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Paradise Night With Prine

You want to see an amazing chunk of tunes? Check out this list:

Spanish Pipedream
Souvenirs
Angel From Montgomery
Hello In There
Space Monkey
Sam Stone
Storm Windows
Sins of Memphisto
Fish and Whistle
Donald and Lydia
Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody
Glory of True Love
Bear Creek Blues
Lake Marie
That’s the Way That the World Goes ‘Round
Paradise

John Prine played all those tunes in a better than two-hour show at Redding’s Cascade Theatre on Monday night. He played a few more than those above, and that’s not the exact set list, but it did start with “Spanish Pipedream” and end (after an encore) with “Paradise.”

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Prine seemed to have a ball with the sold-out audience of more than 900, a great mix of Prine fans (some of whom had driven hours to Redding on a rainy night) and several newcomers.

He got a standing ovation when he walked on stage … very nice. The crowd would be back on its feet again twice at the end of the evening. And it was a sincere gush.

I’m still floored by the tune “Paradise.” This is the song you hear at the smokin’ hot bluegrass jam and then the blown-away listeners go, “Who wrote that one!?” And one of the singers with a glorious grin leans back and says, “John Prine.”

“Oh! Wow, Prine.”

It’s the song you’ve been hearing all your life but just didn’t know it. Any legitimate Paradise will include the song “Paradise.”

Here’s the chorus:

“And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking

Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away”

At this point in the evening, opener Dan Reeder had joined Prine on stage. Twas a stellar conclusion to a heavy-hitting evening of Prine gems.

I hope the show tunes some new listeners into Prine. It’s relaunching me into his catalog. Why don’t I know every word to a tune like “Donald and Lydia”? Such a uniquely wonderful mind trip.

The timeless “Fish and Whistle”: “Then I’d go to town and drink and give the girls a pinch/But I don’t think they ever even noticed me. Father forgive us for what we must do/You forgive us we’ll forgive you/We’ll forgive each other till we both turn blue/Then we’ll whistle and go fishing in heaven.”

Remember, Kris Kristofferson thinks John Prine is God’s favorite songwriter.

Most people know “Angel From Montgomery” from Bonnie Raitt, but the song’s all over the place — Carly Simon, Tanya Tucker and Ben Harper have recorded it, and “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart sang it the film “Into the Wild.”

You can’t write a more honest Vietnam-era tune than “Sam Stone” — “There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where the money goes.”

And, oh my gosh, “Storm Windows” might be the greatest song ever written this side of “Hello in There” (I have such wonderful memories of my friend Shawn Tillman singing the latter).

It was the first time I’d seen Prine live, even though I’ve been a fan for more than a decade.

At the start of the show when I heard the line, “She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol,” I knew we were soon gonna get the great lines, “Well, I sat there at the table and I acted real naive/For I knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve.”

In addition to all the fun and stunningly lovely phrases, there are also some pretty harsh ones as well in John’s work.

In “That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round,” (The “Happy Enchilada” song) the guy with muscles in his head that have never been used, “starts drinking heavy, gets a big red nose/beats his wife with a rubber hose/then he takes her out to dinner and buys her new clothes.”

And (you may not want to hear that, but sometimes) “that’s the way that the world goes ’round.”

But basically when you can start writing essays on each of Prine’s tunes, you’ve got a big cat in the room.

And, gosh, what a big, sweety cat at that. His smile was about the most genuine thing I’ve seen in a season. We didn’t, however, get to hear “Illegal Smile.”

That’s what starts happening with a guy at this level. He’s got two additional evenings of great songs he didn’t even play. I would have loved to hear “Please Don’t Bury Me,” “It’s a Big Old Goofy World,” “The Moon is Down,” “Crazy as a Loon,” and, oh my gosh, “You Got Gold.”

But, like I said, the above list was fabulous. (Someone please fill in some other songs he played, I’m kind of screwin’ the pooch here.)

Opener Dan Reeder said he’s a painter who lives in Germany. He’s an American who makes his own instruments, “has all the fucking work he needs,” says he’s not a musician, but seems to fingerpick just fine and can certainly write a compelling song. This is an interesting, honest, smart fellow.

What a show!

And who in the Sam Stone is this kid playing guitar with Prine?

Turns out his name is Jason Wilber and he’s about as tasty a guitarist as you’re going to come across. Oh, yeah, he’s a killer mandolin player. Oh, yeah, and an awesome acoustic guitarist. And harmonica player. And vocalist. And eye candy for the ladies.

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Jason Wilber

And John said Wilber also “changed the tires on the truck.”

Thanks, Cascade Theatre, for a wonderful evening.

Jim Dyar

is a journalist who focuses on arts, entertainment, music and the outdoors. He is a songwriter and leader of the Jim Dyar Band. He lives in Redding and can be reached at jimd.anewscafe@gmail.com

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