KGNU’s Dave McIntyre talks with Brian Johansen, Eric Lunde, and Jeff Finlin of Sugar Britches. The band members share personal stories and connections to John Prine’s music, highlighting its emotional and inspirational impact. They also recall anecdotes about Prine’s life and career, illustrating his influence on their musical journeys. Sugar Britches will be performing a John Prine tribute concert on July 10th at Four Mile Historic Park in Denver (Interview date: 7/5/2024)
Dave McIntyre: As we mentioned, we have three gentlemen in the studio with us this morning. Say hello and make sure I got you covered.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Hello. Hello. Hello. Can you hear our velvety tones?
Dave McIntyre: Yes. I think we got you. Brian. You’re the man, as they tell me. You’re the guy who put this together, I believe.
Sugar Britches (Brian): I am, yeah.
Dave McIntyre: Tell us about it.
Sugar Britches (Brian): This is something I’ve always wanted to do, and we were actually able to do it last April, up at the Swing Station up north. We actually did it on the four year anniversary of John’s death, which felt very fitting to celebrate his life, and he has so many great songs about life and death. It was super fun, and then we got asked to do it in Denver, as well, through Swallow Hill, they organized it. And we’ll be doing it at the Four Mile Historic Park Wednesday, July 10th, which is less than a week away.
The first time we did it, we had the full Sugar Britches band, which is my band. And then we had 12 different singers. Everyone did two different John Prine songs, which is super fun. And a little bit chaotic. It was the day after a hundred mile per hour windstorm, I think all through the state. So it knocked the power out. So the power was out at the Swing Station. And then me and Lance, my guitarist, ran around trying to find a generator. We had everything set up and then two minutes before, the power came back on and we were like, I think John Prine is smiling on us. He wanted this to happen. And it was just such a cool vibe. Everybody was there to listen, to sing along and to laugh and stuff and just to have all these great singers doing this. And so it was great to be asked to do it again. I wish we could have had everybody who did the first one to do this one, too, but we just couldn’t do it, based on time constraints. But we’ll have the full Sugar Britches band, and then we got man, Jeff Finlin, who’s here today, he’s gonna do a couple songs, and we got Eric Lunde, who’s gonna do a few songs as well. Sweet Virginia, she’s on tour three, and then Joe Schicke from West Side Joe and the Men of Soul, and then our very own fiddle player, Z, who’s I’m gonna be singing a few this time around too, and then I’ll be singing a good chunk of them too.
Dave McIntyre: Sounds like fun to me.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Yeah, it’s gonna be a great time. Come on out.
Dave McIntyre: Yeah, everybody come on out and enjoy it. I know there are a bunch of you John Prine fans out there, like myself. It’s gonna be fun. It’s next Wednesday the 10th. And Swallow Hill, a great organization helping put it on.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Yep. But it’s not at Swallow Hill. It’s at the Four Mile Historic Park in Denver. That’s the only thing to remember there. Don’t go to Swallow Hill.
Dave McIntyre: That’s where they do most of their outdoor shows.
Sugar Britches (Brian): They do a lot there, and then this is like a cool summer concert series. They’ve decided to do this here.
Dave McIntyre: How about some John Prine songs?
Sugar Britches (Brian): I think that would be very appropriate.
Dave McIntyre: Wow, that sounds perfect to me.
Sugar Britches (Brian): This is one of my favorites from his last album.
Dave McIntyre: That’s a great old song.
Sugar Britches (Brian): It is a good one. Yeah.
Dave McIntyre: Who’s next?
Sugar Britches (Eric): I guess I’ll go. Think everybody knows this one. “Paradise”. John Prine’s “Paradise”. My uncle turned me on to it. John Prine. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I remember right before my dad went on his long last run. He divorced my mom in his seventies and took off in his van and ended up under a bridge in Seattle. That’s another story. But one of the last songs I played for him was “Paradise”. And he just started weeping on this song. It’s always been a favorite in the family. So go ahead and do that one.
Dave McIntyre: Yeah, beautiful. That’s one of the greatest choruses. Isn’t it? Makes you want to sing it every time you hear it. I was going to tell you guys to sing along.
Sugar Britches (Eric): You really gotta, yeah.
Sugar Britches (Brian): You sound so good I don’t want to ruin it.
Sugar Britches (Eric): Oh stop. You guys are sweet.
Sugar Britches (Brian): That’s one of my favorite songs too. And that’s why it’s so hard to pick your favorite John Prine song.
Sugar Britches (Eric): Yeah, he’s just the best writer to come out- he was what, 24 when he wrote that or something like that.
Dave McIntyre: Still delivering mail at that time. Trying to sell a record and delivering mail during the day.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Yeah. It’s familiar to all of us. We’re still delivering mail.
Sugar Britches (Eric): Apparently, there’s a little place in Chicago that he went into and Roger Ebert was supposed to go see a movie. And apparently, I don’t know why he didn’t go to the movie. He walked in and John Prine was playing and he was just blown away. Then the next morning he decided to write a review of John Prine’s show and apparently that’s pretty much what opened the door for Prine. He never delivered mail again.
Dave McIntyre: He signed a contract shortly after that night. Have you read the book Prine on Prine yet?
Sugar Britches (Eric): No. Oh, I gotta get it.
Dave McIntyre: You should. It’s very good. Jeff, what do you got playing for us?
Sugar Britches (Jeff): Prine was always around in Nashville when I was there in the 80s and 90s. You just knew where he was ’cause he drove a one of a kind car. He drove this 1953 Dodge with one of those metal sun visors on it. So if you ever see that car, you go, oh, Prine’s in there drinking. It was nice to have him around. But then he stole my bass player.
Sugar Britches (Eric): Remember what you told me? You said you think you’re a pretty good songwriter but then you see John Prine in the grocery store next to you and you know your place.
Sugar Britches (Jeff): But it was good. Dave deserved the gig. I think he was working at a clothes store at the time and he played with John for 25 years. So I’d get good John Prine stories. You go, what are you doing? Oh, we’re playing L.A. this week. I said, Oh, that’ll be fun to go on out there. And Dave would go, I don’t know. Oh what’s wrong with LA? He said, John hates the food there. I was like, what? In the whole city? He said they don’t have good meatloaf there.
I’m gonna do “Great Rain” because I always wanted to do that song when Brian asked me, what Prine song you wanna sing? I wanted to sing “Great Rain”, right?
Dave McIntyre: That’s a great line. Yeah. “Standing by the river, talking to a young Mark Twain”.
Sugar Britches (Jeff): It’s pretty much my favorite line. That and, “Jimmy bought the liquor”. I remember going to- we were in a dry county in Georgia and you’d have to go to the county line to buy liquor, it’s like they had the beer side on one side of the county line. And then the county line went through the middle of the building and then the liquor was on the other side. It always reminds me of Statesboro, Georgia.
Dave McIntyre: Well guys, thanks for doing this today.
Sugar Britches (Jeff): Thanks for having us. Great to see you.
Dave McIntyre: Likewise, it’s been too long.
Sugar Britches (Jeff): Great to see you on the radio.
Dave McIntyre: Tell us one more time, Brian, give us the particulars of this great tribute you’re doing.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Oh absolutely. It will be this coming Wednesday, July 10th, out at Four Mile Historic Park, and it’s through the Swallow Hills Summer Concert Series.
You can get your tickets, go to swallowhillmusic.org. You should be able to find it. There’s still some tickets left. It’s actually selling very well. So if you do want a ticket, I would suggest getting one.
Dave McIntyre: I would imagine they would, yes, and many Prine fans out there.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Absolutely. But it’s going to be 6:30 – 8:30. You know, bring chairs, bring blankets and bring your kazoos. We want people to come along and sing along and laugh along and cry along too. We’ll do a good mix of all the sad, silly and very poignant stuff too. But yeah, again, this is just something that’s been such a dream of mine. I love writing my own music and playing my own music, but of course, I think I speak for all of us when we can all say John Prine is such a huge inspiration, and I think influence on all of us too. It’s just so nice to get to celebrate him.
Dave McIntyre: It seems the longer he’s gone, the more people realize, we ought to check this guy’s music out a little closer.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Absolutely.
Dave McIntyre: He influenced so many people.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Yeah, and the more we can share the gospel of Prine. I’m very happy to do that, and it’s a very fun thing for me to do. And again, if you like the way the three of us sounded, just wait, we’ve got the full Sugar Britches band, we’ll have drums, bass, fiddle, electric guitar, and then, Sweet Virginia is gonna be singing, Z’s gonna be singing, a few more sweet voices than just these griffled goats here,
Dave McIntyre: Thanks again, Brian Johansen, Eric Lunde, and Jeff Finlin for coming all the way down to Boulder this morning.
Sugar Britches (Brian): Thanks, Dave, it was a pleasure.
