyrics.

After the intermission, Prine was joined by his band (keyboard, bass, drums, and lead). They rocked into "Onomatopoeia" and kept on rocking throughout the show and encore. The set included several new tunes which definitely show a further move toward rock for young country John. After all, he told us in the encore, "It goes to show you er can tell."

-Bruce Weinberg