I was sitting in Texas on a rainy Sunday afternoon, waiting for training to start up again on Monday. We were getting deployed to Afghanistan, a place I did not know too much about at the time, and I was feeling alone, tired, and dejected. I had just had to dropout from graduate school during my final semester, and I was feeling frustrated for the first time in an otherwise charmed life.
My friend Dan Attoe (a pretty famous painter in his own right) sent me a mixed CD of music he thought I would like, he named it MRE 1, after the Meals Ready to Eat in the Army. I was sitting there on my bunk, miserable, and I put the CD in my player, and I heard this song by John Prine. Man I started crying so fucking hard, I was beyond being embarrassed, and I cried so hard my throat got sore and swelled so I could barely swallow. Afterwards I felt better.
John Prine has a myspace page. If you search his name on YouTube there are a bunch of great videos, especially some duets with Iris Dement who has a phenomenal voice. The guy is pretty old. I already said what I had to say about his music.
Update: Click Here for John Prine singing and talking at the Library of Congress, John comes on stage at 10:40, there is a lengthy introduction
