How John Prine Would Beautifully Yet Somberly Introduce “Angel From Montgomery” to His Audience

John Prine was a poet. Consequently, he was also a sentimentalist, an observer, an empath, and a man who had a keen sense of the metaphysical world. It showed not only in his songs, but in his life. Prine lived what he preached, and as a result, his fans and listeners knew the true Prine. He was always vulnerable and honest, and never shied away from grappling with tough and tragic subjects. He did just that on most of his songs, including his 1971 track, “Angel From Montgomery”.

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Released in 1971 on his debut self-titled album, “Angel From Montgomery” has become one of John Prine’s staple tracks. The song is a masterclass ballad, and tells the simple yet compelling, complex story of a middle-aged woman contemplating her existence and the lack of meaning within it. That tale is fairly evident in the lyrics. However, when Prine introduced the song before playing it, he used to add a colorful tale to his performance. And that colorful tale further articulated who the female protagonist of the song was.

John Prine’s Rich Introduction

Not too long ago, John Prine’s Instagram page posted a video of him singing the above-mentioned song. In addition to the video, they also added a lengthy quote from Prine himself. The quote is the very story Prine used to tell the audience before he started singing the ballad. We won’t paraphrase the story, as that wouldn’t do it justice. So, we’ll let you read Prine’s story yourself.

“I used to introduce this song as if this song is about a 47-year-old housewife from Montgomery, Alabama. She’d been married a long time, but her husband doesn’t ever talk to her and he just kind of gets up in the morning, eats breakfast, and takes off to work and comes home at the end of the day, eats dinner, watches a little TV, and goes to bed.”

“One morning she got to thinking about this after he left for work, so she was sitting there on the living room sofa watching the dust particles come through the picture window and land on the coffee table, like little airplanes on an aircraft carrier, and she was kind of beside herself. So she reached behind the sofa, pulled out her Martin guitar, and sang this song…”

The song by itself is already a poignant and bittersweet tale. However, Prine’s introduction adds another layer of attachment to the character, as the protagonist no longer exists merely as a literary figure. Rather, she becomes a living, breathing, feeling individual whom we know or have known at some point in our lives.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns