by Sean Hillen

Aficionados of American singer-songwriter John Prine enjoyed a rare evening at An Grianan theatre in Donegal this weekend – with many of the influential musician’s memorable songs performed by tribute group, Bruised Orange.

The reward : a loud standing ovation and shouts for more.

With photos of the late two-time Grammy winner on-screen throughout the two-hour, 27-song show including him in Army uniform and as a boy in a cowboy suit, the band, led by talented guitarist-vocalist, Michael McGarry, kicked-off with ‘Spanish Pipedream’ from Prine’s 1971 self-titled debut album, a tongue-in-cheek story about life and relationships. Prine said he wrote the song for a Puerto Rican dishwasher in Chicago who liked Spanish songs.

Other compositions from the album performed by the group included the poignant ‘Sam Stone,’ about the death by overdose of a drug-addicted war veteran, with the haunting refrain, ‘There’s a hole in daddy’s arm, where all the money goes,’ referring to heroin and morphine use by Vietnam veterans.

Another cut from the same album was ‘Paradise,’ a bluegrass standard named for a now-defunct town, written by the Illinois-born songwriter for his father and recalls the devastating impact of strip-mining for coal around the Green River in Kentucky.

Maybe it was my imagination or the theatre lighting, but it seemed to me McGarry actually resembled Prine at one stage in the songwriter’s life. Or perhaps it was simply his delivery, what one reviewer termed his ‘affected twang and drawl,’ a suitable tone for country, folk, rhythm and blues. 

Regardless, McGarry first learned about Prine from his father, also a musician, but admitted it was much later that he took a serious interest in his work. “Growing up as a boy, my favourite artists were always Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash,” he said. “It would take about thirty years for me to recognise there was somebody whose music fit between the two.” McGarry described Prine’s songs as “droll, deadpan observations on everyday life, stories so understated you often had to hear them twice to get the joke or the knife stab of fate.”

Reflecting Prine’s keen sense of empathy McGarry sang, ‘Angel from Montgomery,’ about a bored middle-aged woman who feels old and worn out and wants an angel to take her away from everything. Why Montgomery? Mainly because of Prine’s admiration for Hank Williams who had strong ties to that Alabama city.

Prine’s songs aren’t all serious social observations, there was also a humorous side to his outlook, as McGarry showed through both fine vocals and guitar-playing in his rendition of ‘Signed, Dear Abbey,’ a reference to the once popular newspaper agony aunt, with amusing lines such as ‘Dear Abby, dear Abby, you won’t believe this, But my stomach makes noises whenever I kiss, My girlfriend tells me it’s all in my head, But my stomach tells me to write you instead.’   

I was delighted when the group performed several of my favorite Prine’s songs, ‘Souvenirs’, about the importance of remembering special moments and his touching love song, ‘You Got Gold.’

Bruised Orange, the title of Prine’s fifth album, also played ‘That’s The Way The World Goes Round’ which emerged from Prine’s urge to move away from cynicism and find a way to get back to a better world, a more childlike one, thus the zany lines, ‘I was sitting in the bathtub, counting my toes, When the radiator broke, water all froze.’

Throughout the show, McGarry was well-supported by an experienced backing group comprising Anthony Toby Cregan (lead guitar, vocals), Derek Matthews (bass & vocals), Shay Carry (percussion) and James Quinn (keyboards), the latter shining solo in ‘Saddle in the Rain’ from Prine’s ‘Common Sense’ album. 

While I would have liked a little more between-song commentary about Prine’s life and more context about the songs themselves, there is no doubting the singing ability and musicianship of this Meath-based group and their admiration for Prine.

Bruised Orange, which has toured extensively over the last two years, hosts other concerts on its tour over the coming weeks in Kildare, Cork and Kerry.