Ernie’s Pick of the Month

John Prine - Tree of Forgiveness

You would think after decades of using familiar chords and melodies–no matter how genuine and clever–things would begin to feel stale on John Prine’s first new record in 13 years. Well, they don't. Prine is one of America's treasured songwriters that few know about, even though he has penned some of the most famous folk songs (Sam Stone, Hello In There, Illegal Smile, Angel From Montgomery etc) of the last 100 years...

The Tree of Forgiveness feels like you are sitting on a front porch listening to Prine pluck his guitar and pick stories out of the American landscape. It is a refreshing album and the production from Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell) feels appropriate and accommodating. The Tree of Forgiveness doesn’t require much of the listener other than to immerse yourself in the sparsity of the music and think about the complexity later.

TL;DR: One of the greatest songwriters of all time at a peak in his career

Key tracks: Summers End, Caravan of Fools