Tommy Prine – The Righteous Path

Rising folk-rocker Tommy Prine comes to Columbus with much more than a last name.

By Frank Etheridge

When the Local chatted with Tommy Prine by phone from his home in East Nashville in mid-April, the ascendant rock/folk/country singing poet had not yet come down with a case of pneumonia that would shelve his band’s Deep South string of shows, which included a stop at the Loft in Columbus. He had, however, already embarked on a blockbuster year that started with some time on the road with fellow genius/maverick, Jason Isbell. Roughly 20 years Prine’s senior, Isbell is the simpatico songwriter who’s won Grammys, sold-out stadiums, and earned a powerful platform, success hard-earned thanks to an approach and style similar to Prine’s: one that glides from blistering guitar-riffs to heartbreaking ballads, from humor to subversion, revealed by unshakeable commitment to craft yet made all the more powerful by intentional vulnerability inspired by the ego-shattering view from the cliff of the abyss.

Prine, only 28 years old and just a few years into his career as a musician, is prolific to the point of clearly showing no need for external artistic inspiration. So when it comes to what he hoped to learn from Isbell while opening some shows for him in March, Prine says, “it is how to be — and how to run your music business like a pro.”

“One thing I really admire about Jason Isbell is how he’s just such a good dude and how that extends to everything he does in life,” says Prine at the start of a fun, often-off-topic interview that found his soothing, yet strong, voice full of good vibes, his words and sentiments full of genuine gratitude. “Being on the road with them, everyone that’s on his team and crew, they are really such sweet people. They always have time for you. It’s a really well-oiled machine. Being a good person in the entertainment industry is so rare, it’s a noticeable factor when people have it. And Jason’s team is nothing but good people, all the way around. Everyone. Hopefully one day when my team is as big as his, people will say the same thing about us.”

Those hopes for making it big look to be coming true. Coming back to Columbus to make up for the canceled Loft show, Prine arrives in town just a few months later but worlds apart in terms of his stature as artist and touring musician. He made his Grand Ole Opry debut in December and released his first album, This Far South, in June to critical acclaim. Turns out, Prine just needed a little push to step out of his shadow of his dad, legendary late singer-songwriter John Prine (“Angel from Montgomery”), and step out on his own.

In fact, it was Isbell, thanks for a stellar cover of “Paradise” on his landmark album “Southeastern” (his first post-Drive By Truckers) who unintentionally helped Prine find the way to understanding the generational talent as a lyricist and guitarist that made his dad a heart-felt hero to so many. (Side note: Prine first played with Isbell at age 18, along with his dad, for a rendition of “Paradise” in Nashville.) Fast forward almost a decade and it was a couple of new-school Nashville musician buddies — acclaimed singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly and producer Gena Johnson, whose credits include Chris Stapleton albums and the A Star Is Born soundtrack — who inspired Prine to move forward from that healing sense of understanding and nourish his own talent, forge his own artistic identity.

“It took a little convincing,” Prine confessed. “Ruston and Gena called me on the phone in November 2020 and said, ‘We love you. We feel like you’re a little lost right now and not doing what you’re supposed to be doing in life. We think you should actually try and be an artist,’ That’s a big message to take from two people I love and respect. I talked to my wife and told her, ‘This means I’m going to be gone a lot of this works out.’ She was fully supportive so I called them back and said, ‘Let’s give it a shot.’ I’ve been pouring myself into making music ever since.”

The encouragement of cutting-edge Music City creatives Kelly and Johnson “has been invaluable to me, especially in the beginning stages — that was a hard time for me. But they always had time for me. Always picked up the phone if I needed them. The record would be impossible without them.”

The record, of course, is This Far South.

“The purpose of the record was to introduce myself as an artist and a person to the world,” Prine explains of his vision. “The way I chose to do that was pick very pivotal moments in my life and, not just describe those moments, but explore what the emotional ramifications were. And why I feel that matters so much and how I took on all those moments in my life that ended up mattering. For me, that’s what This Far South is.

Prine says being in the music business sharing the same last name as his larger-than-life father “is not a weight.”

”That’s been my name my entire life,” he says, “I’m doing music now so more in the public eye but I was still a Prine before and still, with my wife, carrying on the family name.” And if it felt like a weight, I’d be doing music for the wrong reasons.”

Prine and his four-piece band’s loud, high-energy songs, mixed in with several solo acoustic numbers by Prine in their sets, might surprise some folks coming to see Tommy Prine based solely on their love of his father’s music.

“It’s largely kinda alway going to be like that,” he says of some fan’s initial interest in him. “I welcome that. Having people come to check it because of what they think I might be like, or coming because of my last name, I am just thankful for the opportunity to spend the evening with them. to have an opportunity to show them what I do. I’m doing what I like and I think a lot of people like that. It’s the only way I could go about it. There isn’t a path for me that isn’t being as honest and vulnerable and authentic as I can be.”

Tommy Prine
Friday, Sept. 6
Uptown Concert Series
CHANGE OF VENUE: due to weather, event is now inside Columbus Convention & Trade Center, South Hall, 801 Front Ave.
5:30 p.mm. Abe Patridge (folk-country)
Columbus AA professional baseball team name announcement
6 p.m. Tommy Prine
8 p.m. Homegrown (Zac Brown tribute band)
FREE