Okay, here's my John Prine story. I was working as a U.S. Postal Inspector down in New Orleans in the '80s. I had a territory in South Louisiana from just East of Baton Rouge over to the Texas line at Lake Charles. I worked a lot of forgery cases, and had a good friend in the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office - Forgery Division. We used to work together a lot.
One day he gives me a call. "Have you ever heard of a guy named John Prine?", he asks. "Heard of him?!", I replied. "John Prine just might be the best singer-songwriter alive!". (I felt it was my duty to educate the poor dude!)
"Well", he says, "He's gonna be coming to play at The Texas Club, and my mom can get us tickets if you want to go see him." (His mom worked in the ticket window at the door of the club. It was a relatively small venue.)
I told him, "You call your mother right NOW, and get those tickets!" He says, "Okay, but what if you can't get away to come over that night?"
"Don't worry about that", I told him. "I'll be there. If need be, I'll just tell the boss that something important came up in Baton Rouge. Won't be a lie, either!"
So, I go over that night. The club only seats about 200 people, and my buddy and I had the table directly in front of the stage. Fantastic show. Just John and one other guy on acoustic guitar.
The next day, I was gonna meet my detective buddy to work a couple cases. He hands me a manila envelope. His mother had told John Prine about how her son didn't know who he was, but a federal agent that he worked with did. She proceeded to tell him how I told Rick I'd just tell the boss that something important had come up in Baton Rouge.
Apparently J.P. got a kick out of the story. I opened the envelope and there's a picture of John. On the front it says, "To Jeff. Thanks! John Prine" And an arrow to look on the back. On the back it says, "So something important came up in Baton Rouge! Ha ha! J.P." Here it is, front and back.
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