By the time he was a 15-year-old in the L.A. suburbs, Chuck Prophet was already a crack guitarist. And before he was 20, Prophet had moved up to Northern California on his own and played and sang on the debut EP from seminal Americana band Green on Red.
Regarded as a forebear of the alt-country sound known as No Depression, Green on Red was described as "by far one of the best bands in the United States for almost an entire decade" by the New York Times. From 1982 until their break-up in 1992, Prophet made eight records and toured Europe and the U.S. with Green on Red.
Prophet's eight solo albums since 1990 have shown him to be capable of mixing it up musically, with front porch-picking blues, acoustic folk, swamp, R&B, country twang and psychedelia all working their way into his songs. His fans include legendary songwriter Jim Dickinson, Kelly Willis (who once said, "If I could sing like anybody I'd like to sing like Chuck Prophet") and Lucinda Williams, who invited him to tour with her after she had heard his music.
Prophet, whose voice occasionally bears a passing resemblance to Tom Petty's, has been asked to sing and play guitar, harmonica, lap steel and/or bass with a slew of artists, including Willis, Kim Richey, Warren Zevon, Cake, The Silos, Billy Swan and Jonathan Richman. He says his latest release, Soap And Water, is a nod to the lingering spirit of Box Tops and Big Star songwriter Alex Chilton.
Provenance: He was raised in Whittier, California, but he now lives in San Francisco.
Latest release: Soap And Water (2007)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Chuck Prophet
