See Sturgill Simpson and John Prine’s Stately ‘Paradise’
Singer-songwriters John Prine and Sturgill Simpson recently shared the stage at an intimate event for a lucky few Grammy Museum guests. Part interview and part performance, video of the two country artists together was streamed live on Facebook in two parts.
In the first part, author and journalist Paul Zollo conducts a joint interview with Prine and Simpson — whose album A Sailor’s Guide to Earth arrived in mid-April — in the Grammy Museum’s Clive Davis Theater. The second part (embedded above) features their performances, beginning with Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.”
There’s a quick break and Prine returns to the stage around the 12:30 mark. He tells of landing his first performance gig in Chicago and feeling the need to make up new songs for the regular patrons in the audience. Introducing “Souvenirs,” he says he made it up in the car on the way to the club, thinking he’d used some really different chords and melodies.
“I played it in the bathroom before I went on and it was the same three chords I always use,” he joked.
Prine follows that with the harrowing soldier story “Sam Stone” before being joined once again by Simpson for two final numbers. Prine strums and sings while Simpson adds some brisk, bluegrass-style acoustic fills and harmony vocals, closing the show out with rousing versions of “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” and “Paradise.”
Simpson has an extensive European and Canadian tour in his immediate future, while Prine will play shows in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Atlanta on June 24th and 25th, respectively.