In Conversation With Colin: Chuck Prophet

Chuck Prophet is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who has created a handful of impressive solo albums when he isn’t busy collaborating with some of the most respected figures in roots rock. A songwriter with a naturalistic sense of storytelling that brings together the impact of rock with the flavours of country, blues, and folk. Prophet has been releasing impressive solo albums since 1990, when he brought out his first album Brother Aldo. Prior to that, he was a key member of the Paisley Underground band Green On Red, who had a cult following in the States and a significantly larger one overseas.

In between solo efforts, Chuck worked as a sideman, collaborator, or producer for Alejandro Escovedo, Kelly Willis, Warren Zevon, Kim Richey and many others. Among his solo releases, 1993’s atmospheric Balinese Dancer, 1997’s autobiographical Homemade Blood, and 2012’s homage to his home town of San Francisco Temple Beautiful are highlights. Chuck has recently released the album Wake The Dead, his first album with his side project ¿Qiensave? – resulting in a mix of Prophet’s alt-country rock blended with Latin-rooted sounds.

Newport City Radio’s Colin Palmer caught up with Chuck to talk about the album ahead of his Cardiff show at The Gate on October 25^th.

In 1990, whilst still a member of Green On Red, Chuck released his first solo album Brother Aldo. Recorded in San Francisco, the album is very recognisably Chuck Prophet with his distinctive voice and phrasing. The front cover features a sepia photograph of a young looking Prophet, and the rear cover features the track listing and photos of Chuck and future wife Stephanie Finch who sings and plays on the album, Spooner Oldham also features on two tracks.

“Stephanie and I started singing together as part of a collective of musicians at a bar in our neighbourhood and that record came out of a pretty magical time,” Chuck tells me from his hotel room just outside Columbus. “Stephanie bought an accordion down on Mission Street at a pawn shop and she would play that and it was just a great time, we would play anywhere that would have us, house parties or The Paradise Lounge in San Francisco. Roly Salley played upright bass and he had so much experience, he had played in Joan Baez’s band and we were teaching ourselves a lot of the folk music that really is part of who I am today.”

Fast forward a few decades, and during a routine medical examination physicians located a mass of cancer cells, the bad news was that Prophet was diagnosed with advanced stage 4 lymphoma, where the cancer had spread to at least one organ beyond the lymphatic system. The good news, however, was that he was told that it was treatable and there were options for recovery, and after six months of chemotherapy, the radiation shrunk the cancer cells down to zero.

Chuck Prophet’s latest album Wake The Dead, recorded with members of his own band and ¿Qiensave? is as much about illness and recovery as it is about aspiration and research.

“It’s really a gestation story in so many ways,” Chuck says. “It started really during lockdown, where for the first time since I can remember I was afforded the time to really listen to music. Although I have a pretty healthy appetite for listening you know I’ve got to keep up with Bob Dylan and the basic stuff and often times I’m listening to my own music or I’m working on songs or maybe I’m re-learning an old song and getting ready to go on tour or I’m writing for another project like Alejandro Escovedo or something.

“It’s very rare that I’m afforded that much time so during that time I listened to a lot of cumbia music I don’t know why I just found myself gravitating towards it. Later, on the eve a tour I was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma which again side-lined me and it was again during that time even though I was in treatment I still had a couple of good weeks out of the month and I spent a lot of time listening to this music. Somewhere along the line I met this group out of Salinas, California and although Salinas is only three hours south of San Francisco, when you get there it may as well be the other side of the moon. It’s a farming community, and I met these guys who have a band called ¿Qiensave? They’re all brothers except for one of the musicians, and they were kind enough to take me under their wing and I would go down and jam with them and that led to playing some gigs together and that led to me writing some songs and eventually getting in the studio with those and creating a blended family between my band and their band and we recorded Wake The Dead.”

Did the chance meeting aid Chuck’s recovery? “Well, it helped me during my recovery to get out of my head,” he explains. “Music has often been my saviour, that’s how I met my wife and most of the good things that have happened in my life are because of music so it got me out of my head and I would listen to cumbia dub which is a bit like reggae dub, and it doesn’t have any lyrics or any words and it would let me get even more out of my head without anything pulling me back down to earth.”

Chuck is returning to the UK on tour this autumn. “I’m looking forward to meeting all those nut cases”, Chuck laughs. “All kidding aside I think British audiences are really the best in the world. They are certainly the most engaged and they know how to get a pint of beer, belly up standing on a sticky black floor and give it to the band, it’s part of the culture and it’s wonderful.”

Excerpts of this interview were broadcast on ‘The Rock Vault’ October 21^st.

Colin Palmer