John Prine “Angel From Montgomery” Pt. 2

Five behind-the-scenes scenes at Newport Folk.

And a memory can build upon itself, over and over.

Last week I wrote about “Angel From Montgomery” and the memories inside of memories it holds.

And seeing John Prine this weekend, that story just continued to telescope out.

I was running around in our backstage area, uploading pictures, checking audio, on the phone with the station---just doing what I do, when I heard Prine start this song.

I didn’t want to miss it, but I didn’t have time to go all the way around to the front of the stage and watch the show. So I made a little beeline from our setup, in the interior courtyard of the Fort, to a room inside the Fort, that overlooks the stage from behind.

Literally, you can see John Prine’s back, 50 feet away. Over his shoulder is the crowd of thousands, and behind them, Newport Harbor and The Bridge.

“The best seat in the house,” said Barbara, who had materialized beside me.

She’d been doing her thing, and had the same notion, at the same time, as I.

Barbara commented on how great it sounded, this slowed down version of Prine’s tune. It really got to the heart of the song.

A nice shared moment with BD.

Later that night, we were back at Joe’s house. Saturday night at the festival, we have a late barbecue (after packing up for the day, it’s usually after 10pm before we get to dinner) and we rehash the day.

Musician Ryan Montbleau, who dates Jess, was with us for dinner, and of course we goaded him into bringing his guitar out.

After a few songs, he passed the guitar off to Barbara, and yes, the crowd insisted that she sing “Angel From Montgomery.”

Barbara tried to deflect the request, saying that there was no way she could do the song, after hearing Prine’s perfect version earlier that day. It just wouldn’t be right.

But the crowd would not be denied.

And yes, Barbara did an amazing version of the song. Some friends of friends were in the small group, and at the end of the night Barbara got big hugs from these former strangers, for her beautiful effort.

So now the song reminds me of Barbara singing solo on Ryan’s guitar which reminds me of watching Prine through a window in the Fort, which reminds me of Barbara singing with Kate Taylor’s Band, which reminds me of singing with friends in a farmhouse 15 years ago.

Stream the full Prine concert, or download it from our archives.