A lamentation on mortality, navel-gazing and lunar behaviour, written straddling the gallows of lockdown under the pastoral eye of a wise tutor.

Another Swing Of The Moon

I wrote this when I was about 18, and it should be treated as you should treat any late-adolescent: with unexpressed ridicule but boundless encouragement.

Aw Am Away

Sometimes they all start with a single line which happens to rhyme, as did this. I sat on the first verse of this for about five years before being forced to complete it. It's funny what a deadline can do. I think it's fundamentally about how materialism destroys everything.

She Knows How

One of my favourite John Prine songs...

"Angel from Montgomery" is a powerful, melancholic song originally written by John Prine, telling the story of a woman trapped in an unfulfilling life, yearning for freedom and longing for change. It captures themes of regret, lost dreams, and the quiet desperation of domestic life. The imagery of the angel symbolizes her desire for escape, a deep wish for something greater. It's an emotional anthem for anyone who has ever felt stuck and wanted something more from life.

Angel Of Montgomery (live @ Durango)

Angels

It's the Summers End here in Ontario, but there is no end to the great music being played right here on Georgian Bay Roots Radio. This week on the show we've got some new releases from some of your favourite artists, tracks from artists performing shows in the area, tracks from new friends of the show, and tracks to help usher in the Autumn season here in Grey and Bruce. We've got it all! 

Featuring music by Joel Plaskett, Morgan Barrie, Eve Goldberg, Julian Taylor, Suzie Vinnick, John Prine, Rob Elder, Odd Marshall, Madison Galloway, Rob Ritchie, and new friends of the show Wayne Nichols and Marv Perry!

Georgian Bay Roots #414 September 22 2024 (with Kailey)

Dear John Prine By  songwriter Edwin H. Balder

Christmas in Prison - John Prine cover

Happy Birthday Kappy!

Angel in Montgomery (Kap's Birthday)

LOS ANGELES – A CITY BY THE OCEAN
YOUR FABLED STREETS - WALKED BY SO MANY STARS
AT YOUR C0RE - YOU’RE POWERED BY EMOTION  
HEAR THE ROAR - TEN MILLION SPEEDING CARS
CHASING WHO WE ARE

LOS ANGELES

My cover of one of my favorite Warren Zevon songs.  What an incredible, unique songwriter he was

ACCIDENTLY LIKE A MARTYR

A cover of John Prine's 'Lonesome Friends of Science' by Scott Whitten.
Recorded on May 17th, 2025, in one take with minimal post-processing.

"A song about the humiliation of planet Pluto when it was told it was no longer a planet, the romantic escapades of a Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama, and the end of the world as we know it; all in a little over 4 minutes. "   -John Prine

The lonesome friends of science say
"The world will end most any day"
Well, if it does, then that's okay
'Cause I don't live here anyway
I live down deep inside my head
Well, long ago I made my bed
I get my mail in Tennessee
My wife, my dog, my kids, and me
Poor ol' planet Pluto now
He never stood a chance no how
When he got uninvited to
The interplanetary dance
Once a mighty planet there
Now just an ordinary star
Hangin' out in Hollywood
In some ol' funky sushi bar
The lonesome friends of science say
"The world will end most any day"
Well, if it does, then that's okay
'Cause I don't live here anyway
I live down deep inside my head
Well, long ago I made my bed
I get my mail in Tennessee
My wife, my dog and my family
The Vulcan lives in Birmingham
Sometimes he just don't give a damn
His head is full of bumblebees
His pride hangs down below his knees
Venus left him long ago
For a guy named Mars from Idaho
The Vulcan sent a wedding gift
Three-legged stool and a wheelchair lift
The lonesome friends of science say
"This world will end most any day"
Well, if it does, then that's okay
'Cause I don't live here anyway
I live down deep inside my head
Well, long ago I made my bed
I get my mail in Tennessee
My wife, my dog and my family
Those bastards in their white lab coats
Who experiment with mountain goats
Should leave the universe alone
It's not their business, not their home
I go to sleep and it never rains
My dog predicts hurricanes
She can smell a storm a mile away
That's all the news we have today
The lonesome friends of science say
"The world will end most any day"
Well, if it does, then that's okay
'Cause I don't live here anyway
I live down deep inside my head
Well, long ago I made my bed
I get my mail in Tennessee
My wife, my dog and my family
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John E Prine
Lonesome Friends of Science lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

Some Humans Ain't Human (John Prine cover)

Words & Music by Larry Jack Caldwell.   My metahpor for aging is how Wylie E Coyote dealt with gravity,. As long as he didn't look down, he was innnume to gravity.  As soon as looked down, he was a goner.  I believe my 70s will be the high point of my life in music, life, and love!

CELEBRATING SEVENTY

Hum That Ole Prine Song

I, Neil Fox, was the first dj playing the sound system facing the campground at a sold out techno festival. This what I thought they should listen to while setting up their tents.

Neil Fox at The Great Beyond 2025 Music2SetTentsUp2

An earnest John Prine-style song about two parents trying to reassure their child that better days are ahead

Late Bloomers

I have an ongoing collaboration since 2018 with my friend Michael who lives in both Poland and LA. In the summer of 2025, Michael had a series of sessions with professional musician Avi on both guitar and vocals. I did production work and added bass. This is a version of John Prine's "How Lucky".

How Lucky Can One Man Get (MKAvi) 9-24-25 v1.2

Songwriter/guitarist specializing in writing for local Twin Cities vocalists. Released "Seven Long Days" (EP) in 2022 and "Just Can't Sing" in (full album) 2018. Available on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

Acoustic guitar; folk; Americana; jam band influences; blues; rock; old time; bluegrass; grungey stuff. Even some electro and EDM vibes occasionally. I play a wide mix of music with a lot of different people.

If you like our music, feel free to follow our music on Spotify (see link below)

www.luckycametotown.be

On the pace of old steam trains, hidden away in one of the empty boxcars, Lucky travels through the Rocky Mountains. By his side is an old, broken and worn out guitar. Before he climbs aboard some other train in search of new adventures, he picks up his guitar and he sings. In a bluesy tone, he sings his folk songs about lonely people, dancing girls or ghosts wandering along the banks of the Mississippi... 

Lucky Came to Town is a band from Louvain (Belgium) who mixes alt-country, roots, blues and folk.

Influenced by songwriter as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, Townes van Zandt but also contemporary singer-songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Jason Isbell, Dave Rawlings or Josh Ritter. Add the same dark and somber tone from Tom Waits of Felice Brothers and you will come close to the sound of Lucky Came to Town.

For 8 years we were a weekly radio show based in Owen Sound, Ontario and presented by the Georgian Bay Folk Society. We shared music made in and played in Grey and Bruce counties with folk and roots music from across Canada and around the world thrown into the mix.

The show sunsetted on December 29th, 2024. Thanks for listening!

Singer and songwriter.  Neo-80s Rock, Pop Ballads, Country Rock, and Blue Eyed Soul.

Let's dance together.
bookings: djmisseos@gmail.com

Brock Lanyard Band blends folk, country, and rock into songs with heart, soul, and a storyteller’s touch. Fronted by Wyatt Russell, the band is fictional — but the stories and emotions are real. Is it music or just algorithms pretending to be? We'll let you be the judge. And yes, all the members look suspiciously alike. We say it’s just family resemblance…

In the shadows of Apache Junction, at the foot of the majestic Superstition Mountains, sits a weathered hacienda. This desert oasis is home to an enigmatic figure, a songwriter whose journey reads like a long, dusty road of honky-tonk bars and college cafeterias. He wasn't chasing fame or glitter; instead, he chose the soul-crushing beauty of music for music's sake.

Years spent hunched over sticky barroom tables and scribbling lyrics on napkins earned him a reputation—not in the spotlight but in the back rooms where deals are made. He wrote melodies that found their way into the hearts of stars who had lost their own muse. He sold his creations for cash, with no recognition, but the whisper of his songs carried the weight of his soul.

Finally, he bought this piece of desert paradise—a stable income from his timeless songs allowed him to live comfortably, if anonymously. Here in this hacienda, with his family beside him and the mountains as his backdrop, he found the peace to write hits under his own name. He chuckled at the irony that now, without chasing fame, he could create music that brought him joy.

In the end, it was never about the spotlight. It was about the journey, the stories, and the songs that wrote themselves through his life. As the sun set behind the Superstitions, casting long shadows over the hacienda, he strummed his guitar and sang—content, unknown, and unburdened by the world's gaze.


Copyright 2019 Edwin H. Balder

I may be dead when fame comes but my real glory was always JULIE & The Kids. Thank you for such love

New tracks tagged #JOHNPRINE