John Prine

A buddy of mine and I were riding around in his old rust bucket Chevy Nova II one night back in the mid seventies. Just a couple of teenagers with no place to go and no one to see. John was playing two shows at one of the local colleges. We decided to see if we could get into the second show. They put us in folding chairs behind the last row in the balcony. Through the show I kept thinking to myself what an unlikely star this guy makes. You could say a real diamond in the ruff. I've been a fan ever since.

Zoe Muth has a pretty good song about how she wouldn't date a guy because he didn't know who John Prine was. 

https://youtu.be/5sP4OhsL5VA

I learned of Iris from Merle Haggard, who loved her. John Prine obviously does. I think she’s an Angel sent from Heaven. As my Mama useta say: "Each to her own, said the lady as she kissed a cow".

@rpeluso - I agree with you there!  As a general rule, I'm not a "country" kind of guy.  Grew up on country but always despised it, especially the 'twangy' kind of singing my parents loved. Shuddddderrrrr!!!
In the many intervening decades, I've come to enjoy - for marital bliss among other reasons - country rock and bluegrass.  Still can't take the twang though.  Give me a Sharon den Adel, Simone Simons, Tarja Terunen, Natalie Merchant, Sarah McLachlan, Annie Haslam, Maddy Prior kind of female vocals any time.
That said, we just saw John McEuen a couple of weeks ago, with some of the old NGDB folks - 50 year anniversary tour for the Circle album - absolutely excellent!! Great fun.  Good tunes, and he spent a lot of time talking about his and the NGDB's history, and actually taking questions from the audience.  A must see if you get a chance!  A piece of history, and a marvelous string talent, irrespective of your tastes.

@tubegroover  - yeah, he's always put on a great show, but IMO since his throat cancer, and recovery, the sense of sheer joy he exhibits at being able to still perform just takes the show to a totally new level.  His voice has suffered significantly - but if was never that *pure* of a voice to begin with - but the fun he has performing is so obvious, and infectious, that you can't help but have a great time.
We were lucky enough to see Randy Newman a few years ago in Scottsdale, just him and a piano, and about 100-150 people, and it was the same kind of vibe.  He was talking to the audience, and just having a great time - makes the show something really special.  Compare such shows to the singers/groups who basically just phone in the performance, and the enjoyment factor is just orders of magnitude greater.