It was a fantastic night of good music and remembrance at the Ozark Highlands Theater at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, Ark. on Saturday, June 8, when singer-songwriters Tommy Prine and Keith Sykes got together to pay tribute to the late, great John Prine.
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For Tommy, a 28-year-old singer-songwriter from Nashville, it was a night to remember his songwriting legend of a father. For Sykes, it was a night to remember his longtime friend and multiple-time songwriting collaborator.

The small town of Mountain View, known as the folk capital of the world, was dear to John Prine. He first started coming to the town on family trips from their home in the suburbs of Chicago in the late ‘50s or early ’60s. It became a frequent source of relaxation for him, where he could fish, enjoy the outdoors and be among common folk.

The two songwriters would switch off throughout the evening playing their favorite John Prine songs and some of their original work – both were fantastic and fascinating to see. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if the audience didn’t feel tricked as the event was billed as a “John Prine Tribute Concert,” which to some might have implied an entire evening of John Prine songs. If some in the audience were upset by this they were polite and didn’t show it, which was nice because the event was being recorded for a future episode of the Ozark Highlands Radio show that can be found on local public radio stations or streaming online.

I would’ve liked to have heard a few more John Prine songs but I was also thrilled to see the terrific songwriting talent trickle down to his son, whose debut album This Far South came out last year.

Sykes began the show at roughly 7:20 p.m. with a performance of “Take a Look at My Heart,” a song John Prine co-wrote with John Mellencamp from his 1991 album The Missing Years.

Tommy’s first song was “Far From Me,” off John Prine’s self-titled 1971 debut, which he told the audience of roughly 1,000 people was his favorite of his dad’s and the greatest breakup song ever written, though he admitted he was certainly biased.

The duo would essentially play John Prine songs one after the other, then each an original song they’d written, then back to John Prine songs and so forth throughout the nearly two-hour show, with a short intermission in between.

Sykes played three songs during the show he had collaborated on with Prine: “Long Monday” off 2005’s Fair & Square, “You Got Gold” off The Missing Years and “Love, Love, Love” off 1985’s German Afternoons.  

Sykes also performed the sarcastic “The Accident (Things Could Be Worse)” off his sophomore album Sweet Revenge in 1973.

Tommy had my favorite John Prine covers of the evening, maybe feeling more at home with some of his dad’s best works, whereas Sykes wanted to highlight the numbers the two had co-written. Tommy performed two of my favorite John Prine songs, “Angel from Montgomery” and “Souvenirs.”  

I also found Tommy’s original numbers to have more substance than those performed by Sykes, though some within the audience seemed to prefer the more humorous numbers by Sykes.

Tommy performed a couple of beautiful songs that have not been released yet like “Purple Paint,” written for his wife, and “Piling Up.” But my favorite performances from him during the show were two I’ve already heard and been a fan of like “Mirror and a Kitchen Sink” off This Far South, and “Ships in the Harbor,” the first song he ever released in 2022, that likely left much of the audience teary-eyed when he got to the line toward the end that said: “I’d do anything just to talk to my father.”

Sykes certainly had some funny original songs during the evening like “Television,” which he said he wrote last year and hasn’t been released. It’s a humorous song about just wanting your family to leave you the hell alone so you can be distracted by the tube. “Horseflies” was also a comical song about hating horseflies. My favorite original from Sykes, however, was “Volcano,” one I’d seen performed multiple times before in concert by the man whom he co-wrote it with and made it into a classic, Jimmy Buffett.

Tommy Prine and Keith Sykes ended the night in the only way in which a John Prine tribute concert should end with a sing-along of “Paradise,” one of Prine’s most famous songs about childhood trips to Muhlenberg County, Ky.

by Julian Spivey

Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen, his seventh studio album and the last he would record with the E Street Band for nearly 20 years. The best-selling album of his career, Born in the U.S.A. would turn Springsteen from a critical darling with a loyal fanbase to one of the biggest musical acts in both the U.S. and the World with all seven of its singles reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 
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Born in the U.S.A.
“Born in the U.S.A.,” the title track from Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 album, is the most misunderstood song of his entire career and has been from the very beginning back when President Ronald Reagan felt it was a patriotic anthem, not a song partially built out of his policies that helped to separate the classes of American citizens. The easy-to-chant chorus makes the song feel anthemic and that was a smart way to try to bring listeners into the plight of Vietnam vets struggling to return home, find work and make a living. It’s just that some of the casual listeners of the song didn’t want to pay enough attention to the verses in between that sing-along chorus. Springsteen rarely performs the song live anymore. I wonder if it’s potentially due to people misunderstanding it.  

Cover Me
There was a period when Springsteen was a sought-after songwriter for others – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had a No. 1 hit with his wordy “Blinded By the Light,” the Pointer Sisters had a soulful hit with his romantic “Fire” and Patti Smith drew all of the emotion out of “Because the Night.” So, when R&B singer Donna Summer came calling in the early ‘80s Springsteen felt he had the right song for her with “Cover Me.” But like “Hungry Heart” before it – which had been intended to give to The Ramones – Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau heard the potential for a hit with “Cover Me” and told “The Boss” to keep it. The steamy rocker about “looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me,” was the second single off Born in the U.S.A., and while it wouldn’t become the biggest hit off the album it would peak at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.  

Darlington County
I don’t know how things were in Darlington County, South Carolina in the early ‘80s but I’ve been to Darlington County within the last few years and there’s not much there but a kickass NASCAR track. Anyway, that’s where the two guys in Springsteen’s “Darlington County” head off to from New York City looking for a good union job. It sounds like they had a good ol’ time there too in one of Springsteen’s Heartland rockiest tunes off Born in the U.S.A.

Working on the Highway
Bruce Springsteen first wrote and recorded “Working on the Highway” during the stripped-down sessions in early 1982 that would turn into the Nebraska album. That version was originally titled “Child Bride” and didn’t include what would become the rock melody on Born in the U.S.A. or the title refrain. On Born in the U.S.A. it pairs terrifically with “Darlington County” before it as you can imagine the guys from New York are hard at work in the hot Southern heat.

Downbound Train
Some of the lyrics in songs that precede “Downbound Train” on Born in the U.S.A. certainly have melancholia behind them but this is the first track in which the band’s music truly fits with the melancholy of the lyrics. The song sees the narrator lamenting about being laid off and losing his wife as a result with her catching the “downbound train” out of town.  

I’m On Fire
“I’m On Fire” is about as short and sweet as Bruce Springsteen gets. It’s also the sexiest Springsteen gets – although some fools misinterpret the “hey little girl is your daddy home” line to mean something much more nefarious than is meant and screw those folks for doing so. The track off Born in the U.S.A. just oozes sensuality from the very beginning with Max Weinberg’s snare cross stick hits and the softly sensual twang of Springsteen’s guitar with the two together giving off the old Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two “boom-chicka-boom.” It’s simplistic, but shouldn’t a song about urges and sexual feelings be succinct and to the point? There is so much tension in this vocal and then the ending release of the “whoo-whoo-whoos” at the end. It’s the type of desire you don’t get a whole lot out of Springsteen’s discography but it’s a slam dunk here.

No Surrender
“No Surrender,” off 1984’s Born in the U.S.A., has one of my all-time favorite song lyrics in it: “We learned more from a three-minute record, baby, than we ever learned in school.” Now, I was a fairly good student and I believe in education and gaining as much knowledge as one can but dammit if I don’t feel that line deep down in my soul. This quick, two-and-a-half-minute rocker just absolutely gets the feeling down pat of a kid breaking out of his small-town bubble with his buddies on the way to make something more of himself.

Bobby Jean
When I saw Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform in Oklahoma City, Okla. in the spring of 2015 they finished their epic show that night with a performance of “Bobby Jean.” It was a bit surprising to me that Springsteen would end his show with the song but it’s clearly one that has great meaning for him. It was one of the last songs recorded for Born in the U.S.A. and came during a time when his longtime bandmate and more importantly best friend Steven Van Zandt was leaving the E Street Band for his own music career. The song tells the story of two friends saying goodbye after a long-time friendship with the gender of the titular Bobby Jean perhaps intentionally being ambiguous so that the song could work as one about friends or lovers.

I’m Goin’ Down
“I’m Goin’ Down” is fairly similar to “Cover Me” in being a fun, short rocker about just wanting to find someone to love, though it is my favorite of the two – even with its simplistic chorus of simply repeating “I’m Goin’ Down.” This is the Springsteen and E Street Band that must’ve been a kickass bar band before the songs got more lyrical and storyteller - which I usually prefer, so don’t get me wrong, but sometimes you just want something energetic about sexual frustration, especially on a steamy summer night. “I’m Goin’ Down” was the sixth single off the album and went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985.

Glory Days
“Glory Days,” a No. 5 hit in the summer of 1985 a year after the album’s release, is the comic rendering of how small-town folks spend so much time reminiscing on the “glory days” of the past that they can forget to do their living in the now. The song, inspired by an encounter Springsteen had with a former Little League teammate some 10 or so years prior, sees old friends and schoolmates reminiscing on their old ball skills, good looks, etc. while wishing they could go back and live those days again. The nostalgic tale is one of Springsteen’s most accessible heartland rockers and finds itself in frequent play as one of his ”greatest hits.” And, folks, let’s let the “speedball” reference go already. It simply sounds cooler than “fastball.”

Dancing in the Dark
“Dancing in the Dark,” off 1984’s Born in the U.S.A., is the closest “The Boss” ever got to a No. 1 Billboard hit as a recording artist when it topped out at No. 2 for four weeks and was kept off the top spot by Duran Duran’s “The Reflex” (Boo!) and Prince’s “When Doves Cry” (OK, that’s understandable). “Dancing in the Dark” would, however, win Springsteen his first Grammy Award in 1985 for Best Rock Vocal Performance. The song is one of Springsteen’s poppier-sounding tunes of his career but just taking a listen at the lyrics lets you know it’s still the same old Springsteen ready to bust loose from a dead-end job or town and who can’t identify with lines like: “I check my look in the mirror/wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face/Man, I ain’t getting’ nowhere/I’m just livin’ in a dump like this/There’s somethin’ happenin’ somewhere/Baby, I just know that there is.”

My Hometown
This might have me on the outskirts of many Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band fans but my favorite track off the epic Born in the U.S.A. album has always been the album-ender, “My Hometown.” It might be unusual because it’s an anthemic album that sent Springsteen from critical rock God to one seemingly everybody in the United States loved overnight and this track is more in line with something like the title track off The River – which now that I think about it was a great deal different than most of that album, as well. “My Hometown” sees Springsteen’s narrator both waxing nostalgia about his hometown and feeling all the dark times that have always bubbled under and now are about to breach the surface and knowing he needs to get out for the benefit of his family. It’s a mixture of beauty and pain and you can feel every bit of it via Springsteen’s almost pained vocal. 
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​Portions of this article were previously published on The Word on Pop Culture.

Lately, almost everywhere you go, you will hear one name: Taylor Swift! Taylor Swift! Taylor Swift! Taylor Swift!

It should come as no surprise that across the nation, there are all kinds of Taylor Swift-inspired events hoping to bring Swifties in for business. It is not just major cities like Los Angeles, New York City or Chicago. Swift mania has traveled across the entire country.

I live in Conway,  Ark. and in the last few months alone I have seen several Taylor Swift-themed events. T.H.I.N.K. Coffee has had Swift-inspired drinks, Good Day Pottery & Art Studio held an event perfect for any painter, and The Bears Den held a Taylor Swift Trivia Night (which I won along with my friend, Allison Barber). 

My favorite thing, though, has been Taylor Fest! Taylor Fest is a Swift-themed dance party put on by Perfect Night Productions at a live music venue called The Hall in Little Rock, Ark. This event tours all over the United States but one stop, they have made at least five times has been in Little Rock. I have attended every event except one. It is a dance party put on by Swifties for Swifties and promises "everyone will feel like the main character."

The entire atmosphere is the closest thing to reliving The Eras Tour. I got to attend Taylor's record-breaking tour twice: in Arlington, Texas and Nashville. It is by far the best concert I have ever attended. It will take one heck of a concert to top it. That is why Taylor Fest's dance parties are so exciting. The minute you walk into the room, you feel you are surrounded by friends. You may try on your costume and get weird looks while leaving home but NOT at Taylor Fest! I have had friends laugh at what I was going to wear and the outfit will get tons of compliments at Taylor Fest. You will NOT be the only one dressed up. It is rarer to find someone not dressed for the occasion, and normally that is a boyfriend who has been dragged there by their girlfriend.

That is not all though! Aside from getting compliments and amazing people-watching, there are always friendship bracelets. Almost everyone there will be wearing friendship bracelets and want to exchange them with you. The room unites everyone in our love for Swift. At the last event held on Tuesday, May 25th, conversations were mostly about her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. The bar also has drinks inspired by the megastar. This time, it was called "Cherry Lips" after the lyric in Swift's song, "Blank Space." In the past, a popular drink has been called “The Cruel Summer,” after her hit song that opens The Eras Tour.
 
From the moment the dance party begins, enthusiasm matches The Eras Tour perfectly (with just 65,000 fewer people). The DJ does a fantastic job of including almost every era. The only two I have noticed absent at most of the events are folklore and evermore. It does make sense because these two pandemic indie folk albums are not filled with the kind of songs you immediately think of when you think of dancing. You will not be disappointed if you are an older fan either. They will play a song from her debut album like "Our Song" right before playing her most recent hit, "Fortnight." The atmosphere invites you to dance like you do not care and most of the people in attendance don’t! We are there to forget all the worries of our lives and dance to songs by an artist who truly has saved so many of us through her music.

The energy of the room continues strong throughout all three hours of each event. Every passionate Swiftie will leave  feeling like they took Swift's words to heart when she says, "Shake It Off." I am always ready to go again after Taylor Fest ends. Luckily, they have come back multiple times and hopefully, will continue to do so. I can't help it! I just want to stay in that "Lavender Haze."