As a DJ I mainly listen to music for the groove. That said, I do appreciate good lyrics and over the years I have loved many artists—John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Ray Davies, Willie Nelson, Caetano Veloso and others—for their wordplay as well as for their musical chops. One artist I grew up with, who I think is a national treasure, is John Prine.

Prine was discovered by Kris Kristofferson (an amazing songwriter in his own right!) in the early 70’s. Prine was working as a postman in Chicago at the time. He’s written songs like “Dear Abby”, “Angel from Montgomery”, “Yes, I Guess they Oughta Name a Drink After You” and “Please Don’t Bury Me” and it was hard to pick one Prine song to highlight here but this one “Flashback Blues” was quoted in my brother’s senior high school yearbook so I’ll go with it. If you’re a Prine fan you know all the words already and if you don’t then listen closely!