Chuck Prophet

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Chuck Prophet is an American singer, songwriter and electric guitarist based in San Francisco. Prophet has recorded eight solo records. His songs have been covered by Solomon Burke, Heart, Kim Carnes, Peter Wolf, Kim Richey as well as Kelly Willis, Jim Dickinson and Cyndi Thompson. In addition, he has appeared on David Letterman, Craig Kilborn's show, Last Call with Carson Daly as well as Austin City Limits, has numerous film and television scoring credits.

Contents

[edit] Life and work

Born in Whittier, California to a non musical family. Chuck's father appears briefly in the grandaddy of all juvenile delinquent movies "Blackboard Jungle".

Chuck Prophet was formerly a member of the group Green on Red. After one E.P. and eight albums with Green On Red, Chuck headed off on his own and released Brother Aldo in 1990 (Fire Records (UK); Pulp, Teenage Fanclub, TV Personalities etc), a soulful/homespun/lo-fi/country-fried folk affair that Melody Maker called "as close to the genuine article as a white boy can get." Recorded for 500 British Pounds the record featured the "truck stop goddess" Stephanie Finch singing harmony throughout providing the Emmylou to Chuck's Gram.

His rhythm/lead style of electric guitar is characterized by his almost exclusive use of a 1984 Fender Squire Telecaster which was bought for him by Green On Red for $150.00.

Prophet has worked as a sideman or session musician with artists including Bob Neuwirth, Kelly Willis, Aimee Mann, Warren Zevon, Jonathan Richman, Lucinda Williams and Cake. He has frequently collaborated with legendary songwriter Dan Penn and legendary producer and musician Jim Dickinson (The Rolling Stones, The Replacements, Big Star, Bob Dylan).

Chuck met up with Green On Red at Ruthies Inn on San Pablo in Oakland in the mid eighties and was immediately smitten. "Not only did they have a van, but they had a gas card," he said. "In the punk-rock economic strata, I thought that was positively bourgeois." Chuck was drafted in on guitar. A string of major and indie record deals and countless treks around the globe followed. Green On Red's first London show at Gossips featured The Jesus and Mary Chain as opening act. Twenty people were treated to a legendary night (The JAMC were pulled off after three songs). Green On Red went on to grace the covers of UK weeklies Sounds and Melody Maker.

After a brief west coast tour in 1992 wherein Chuck and his band (Stephanie Finch, Roly Salley, Tyler Eng, Mike Rychlik) backed up Jim Dickinson; after bootlegs began to surface, Last Call (Sony/France) released the semi-official A Thousand Footprints in the Sand [LIVE] Jim Dickinson with Chuck Prophet and the Creatures of Habit in 1997.

Chuck released The Hurting Business in 1999 on Cooking Vinyl records which gave rise to his reputation as a musical alchemist.

Stephen King featured a Chuck Prophet song in his iTunes Celebrity Playlist. King wrote of Chuck’s tune “Rise”: "What does this song mean? I have no idea. But it's lovely, incantatory and mysterious. God bless Chuck Prophet."

Raisins in the Sun was a one-off collaboration with Jules Shear, Harvey Brooks, Paul Q. Kolderie, Jim Dickinson, Sean Slade, and Winston Watson, recorded in May of 1999 and released by Rounder Records two years later.

Chuck was signed to New West by Peter Jesperson in 2002 after the label promised to pay off his touring van. Chuck made two record's for New West. No Other Love and Age of Miracles.

When Lucinda Williams heard 2002's No Other Love, she offered Chuck the opening slot for her summer tour. Watching her night after night had a profound impact on the man, “It was like goin' to school every night. Or Church. Or both!“

The song No Other Love was recorded by the rock group Heart at the suggestion of Cameron Crowe. It was also featured in one of the episodes of the television series The L Word.

Chuck parted with New West in 2005 after a restaurant tab argument involving an extra order of garlic bread.

In 2005 he did the time warp with his old band Green On Red reuniting one time to play a rescheduled sold out concert at the London Astoria-- a gig cancelled amidst controversy in 1987. It would have been the last Green On Red show with the original lineup. Original tickets were honored. Rave reviews by the The Observer, The Times and The Independent followed.

Soap and Water was released by YepRoc in 2007. It was called "His most satisfying album yet" by Uncut (magazine). "Combines the genius, luridness, desperation and spiritual ambition essential to the American soul." --Anthony DeCurtis Rolling Stone.

Chuck co-wrote all the songs on Alejandro Escovedo's latest record, Real Animal, due in June, 2008. The album was produced by Tony Visconti features Chuck Playing guitar throughout.

In 2008, Chuck released in limited edition: "Dreaming Waylon's Dreams" (Evangeline Records) a modern reinterpretation of "outlaw" country artist Waylon Jennings' classic Dreaming My Dreams. Song by Song. The artwork, created by hand on letterpress by Bruce Licher. Only 1000 copies were created. Chuck said: "Just as the ancient Greek Myths were adopted by the Romans and later Shakespeare, we subjected it to "the treatment". We morphed. We cross casted. We took it weird places. And no we did't dare tinker with the ending".

Legendary Memphis Photographer William Eggleston provided the cover image for the Green On Red release "Here Come the Snakes" in 1988. Eggleston also granted the use of the photo known as "Marcia on 'ludes" for Chuck's 2004 release Age of Miracles. Two years later Primal Scream used the same image for their Country Girl single causing much confusion. The earliest commercial use of Eggleston's art was in the album covers for the Memphis group Big Star who used the famous Red Ceiling image.

[edit] Selected discography

[edit] Solo

  • Brother Aldo (1990)
  • Balinese dancer (1992)
  • Feast of hearts (1995)
  • Homemade blood (1997)
  • The Hurting Business (1999)
  • Turn the pigeons loose (2002)
  • No other love (2002)
  • Age of Miracles (2004)
  • Soap And Water (2007)
  • Dreaming Waylon's Dreams (2007)

[edit] with Green on Red

  • Gas Food Lodging (1985)
  • The Killer Inside Me (1987)
  • Here Come the Snakes (1988)
  • "Live at the Rialto" (2005)

[edit] External links