In Spite of Ourselves: An Evening of John Prine

In Spite of Ourselves: An Evening of John Prine celebrates the songs and influence of one of popular music's most distinctive singer-songwriters.

John Prine built his reputation on deceptively simple songs that could be funny, tender, sharply observant and heartbreaking — sometimes all at once. Drawing from folk, country and Americana, he wrote about ordinary people and everyday life with a conversational storytelling style, dry humour and an eye for the small details that reveal something much larger. His work earned the admiration of generations of songwriters and artists, including Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash.

Rather than an impersonation-style tribute, In Spite of Ourselves brings together four Canadian singer-songwriters — Blair Packham, Kirsten Jones, Bill Craig and Johnny Max — to perform Prine's songs and share stories about his influence on their own music.

They're joined by Mitch Lewis and Ralf Buschmeyer on guitars, Scott Fitzpatrick on bass and Jim Casson on drums, giving the songs a full-band treatment while exploring both familiar favourites and some of the deeper corners of Prine's catalogue.

The performance also celebrates what would have been John Prine's 80th birthday and is being presented as an all-request show, with audience members invited to suggest their favourite John Prine songs in advance.

In Spite of Ourselves comes to Roselawn Theatre in Port Colborne on Friday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m.