The first time I heard Conor Oberst (or anyone) perform one of John Prine’s songs was during a Bright Eyes show at the Great American Music Hall on the Cassadaga tour. Immediately struck by the lyrics (“You’ll be waitin’ on a phone call at the wrong end of a broom”), I rushed home to look up the tune—now known to be “Crazy As a Loon”—and have been a fan ever since. It came as no surprise, then, to find Oberst and his Mystic Valley Band on the new tribute album, Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine.
This time around, Oberst and co. chose a different live favorite, “Wedding Day In Funeralville,” for their studio-recorded contribution, though a videotaped live session of “Loon” hit the Web last fall. Hear Oberst’s new cover and watch the older AOL session clip below. If you like what you hear, give the entire John Prine tribute record a spin on NPR (via Speakers in Code). Did I mention that Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Josh Ritter, Lambchop, and the Avett Brothers are also on the record? Good stuff…
“Wedding Day In Funeralville”
“Crazy As A Loon”