With "Summer's End," John Prine drives home why young Nashville gravitates to his legendary prowess as a songwriter and performer. It's the first digital single off Tree of Foregiveness, out April 13 on Prine's own Oh Boy Records.
A product of the same Chicago folk scene as the late Steve Goodman, Prine builds vivid stories out of seemingly mundane observations and darkly humorous happenings. "Summer's End" starts with a description of swimsuits drying on the clothesline, yet by song's end the interlocking voices of Prine and his special guest Brandi Carlile paint a more poignant picture of loss and sorrow. What at first sounds like a simple tale about a literal summer coming to an end morphs into a metaphorical look at a period in the narrator's life.
Although Prine has been respected in country music circles for decades, he seems to have a heightened profile thanks to the current wave of tradition-minded performers. Recent tours put Prine in front of the crowds of such high-profile admirers as Jason Isbell and Kacey Musgraves.
READ MORE: Why John Prine is an American Music Treasure
In turn, Prine includes his most visible fans on his albums. His previous offering, 2016 covers album For Better, Or Worse, included duets with Musgraves, Morgane Stapleton, Amanda Shires and Miranda Lambert. It was produced by many of those artists' go-to guy, Dave Cobb.
Cobb also produced Tree of Foregiveness. Prine's first album of original material since 2003 also features guest appearances by Shires and Jason Isbell.
"Summer's End" Lyrics
Summer's end's around the bend just flying
The swimming suits are on the line just drying
I'll meet you there per our conversation
I hope I didn't ruin your whole vacation
Well you never know how far from home you're feeling
Until you watch the shadows cross the ceiling
Well I don't know but I can see it snowing
In your car the windows are wide open
Come on home
Come on home
No you don't have to be alone
Just come on home
Valentines break hearts and minds at random
That ol' Easter egg ain't got a leg to stand on
Well I can see that you can't win for trying
And New Year's Eve is bound to leave you crying
Come on home
Come on home
No you don't have to be alone
Just come on home
The moon and stars hang out in bars just talking
I still love that picture of us walking
Just like that ol' house we thought was haunted
Summer's end came faster than we wanted
Come on home
Come on home
No you don't have to be alone
Come on home
Come on home
No you don't have to be alone
Just come on home
