A retrospective box set featuring formative songs across the span of John Prine‘s career will be released on November 24. John Prine – The Oh Boy Singles is a collection of eight singles, along with several B-sides, Prine recorded on the independent record label he co-founded in 1981, Oh Boy Records.
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A cover of the holiday classics “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Silver Bells” open the box set, followed by his interpretation of the 1853 standard, “My Old Kentucky Home.” There’s also “The Living Room Sessions” featuring signature Prine tunes “Unwed Fathers” and “People Puttin’ People Down,” along with “The Kentucky Sessions” that includes the song Prine wrote for his father in 1971, “Paradise,” and a cover of Merle Travis’ “Kentucky Means Paradise.” The box set fittingly ends with the last song Prine recorded before his death in April 2020, “I Remember Everything,” along with a string reprise.
[RELATED: John Prine’s Jukebox on Display at Country Music Hall of Fame]
The singles each come in their original artwork and are cased in a replica of the 1935 Wurlitzer Jukebox that was gifted to Prine by his friend Steve Goodman for helping him write his first country hit, “You Never Even Called Me by My Name.”
“This collection took quite a bit of time and effort to put together, and perhaps some version of it could have come out a year or two earlier, but the guiding principle for us always was: ‘Would John have thought this was cool?’” Jody Whelan, son of Prine’s wife Fiona Prine and employee at Oh Boy Records, explains in a press release. “So, after many revisions and additions we can finally say, ‘John would have thought this was cool (or at least Pretty Good).’”
The box set is one of many ways that Prine’s legacy is being honored. On October 10, what would have been Prine’s 77th birthday, several of his friends, peers, and fans performed a tribute concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville as part of the second annual, You Got Gold: Celebrating the Songs of John Prine. Days prior, another tribute concert took place at the CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum where Prine’s Wurlitzer Jukebox is now on display.
John Prine – The Oh Boy Singles Track List:
1. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” / “Silver Bells”
2. “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” / “Kokomo”
3. “Space Monkey” / “Beautiful World”
4. “The Spotify Singles” (“I Have Met My Love Today” and “I Just Called to Say I
Love You”)
5. “My Old Kentucky Home” / “Paradise”
6. “The Living Room Sessions” (“Unwed Fathers” and “People Puttin’ People Down”)
7. “The Kentucky Sessions” (“Kentucky Means Paradise” and “Paradise”)
8. “I Remember Everything” / “I Remember Everything (String Reprise)”
Photo by Tom Hill/Getty Images
