Fri 08/21 - Halifax, NS - The Rebecca Cohn with Carrie Rodriguez - sold out

By: MEGGIE LOU
YOU DID AWESOME MY HUSBAND IS YOUR #1 FAN OUR DAUGHTER IS 13 YOU SHOULD SEARCH MEGGIE LOU AND VIEW HER SONGS SHE WOULD LOVE TO BE AN OPENING ACT FOR THE NEXT TIME YOU VISIT SHE WRITS AND COMPOSES HER OWN MUSIC MEGGIE LOU THEMCNEILBUNCH SEARCH IT! ALL HER AUDITIONS ARE ON YOU TUBE IF YOU SEARCH THERE TOO - TRACY MCNEIL

By: Terry Ann Hemsworth

John Prine still has it, older, but still Rockin'. He rocked the stage, moved the fans and made us laugh. His life in songs. I have a new respect for the man. He still has alot more to his repertoire(sp) and I hope he returns to Nova Scotia. I'll be there. I have record albums, cassette tapes and CDs, live is better.

Thu 08/20 - Halifax, NS - The Rebecca Cohn with Carrie Rodriguez - SOLD OUT

By: Stephen Cooke

Songs of simple beauty and eloquence - full review
   John Prine plays sold-out Halifax shows While most singer-songwriters marvel at the work of pioneers like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, I suspect that if given a choice as to whose talent they could emulate - you know, if they happened to encounter a genie or a particularly effective wishing well - it would be John Prine's.
   His tools are deceptively basic, just a handful of chords and the language of everyday conversation, but with them he constructs tunes of such simple beauty and eloquence all you can do is stand back and marvel. Kris Kristofferson reportedly once said Prine wrote songs so good, "we'll have to break his thumbs."
   Thankfully, Prine's thumbs, plus the other eight fingers, were in mint condition on Thursday night at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, the first of two sold-out evenings with his backing duo of bassist David Jacques and guitarist Jason Wilbur, plus Austin-raised opener Carrie Rodriguez.
  This was the third time I'd seen Prine perform in the hallowed hall, and while this week's appearance did not surpass the previous two, as a concise two-hour show leaning towards popular titles from his prodigious catalogue, it was nothing less than a great evening of music. The trio got off to a shaky start with the ragged tempos of Spanish Pipedream (often better known by its exhortation of "Blow up your TV") and Picture Show, but it was smoother sailing by the time they got to a personal favourite, Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, and its poetic description of romantic self-destruction.
  Prine seemed at ease bantering with the audience, and was generous with tales about the tunes, like his recollection of writing Souvenirs when he was still a Chicago mailman playing occasional shows at a club called The Fifth Peg in the '60s.
  "I was worried the same 12 people were gonna be there, just like every other week, and they'd be looking for a new song. I made it up in the car on my way down. My guitar was locked in the trunk, and I became convinced I'd come up with something I shouldn't be able to play. Of course, once I tried playing it, I realized it was the same three chords that I always use."
   A similar story was given for the whimsical 1978 number Fish and Whistle, which came about when his producer demanded another tune for the Bruised Orange LP, and Prine decided to write the worst song he'd ever heard. "But after I sang it about 100 times, I started to like it."
  As on previous tours, Wilber proved to be a valuable part of the equation, chiming in with a guitar part right out of the Buck Owens and His Buckaroos songbook on The Glory of True Love and adding a graceful mandolin part to Angel From Montgomery, which is about as perfect a song as you could ever hope to hear.
  While Prine seemed more subdued last night than in years past, he did bring a rockabilly feel back to the set after thoughtful versions of Dear Abby and Sam Stone, rocking it up on Crooked Piece of Time and the upbeat blues of A.P. Carter's Bear Creek, with Jacques driving the beat on his Danelectro longhorn bass.
  The main set ended with an epic version of the narrative song Lake Marie - "We were trying to save our marriage . . . and perhaps catch a few fish. Whichever came first." - with the trio building to a spine-chilling crescendo. A rousing standing ovation (and a large "I (heart) You John Prine" banner) brought Prine back for an encore, with Rodriguez dueting on the wonderfully goofy In Spite of Ourselves and adding an achingly sweet violin solo to Unwed Fathers.
  Prine's voice seemed a bit mellower than on previous tours, also losing some of that gravelly sound that developed after his battle with throat cancer a decade ago, but without losing a trace of his trademark wit or charisma.
  At this point seeing Prine at the Cohn is like revisiting an old friend you've been dying to see for years, and feeling enriched by the time spent in his company.

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