- Chuck Prophet
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Chuck Prophet 
Chuck Prophet (in 2009)Background information Birth name Charles William Prophet[1] Born June 28, 1963 [2] Occupations Singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer Notable instruments Fender (Squier) Telecaster Chuck Prophet (born June 28, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. A Californian, Prophet first achieved notice in the American psychedelic/desert rock group Green on Red, with whom he toured and recorded in the 1980s.[3] He has also recorded a number of solo records, and gained prominence as a musician and songwriter.
Contents
Life and work
Chuck Prophet was born in Whittier, California. Prophet's father appears briefly in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle. After recording one E.P. and eight albums with rock group Green on Red, he released his first solo record Brother Aldo on Fire Records in 1990. He has been compared to everyone from Ray Davies,[4] to Leonard Cohen,[5] Tom Petty,[6] Randy Newman[7] and Alex Chilton.[7] Prophet is also a sought after guitarist known for his unique rhythmic yet lyrical style. He has worked as a sideman or session musician with many artists, including Kelley Stoltz, Bob Neuwirth, Kelly Willis, Aimee Mann, Warren Zevon, Jonathan Richman, Lucinda Williams and Cake. He has frequently collaborated with songwriter Dan Penn and Jim Dickinson.[8]
Prophet in the club Thumb's Up, in Yokohama, Japan
His compositions and co-writes have been recorded by musicians like Alejandro Escovedo, Solomon Burke, Heart, Michael Grimm, Kim Carnes, Peter Wolf, Kim Richey, Carter's Chord, Jace Everett, Arc Angels, Mofro, Calvin Russell, Chris Knight and Kelly Willis. He has toured with Memphis producer and pianist Jim Dickinson, who recorded Prophet's "Hungry Town". In Nashville, Tennessee Prophet and songwriter Kim Richey penned "I'm Gone", a top-40 country hit in 2002 for singer Cyndi Thomson.[9] He records and tours with his wife Stephanie Finch, who is a singer, keyboardist and guitarist.
Prophet was signed to New West Records by Peter Jesperson in 2002. He made two records for New West: No Other Love and Age of Miracles. After years of mostly European and UK success, 2002’s No Other Love was a breakthrough record for Prophet stateside due to the success of the summer single "Summertime Thing" and endorsements from Lucinda Williams, who gave him the opening slot for her summer tour.[10]
Recorded in San Francisco and Nashville, 2007's Soap and Water received critical praise. Prophet toured Europe and North America in support of the album and appeared with his band on The Late Show With David Letterman, and Last Call with Carson Daly.
Prophet has contributed to several Kelly Willis records, and produced 2007's Translated From Love for Rykodisc. Willis and Prophet co-wrote six of the albums tracks and Prophet played guitar throughout.
Evangeline Recording Co. released a limited-edition work entitled Dreaming Waylon's Dreams, which he recorded in San Francisco. The record re-creates Waylon Jennings' 1975 country album Dreaming My Dreams in its entirety and features, among others, members of American Music Club and Meat Beat Manifesto. The package and booklet were printed by the legendary Bruce Licher (Savage Republic, Independent Music Project , REM fan club etc.) using a custom letterpress design on original stock. Included in the packaging is a recounting of the events surrounding the recording of the record by close friend John Murry (who also played on the record). Each piece was lovingly printed by hand on a circa 1930’s printing press. And each one is numbered. "Dreaming Waylon's Dreams" is one of the rarest and most sought after items in Prophet's discography. Only 500 copies exist.
In 2008 Prophet co-wrote all the songs on Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal, to which he also contributed guitar and vocals.
Released by Rounder Records, in 2001: 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 1999.
In May 2009, Prophet along with a cast of characters including Ernest "Boom" Carter headed to Mexico City to record a collection of "political songs for non political people".[11] ¡Let Freedom Ring! released on October 27, 2009 on Yep Roc. Michael Hoinski of the Village Voice compared !Let Freedom Ring! to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. Citing the recordings as "albums that manifest patriotism through disenchantment, and both rely heavily on marginalized characters to expose socioeconomic woes."
in 2009 Chuck along with Brad Jones produced Jace Everett's Red Revelations CD. Chuck co wrote four songs and played guitar. The CD includes Everett's "Bad Things" best known as the theme song to HBO's True Blood. Prophet's song "You Did" (bomp shooby doobie bomp) is part of the True Blood (season 2) soundtrack.[12]
In January 2011, Chuck formed the Spanish Bombs along with Chris Von Sneidern and San Francisco rhythm section The Park. The Spanish Bombs performed The Clash's LP London Calling in its entirety at the Actual Music Festival in Spain. This special project came at the invitation of curators Houston Party. This festival show was followed by a 12-date tour of Spain.[13]
References in Popular Culture
- The song "No Other Love" was covered by the rock group Heart at the suggestion of Cameron Crowe.[14] It was also featured in an episode of the television series The L Word, and the film P.S. I Love You. In 2011, it was recorded by Michael Grimm, the winner of Americas Got Talent and included on his Don Was produced debut CD.
- Chuck appears as an actor playing "The Connection" in Revolution Summer, a film directed by Miles Matthew Montalbano and produced by Jonathan Richman [1].
- "You Did (Bomp Shooby Doobie Bomp)" was contributed as the theme song to the "smart, original, and horrifically funny"[15] Teeth (film). "You Did" was also featured in the closing credits of the HBO series True Blood episode "Keep This Party Going" (S02E02).[12]
- "Love Won't Keep Us Apart," co-written with Klipschutz, is featured in the FX program Sons of Anarchy.[12]
The Mission Express
The "Mission Express" is a bus line that runs through Chuck's neighborhood and is the name of Chuck's current band.
The lineup:
- Stephie Finch: (singing, Vox organ)
- Kevin White: (bass guitar)
- Paul Taylor: (drums, vocals) (since spring 2010, he has replaced Todd Roper)
- James Deprato: (guitar, lap steel)
Selected discography
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)
- Let Freedom Ring (2009)
Other contributions
- Live at the World Café: Vol. 15 - Handcrafted (2002, World Café) - "Summertime Thing"
- Jim Dickinson with Chuck Prophet and the Creatures of Habit: Thousand Footprints in the Sand
With Green on Red
- Gas Food Lodging (1985)
- "No Free Lunch" ( Mercury, 1985)
- The Killer Inside Me (1987)
- Here Come the Snakes (1988)
- "Live at the Town & County (China 1988)
- "This Time Around (China, 1989)
- "Scapegoats (China, 1991)
- "Too Much Fun (China, 1992)
- "Live at the Rialto" (2005)
- "BBC Sessions (Cooking Vinyl, 2006)
References
- ^ SongLyrics, Aidan Hawken - Fly Straight, Songwriters: ...Charles William Prophet...
- ^ California Births, 1905 - 1995, Charles W. Prophet
- ^ Sullivan, Denise. "Biography: Chuck Prophet". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p13996. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
- ^ Allen, Jim. "Album review: Chuck Prophet – ‘¡Let Freedom Ring!’ (Yep Roc)". LimeWire. http://blog.limewire.com/posts/29151-album-review-chuck-prophet-¡let-freedom-ring-yep-roc/. Retrieved 28 June 2010.[dead link]
- ^ Kamin, Jeff. "Age of Miracles Review". Artistdirect. http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,3013429,00.html. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ Wilson, Steve. "Chuck Prophet – Let Freedom Ring". KC Free Press. http://www.kcfreepress.com/news/2010/jan/19/chuck-prophet-let-freedom-ring-yep-roc/. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ a b McLeese, Don. "Sonicboomers - ALBUM OF THE WEEK". Sonic Boomers. http://www.sonicboomers.com/albumreviews/chuck-prophet. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ Murry, John. "Chuck Prophet Biography". WXPN. http://chuckprophet.com/bio/. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ "Soap And Water". http://chuckprophet.com/press/soap_a/. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ Murry, John. "Biography". http://chuckprophet.com/bio/. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ Hoinski, Michael. "On the Haunting Songs of Chuck Prophet". The Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-11-10/music/on-the-haunting-songs-of-chuck-prophet. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ a b c Rogers, Jessie. "The Very Best Noise: Chuck Prophet Checks In". Tea Party Boston. http://www.teapartyboston.com/2010/02/chuck-prophet/. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
- ^ Vaziri, Aidin (17 January 2011). "Chuck Prophet doing 'London Calling'". SFGate, San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/16/PKLC1H5O4Q.DTL. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ Bezezekoff, Leigh. "Live in San Francisco, Day 3: Chuck Prophet". KEXP. http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2009/02/01/live-in-san-francisco-day-3-chuck-prophet/. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
- ^ "Teeth - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/teeth/. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
External links
- Official Site
- Prophet Interviews Jonathan Richman
- Can A Womans Voice Drug You? Chuck Prophet talks on The Brink to writer Paul Hawkins on the past, present and future on the eve of the release of his Soap and Water album
- Site francophone- french site
- Chuck Prophet collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
Categories:- 1963 births
- Living people
- People from Whittier, California
- Musicians from California
- Live Music Archive artists
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