One of the finest American songwriters and folk artists of all time, John Prine was the new kid on the block in 1970, and at the time the two radio broadcasts included on this CD were recorded, he had yet to release his first album.
Prine had cut his teeth around the Chicago clubs of the late 1960s and most notable of these was the citys 5th Peg which held open mic nights which he would attend, initially as a spectator but later as a performer who quickly became a favourite when those attending realised the strength of the material John was composing. In August of 1970, one such show was broadcast on WMIR FM and is the oldest surviving recording of Prines. This event is featured as the first 18 tracks on this album and is a superb introduction to John Prine in his very earliest phase.
The second show featured is a radio session and interview with the legendary Studs Terkel on Studs well-known radio program, aired on98.7 WFMT Chicago between 1952 and 1997. This session remains a dynamic piece of history in the John Prince archive as it not only illustrates quite what a natural and consummate performer the man was when simply strumming an acoustic guitar at a time when he hadonly been performing for a number of months, but also how the mans songs were destined to become instant classics once distributed to a wider audience.
