Dear John

Eric Harrison

Dear John-

To write like John Prine is to write with a big heart. I don’t sing like JP and his influence on me may not be obvious, but because these five songs are bound by a conscious effort to write like (and about) him, I felt compelled to release them together.

COVID-19 took John Prine from us on April 7, 2020. The world had shut down a few

Dear John-

To write like John Prine is to write with a big heart. I don’t sing like JP and his influence on me may not be obvious, but because these five songs are bound by a conscious effort to write like (and about) him, I felt compelled to release them together.

COVID-19 took John Prine from us on April 7, 2020. The world had shut down a few weeks earlier. A fog of panic and dread had descended. The news of John’s death felt like a downpour.

I have never met a casual John Prine fan. To know him is to love him, and losing a soul who had brought such comfort, humor and joy to our lives while the plague that took him was knocking at our back door - that was a lot to take.

I had just started releasing new music and was looking forward to a year of full band shows, which were begrudgingly replaced by solo Facebook sessions from my front porch. Amid the madness it was fun to make new virtual friends while playing music, though the digital divide left me a little suspicious. (Thank you Olivia from Argentina for the heart emojis but no; I’m not single and I won’t send you money.) I was in a creative rut, and I need to be writing well to feel legitimate.

Enter my friend and producer Kevin Salem, with whom I traded tips every few days on how to maintain some sense of normalcy in our families’ lives. Mindful of the need to grab the oxygen mask for oneself when the cabin pressure drops, Kevin knew how I loved John so he gave me a simple but daunting assignment: write some John Prine songs.

The first of the lot was “Till You Make Me Home,” which had that JP romantic humility but musically felt like it wanted to be a Buddy Holly song, so we gave it the full Marshall Crenshaw treatment.

“Cougar Jenny” is an attempted prequel to “In Spite of Ourselves” - without reference to “sniffin’ my undies” since that’s a line only Handsome Johnny could get away with. I wrote it one morning over breakfast after finding a photo of my wife at age six and imagining meeting her when I was in preschool. Thanks to Simi Stone for playing a fine Woodstock Iris DeMent to my Jersey JP.

“Hot Teardrops and Cold Compresses” owes its existence to Fiona Whelan Prine.

In the weeks after we lost John, nobody soothed the broken hearts of his fans better than his lovely bride. I was floored by an interview where Fiona recounted her last words to John in the hospital, not knowing if he could hear, telling him what she wanted him to know as he slipped away.

I put myself in John’s place at that moment. What would I say if the curtain were closing and I could share my last thoughts? I’d like to think that I would express sadness, humor, love and gratitude in equal measure - as John did in his songs.

That’s what I tried to do here. And if Kacey Musgraves’ legal team come after me for singing about wanting to burn one with our hero then I’ll gladly donate 50 percent of all proceeds to a charitable dispensary of their client’s choice.

“Hoover Dam” pivots to more pedestrian heartache and the gratitude that can help one move beyond it. While John may have been a “niche” artist, I suspect the ratio of his fans to broken hearts healed by his songs is closer to 1:1 than that of any songwriter, living or dead.

As for the song . . . somehow as a trumpet player in the East Brunswick High School marching band in the 1980s I had a few crushes that were not requited. No songwriter has conveyed bittersweet acceptance of dashed romance better than JP, and “Hoover Dam” takes a shot at that Prinean magnanimity.

To round it off, I wrote “Live Before You Die” for my daughter as she was about to leave for college and the pursuit of her dreams. I was aiming for prime Prine but landed a little closer to Ray Davies. That’s fine by me — the Muhlenberg County in this fan’s heart is well-stocked with Muswell Hillbillies.

On the surface these recordings do not sound like the music of the man who inspired them: I’m from New Jersey, and unlike another hero of mine from these parts, I do not and will not attempt to sing like a Kentucky ranch hand.

But I set out to write like John wrote, and if these five tracks collectively deliver half the heart of a single John Prine song then this little project represents a mission accomplished.

Until we meet: I wish you love, I wish you happiness . . . I guess you know the rest.

Eric Harrison, 2022

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Gratitude (2020)

Words and Music by Eric Harrison (BMI) - Produced by Kevin Salem

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Mercy Road (2017)

Words and Music by Eric Harrison (BMI) - Produced by Eric Kvortek and Kevin Salem - featuring Domenico and Mike Krajewski on drums, Mike Doktorski on bass, Seth Tieger and Kevin Salem on guitars and Eric Kvortek on keyboards.

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A Little Bit of Sickness (2005)

Words and Music by Eric Harrison (BMI) - Produced by Eric Kvortek

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Breakfast (2000)

Words and Music by Eric Harrison (BMI) - Produced by Steve Evetts

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Before Breakfast (Assorted tracks 1990-1999)

Words and Music by Eric Harrison (BMI) - Produced by Eric Rachel, Steve Evetts and Eric Harrison

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