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Leave it to John Prine to find a silver lining amid life- changing adversity.
For anyone, having a section of neck and throat cut out in cancer surgery would be traumatic. For it to happen to one of the most respected singer-songwriters of the post-Dylan years made it a calamity.
Just as Prine's songs consider the reprehensible and the glorious as inevitable aspects of life, he's come to see the humor and humanity in what he's endured.
"You know, I'm singing in a lower key than before," he explains. "I really didn't realize it until recently, but this is a good thing. I feel like this is the voice I should've always had. To me, it sounds more like the way I talk."
Then he laughs, letting out a raspy, staccato chuckle that's as much a part of his character as his ambling waddle of a walk or the warm way he interacts with others. "Of course, I don't sound so good when I talk, either," he cracks.
Like many singer-songwriters in the wake of Bob Dylan, Prine, who will be in concert next Saturday at the Wilshire Theatre, emerged in the 1970s with an observational style, and a voice, all his own.
His craggy voice added to the charms of his songs. His hallmark has always been writing about everyday characters with wisdom, insight and humor, and his wry phrasing and hoarse, husky tone brought a warmth to his folksy sagacity and wit.
The personal nature of the voice and the words merge, and a distinctive sound emerges. "I guess if you keep making the same mistake long enough, it becomes your style," Prine jokes.
As a cancer survivor, Prine didn't focus at first on how his voice changed; he was just glad to be able to sing again at all.
"You know, the other great thing is that all my old songs seem new to me again, because I sing them differently," he notes. "It was kind of a gift; after singing them for 20 or 30 years, it's like I get to rediscover them."
His lower, more relaxed tone resonates throughout "Fair & Square," his first album of new material in nine years. Prine's new work, which came out last week,...