Maywood, IL. (Top40 Charts/ Oh Boy Records) - When two titans of industry join forces, the results can be groundbreaking. If that industry is the music industry, and the titans are legendary songwriter
John Prine and bluegrass genius Mac Wiseman, the results are groundbreaking, breathtaking and heartwarming. Prine and Wiseman joined forces to release, Standard Songs for Average People, a duets album of classic American songs. It's an album so full of charm and humanity only
John Prine would have the courage to record it. It releases April 24th on Prine's Oh Boy Record label. Concurrently, Oh Boy is partnering with Shout! Factory to release the new Live On Soundstage 1980 DVD.
The genesis of the album came from an unlikely source-songwriter and producer Cowboy Jack Clement. He suggested Prine sing with Wiseman several years ago. Prine eventually contacted Wiseman, and the two spent time talking about music. It went so well they decided to each make a list of songs they'd like to record with no parameters on style, genre or age. When they reunited to compare lists, they were amazed to discover there were seven songs in common on their lists. It was all the impetus they needed to record a full on duets album.
Standard Songs for Average People is filled with great American songs; some well known, some less so. Each track on the record, however, shares an innate humanity and emotional directness that binds them together into a poignant thematic collection. Prine and Wiseman put their own stamp on Lefty Frizzell's hit "Saginaw Michigan," and Tom T. Hall's beloved "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine." Other standouts include Kris Kristofferson's "Just the Other Side of Nowhere" and the old standard "Where the Blue of the Night," made famous by Bing Crosby.
The album comes as Prine is hitting a creative and commercial peak. He picked up his second Grammy Award for his previous studio album, Fair & Square, and recently crossed the million sales mark for albums sold on Oh Boy Records, the label he co-owns with longtime manager Al Bunetta.
Prine is in a collaborative mood these days. He and Oh Boy have teamed up with Shout! Factory, a multi-platform integrated entertainment company that focuses on audio music catalog development and home video/DVD projects. They've joined forces to release, John Prine Live at Soundstage 1980, a DVD that captures Prine's celebrated concert for the PBS show Soundstage. The DVD also features interviews with Prine as he tours his childhood hometown of Maywood, Illinois.
