Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine
(Oh Boy)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2010, Volume 17, #9
Written by John Metzger
Mon September 13, 2010, 06:30 AM CDT
In theory, it should be a relatively easy task to pay tribute to songwriter John Prine. After all, he has an everyman’s voice with a limited vocal range, and he favors neither fancy chord structures nor complicated rhythmic arrangements. Likewise, his material sounds comfortable regardless of whether it is adorned in acoustic or electric guitars. One would think, then, that his compositions could be bent or twisted in any number of ways without ever pushing them to their breaking point. In the end, however, interpreting Prine’s work ultimately is harder than it initially looks.
Take, for example, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine. The newly minted, 12-track collection features an array of artists with modest followings, mostly from the Americana wing of the indie camp. Justin Townes Earle, Drive-By Truckers, Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins, and Deer Tick are among the performers who appear on the set. Over the course of Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, they and the rest of the cast traipse through Prine’s songbook, mixing a few of his well-known compositions with a number of deeper cuts. They manage to avoid a lot of the obvious options, and they make only a few missteps. Most notably, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon drenches Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow) in so much echo that he suffocates the song — an unfortunate way for Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine to begin — while Old Crow Medicine Show sounds lost and overburdened by Angel from Montgomery.
Perhaps the biggest frustration with Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, though, is that it suffers the same fate as most tribute-oriented outings: In effect, the artists brought on board to contribute to the affair are too intimidated by the material to take any risks. Consequently, almost everyone who was involved with the creation of Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine failed to uncover a fresh perspective for delivering Prine’s compositions. Most of them simply chose either to ramp up or tone down the volume. As a result, it becomes too easy to wish that Prine was singing the songs himself.
In fact, Lambchop is the only group on Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine that places some distance between itself and Prine. At first, the group’s imaginative interpretation is jarring. Given time, however, the song’s reconfigured structure begins to make sense. Essentially, Lambchop fitted the tune with a warm, R&B-inspired groove that stands in sharp contrast to the creepy detachment of front man Kurt Wagner’s vocals. These diametrically opposed ideas prove to be a perfect fit for Prine’s lyrics, as the sad horrors of the world are washed away, if only for a moment, by the seductive music.
Fortunately, although the rest of the artists didn’t make dramatic alterations to Prine’s output, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine still has plenty of other moments that shine. The raucous exuberance that Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band brought to Wedding Day in Funeralville is irresistible, while The Avett Brothers gave Spanish Pipedream a fun-filled, bluegrass-tinged hue. Likewise, Josh Ritter provides Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine with another highlight by essentially reproducing the version of Mexican Home that was featured on In Person & On Stage. On the latter set, he and Prine sang the song as a duet; here, it’s just Ritter, but the result is equally moving.
Prine’s longtime fans certainly won’t dislike Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, but they also won’t find
it to be an essential recording. On the other hand, the collection serves its
primary purpose quite well by introducing Prine’s work to a whole new audience. Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine takes a small but
necessary step toward getting Prine the recognition he deserves. 
½
Of Further Interest...
Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy
For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine is
available from Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
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