John Prine Quotes

I think we were probably playing live for about 12 months before we got a recording deal.

In those days it was pretty cut and dry. If you had a record company believing in you enough to cut an album then you had better have the ability to work the album on the road.

When I made my first album, there was no indication that anybody other than my parents were going to buy it.

Always I was dreaming of a record contract. From 10 to 13, it was all I could think of. I worked hard for this dream. Nobody could say I didn't try.

A lot of people think I was an overnight success, but I was an opening act for three or four years, and then I signed my contract with EMI. Then it kind of blew up overnight.

My first album done what it had to do. It introduced me.

There's a big difference between doing the odd gig and actually having a record out and your name being on the ticket.

I started touring a little bit in 1973 in support of a record I made for an independent label. In 1975, when I signed with Warner Bros., where I remained happily ensconced for the next 24 years, my touring activity increased considerably.

I was with PolyGram; that was the big label that I was with for the longest, like 12 years.

My girlfriend at the time convinced me to send these songs to Cavity Search. When they wanted to put out my record I was totally shocked.

I went to America and got into a band, had success, had hits in Australia.

I had no interest in being an actress what so ever, and when I was about 14 or 15, I was signed to a company in England. They owned a children's TV show which they put me in as a singer, and I was on the show for three years, and I left the show when I was 18 and started looking for a record contract.

A lot of people thought my career was over. If you're not releasing records, then something must be wrong. Either the record company doesn't like your music, or you've been dropped. It has to something negative. It's not like you wanted to take a break, or want some balance, or smell the roses.

Music's always been a huge part of my life, and my first record came out in 1981.

We've been playing together since we were 13, and from the age of 18, we've had a record contract. I think that we've been incredibly lucky, yeah. But we deserve it.

We'd been out touring for a couple of years before we signed with Sony and everything.

I was 19 when I wrote 'Dreams,' and that would have been when it started to happen. The band got signed, and I was probably beginning to see different things besides my small town of Ballybricken.

Success happened for me when I dropped my first major label album for Def Jam, 'Live From The Underground.'

Signing with Sony/ATV was life changing for me.

Andrew [Ridgeley] and I had demoed a couple of our songs very cheaply, and we weren't expecting any kind of record deal. We just walked around with our demo tape, trying to find someone to give us the money to demo properly. Instead of that, we got a record contract. It was just an incredibly lucky break.

I got that first record out, it came out in '47... Then my name began to ring around. I began to take over. From that point, I tell you, Chicago was in my hand, all the more time that those guys had to listen to me.

I was denied a record contract for 15 years, so I'm not going to be too picky about what I do. I don't have the juice to say no too many times.

Even to be flown out to New York was mind boggling for me, and signing with Columbia was great because they really understood my vision. Of all the labels that I met, they were the ones that really seemed to understand that I was really about the music, the writing, and the lyrics, so it was really fulfilling to sign with them.

I was Jazzy Jeff's assistant.

Times are completely different now. If you're a brand new artist with a record you want to release to the masses, I would suggest you try and get it hot yourself first. This way you can create your own demand so you'll end up having the option of demanding what you want if you do decide to sign with a label. If you don't and you still get on hot on your own, you then have the ability to reap all of your profits.