John Prine returns after 26 years away

The epithet “legendary” is so overused as to be almost meaningless, but when it comes to singer-songwriter John Prine there’s just no other adjective that will do.

John Prine is returning to perform in Australia after 26 years. Picture: Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

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The epithet “legendary” is so overused that it has become almost meaningless, but when it comes to singer-songwriter John Prine there’s just no other adjective that will do.

Especially when Bob Dylan muses, “Beautiful songs — nobody but Prine could write like that”, and Kris Kristofferson jokes, “he’s so good, we’re gonna have to break his fingers”.

Now the 72-year-old composer of such classics as Angel of Montgomery, All The Best, Hello In There and four decades’ worth of other gems is making his first tour of Australia and New Zealand in 26 years to sing songs from his recent The Tree of Forgiveness — his first studio album of original songs in 13 years.

Prine and his band will perform a one-off show featuring his hilarious storytelling and love songs new and old which, in Vance Joy’s words, “find the beauty in the ordinary stuff of life”. It’s at Sydney’s State Theatre on Saturday, March 9. The concert, by Frontier Touring and Love Police, is selling out fast so you had better be quick and see why many consider him the most influential American songwriter alongside the likes of Dylan and the late Leonard Cohen.

Also on the bill is Kentucky singer-songwriter Tyler Childers and his band who blends the sounds of Appalachian bluegrass laced with tales of love, moonshine whiskey and cocaine. Too good to miss.