Tommy Prine's debut album 'This Far South'' coming June 23, 2023 is not only a long awaited introduction but a testimony to Prine's 20's and the loss, love, and growth that has defined them. Co-produced by close friend and kindred musical spirit, Ruston Kelly, and beloved Nashville engineer and producer, Gena Johnson, the album is rich and dynamic from cathartic jams to nostalgic storytelling.
The son of late songwriting legend, John Prine, Tommy Prine grew up in Nashville surrounded by music, art and writing. As a child, he thought all parents were musicians, as his father 'going to work' meant performing shows for adoring fans and writing songs. Tommy learned to play guitar by watching his father play, copying the ways his fingers moved and inadvertently developing his own singular style. Summers in Ireland lent their own inspiration, as did 10 straight years camping at Bonnaroo. Prine's musical tastes grew to become decidedly eclectic, spanning John Mayer, Outkast, Bon Iver, the Strokes and more.
It wasn't until Prine reached his mid-twenties, though, that he considered a career of his own in music and began to share with others the songs he wrote in private. His songs were quickly met with excitement and enthusiasm, which sonically brings together a colorful patchwork of musical influences and lyrically explores existential questions and emotional experiences.
The album's title track, 'This Far South,'' marks a turning point in Prine's life as he found himself struggling to escape a dark, aimless period. He ultimately found the courage to act on choices that would see him to the other, brighter, side.
'There were several years where I felt without purpose, spent all my time partying, and just existing. I found myself at a fork in the road and chose the better path, and in that moment, I swore I would never be This Far South again.'
Grief is a major throughline of Prine's current work. In 2017, Prine lost his best friend to an overdose.
'Since then, I have lost some more friends and have others who are still navigating the ups and downs of struggles with drug abuse.'
His song, 'Letter To My Brother,' was written as a message to the friends he's lost, those in Recovery, and to friends who are still struggling.
He still grapples with the passing of his father in April of 2020. 'The world lost one of the greatest songwriters of all time, but I lost my dad.' Prine bears the loss of his father and the memories he carries for others on the track, 'By The Way.'
'The comment I get the most is how much I look like him, and sometimes it makes me feel like I'm a sad reminder to those who loved him.'
While navigating that loss has been difficult, he's found solace in connecting through music with others who have lost loved ones.
'When I'm playing certain songs, I can literally look out in the crowd and tell who else has lost their dad,' he says. 'I can immediately tell which people have experienced, specifically, losing their father. They'll come up and tell me afterwards, and I'll be like, 'Yeah, like, I figured that this conversation was going to happen,' because I could see their reaction. It's been really powerful to see real-deal evidence that grief is a shared experience, and that suffering is a shared experience between humans.'
Prine capped off 2022 with his first solo tour across the United States. He was heavily involved with You Got Gold, an event series in Nashville honoring the life and songs of John Prine, and performed at AmericanaFest as an official showcasing artist. He also debuted two original songs, 'Ships in the Harbor' and 'Turning Stones.'
'Ships in the Harbor' is a tender meditation on impermanence and change, with Prine communicating the universal experience of loss through poetic observations of the seemingly mundane. The song found its way onto a series of editorial playlists including Spotify's Fresh Folk playlist and Amazon's Fresh Folk & Ameriana playlist. It was also praised by a number of outlets including Billboard, Garden & Gun, and Saving Country Music who wrote, 'With one song, Tommy Prine has already accomplished what many musicians and songwriters work their entire careers to accomplish, which is to make such an indelible emotional connection with an audience.'
This year, alongside his own runs of headline shows, Prine opened for Tyler Childers on his 'Send In The Hounds Tour' in London. He was also named one of Amazon Music's 2023 Breakthrough Artists to Watch.
'I feel like I've learned more about myself in the last year and a half than I ever have in my life,' Prine says. 'And I think that speaks a lot to doing something that I'm passionate about. I love and respect the craft. Just hitting the road and doing what so many people before me have done and will continue to do, it's really resonated with me. I think it's transformed me into the person that I am meant to be.'
In 2019, Arlo McKinley played a show at the High Watt in Nashville. While he had years of such gigs on the DIY singer-songwriter circuit behind him, this night was different. In the audience was one of his musical heroes, John Prine. When they met briefly beforehand, Prine, who never gave praise lightly, told Arlo he was a fan.
McKinley recalls, Just that moment, if that's where it ended, it would've been one of the coolest things that ever happened to me, something I remembered forever.
But it didn't end there. Shortly after, he was signed to Oh Boy Records, Prine's indie label.
Like his last album Die Midwestern which Rolling Stone praised for its songs of heartbreak, restlessness and hard-won experience and NPR called personal and moving - the latest was cut at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis with an ace band that includes drummer Ken Coomer, guitarist Will Sexton and keyboardist Rick Steff. McKinley says, That studio is like a time capsule. There's just a feel where you can tell there's been some great stuff made in there - Elvis, Jerry Lee, Roy Orbison. Really though, more than the studio, it's the band and the producer.
Of Matt Ross-Spang, who's worked with Jason Isbell and Margo Price, McKinley says, He completely gets what I'm trying to do. I sent Matt guitar-vocal demos of fifteen songs. He would show them to the band right before we'd go out to record, so a lot of these songs, the musicians are making up these parts on the spot. Jessie Munson did the string arrangements. She comes up with really pretty lines.
The addition of strings brought a cinematic dimension to McKinley's music that accentuates his feel for romantic melancholy. I love Nick Drake and Nick Cave, how their songs can be very simple but sound big, he says. Wes Anderson movies too. I love how he'll use music in a very simple scene to evoke a big emotion. I think this album conveys a mental picture a lot more than stuff I've done previously. It's more than just a collection of songs. You can visualize things.
As McKinley visualizes the year ahead, he's optimistic that touring will be easier , and that he'll get to play Europe for the first time this summer. When asked what he hopes listeners will get from This Mess We're In, he says, I hope they can identify with things they're too ashamed to talk about or feel. There's such a stigma that goes along with things like addiction and mental health. I just want them to know that I go through all of that stuff too. I would just like to make them feel a little less alone. At least for the 47 minutes of the album, you can remove yourself from the world and just let everything disappear for a bit.