Show More▼Show Less▲
Photo of Chuck Prophet

Chuck Prophet

Chuck Prophet Radio

Stream

  1. Chuck Prophet

    Mostly I remember Michael always fixing his hair. He's still got great hair. http://t.co/Rp0AkEnonX

  2. Chuck Prophet

    I hate myself for getting sucked back into the Amanda Knox saga

  3. Chuck Prophet

    This is a long ass piece on the "Paisley Underwear". Learned alot actually: http://t.co/rMx0NaJwOA

  4. Chuck Prophet

    Pretty cool piece on The Paisley Underground years in UK Guardian: http://t.co/fYKEdeHhZB

  5. Chuck Prophet

    Wherever I go they treat me the same #Whenthewhipcomesdown

Comments

Post a comment...
10 of 874More

General Info

  • Genre: Folk / Indie / Soul

    Location San Francisco, California, Un

    Profile Views: 405906

    Last Login: 3/24/2012

    Member Since 4/24/2007

    Website www.chuckprophet.com

    Record Label Cooking Vinyl (World x-NA)/Yep Roc (North America)

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    "The life, death and rebirth of the American Dream..." Chuck Prophet shapes his restless career with inimitable subtle flair: a vivid parade of razor-edged one-liners camouflaged in a slack-jawed drawl, songs about heartbreak and everyman heroism, drenched in twisted lines of rude Telecaster. When the early stages of a financial melt-down coincided with a rare San Francisco heat wave in the summer of 2008, with the window open wide and Dwight Twilley, Iggy, Thin Lizzy and the Knack blaring out the hi-fi, Prophet wrote a collection of political songs for non-political people. Later, in April 2009, he journeyed to Mexico City, where, in the clutches of a Swine Flu panic and earthquakes, he recorded �Let Freedom Ring!, his most incendiary record, every bit as urgent as the title demands. His search for a new perspective paid off, much like at eighteen when he left his native Whittier, CA for San Francisco, which he still calls home, and before too long joined Green on Red, a gang of interloping Arizonans with no small impact on L.A.'s Paisley Underground. During an eight-year run with Green on Red, he cut his first major label session with legendary Memphis producer Jim Dickinson, burned through a couple of big record deals, and ventured a debut solo effort, Brother Aldo (1990). These were the first steps in the career that shaped Prophet into a prolific rock 'n' roll classicist. But now, he has created his career high-water mark. �Let Freedom Ring! wanders into the fractured, surreal state of the American Dream and emerges with the most vital document of Prophet's vision, a reflection of life and love for troubled times. To untangle topics so knotted, Prophet uses only the most essential language: little else but whip-smart one-liners, a guitar in each channel and a backbeat. There are glimpses in the rear-view mirror of American rock 'n' roll – names like Eddie Cochran and an instinct for lean guitar tunes – but the meat's fresh. There's everything from the capitalist hustle and the immigrant struggle to the impulse to forget it all with a lusty Saturday night. For his journey south of the border, Prophet put together a band with guitarist Tom Ayres, bassist Rusty Miller and drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter (who supplied Springsteen the beat for "Born To Run"). Over an eight-day session, his ninth solo studio record was born among the gnarled chaos of Mexico City. Outside the doors were warring drug cartels, a crippling recession and the panic of Swine Flu that sent a city of 25 million cowering behind surgical masks. Inside, producer Greg Leisz (Wilco, Beck, Emmylou Harris) used Eisenhower-era gear and did little else but roll tape. It was Mexico City. It was panicked and paranoid. It was chaotic, beautiful, and hopeful. To gain a fresh perspective on his homeland from high on a flat foreign hill, it was perfect. Opening with "Sonny Liston's Blues," Prophet gives voice to a man with a heart recognized by few, who many thought a monster, equal parts myth and reality – much like the American Dream. The shuffling gait of "Barely Exist" glances at that dream through the lens of immigration: a father's dog-eared photograph of a kid left behind in a world of "asbestos in your Kool-Aid for breakfast." Prophet's own country, run by Georgetown barflies that rage through "American Man" and the wild markets under the Stonesy strut of "�Let Freedom Ring!," is a place where solace can only be found in grabbing the nearest body and plunging headlong onto the dance floor, or waking late with the windows open. Eleven songs later, Prophet's Freedom stares into the incalculable divide of America's haves and have-nots and offers neither answers nor condolences; the grit and glory of his country – like the devils he wrestles – are all in the details. When you dig the details that have shaped Prophet's career, �Let Freedom Ring! is merely the latest highlight in career of many. He has written with a wide rage of artists from Dan Penn to Alejandro Escovedo (the 2008 LP, Real Animal), laid down tracks on sessions for everyone from Warren Zevon to Kelly Willis and taken the stage with Jim Dickinson, Lucinda Williams and Aimee Mann, to name a few. Prophet's production credits include Willis' Translated From Love (2007) and working on Jace Everett's ("Bad Things" / True Blood) new release Red Revelations. He's heard his own tunes performed by legends like Solomon Burke and Heart and his songs have charted on both country ("I'm Gone," a co-write with Kim Richey, on the debut album of country starlet Cyndi Thompson) and AAA radio ("Summertime Thing," from 2002's No Other Love, was a lazy radio anthem). National television appearances include Austin City Limits in support of No Other Love, as well as Letterman and Carson Daly, supporting 2007's Soap & Water. His music has increasingly been featured in film and television, most recently as the closing track to episode two of True Blood. -- John Murry

  • Members

    ....And the mIsSion ExPrEsS.... Stephie Finch.. - ..Keyborads, Vox.... ..Kevin T. White.. - ..Bass guitar.... ..Paul Taylor.. - ..Drums, vocals.... ..James DePrato.. - ..Guitar, leg steel..

  • Influences

    Some Indonesian junk that's going round.

  • Sounds Like

    Press --Milwaukee Express - January, 2010-- “apologetically pokes fun at his roots” At the heart of hugely underrated singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet’s sound there’s always been a kind of tug-of-war among disparate eras. In turns Petty-esque, Springsteen-like and generally rife with Stones swagger, there’s also an undeniably coy, modern indie slant. Sure there’s “Born to Run”-style driving guitars, and even some “shoobie-doo-wop” backing vocals, but, hey, LeBron James gets name-checked too. In fact, Prophet’s latest sounds a bit like Franz Ferdinand after an all-night bout of Studs Terkel: old-timey, good times rock, but with a conscience. Prophet empathizes with the downtrodden (“What Can a Mother Do”), apologetically pokes fun at his roots (“American Man”) and seems generally earnest in hopes of a renewal in the Americana from whence he borrows so much of his sound. From jangly country rockers to straight KLH-style distortion, what mostly comes out is a from-the-hip, nostalgic take on the American ennui that was 2009. The songwriting peaks may be clearest on the introspective tracks—“Leave the Window Open,” or the lovely “Love Won’t Keep Us Apart”—but as a whole the album feels like something more. It’s a sensible, rollicking, perhaps important look at the hard times of the moment. --Todd Lazarski --KC Free Press - January, 2010-- -Reverberating: 8.2- Chuck Prophet began his musical journey as Dan Stuart’s foil in Green on Red, an often tremendous band that mixed scabrous garage, Dylan-Velvets poesy, and American roots in cool ways. ‘Let Freedom Ring” is a good representation of the best in Prophet’s solo career. Prophet is a sharp, never pretentious, lyricist. The songs on his new record ‘Let Freedom Ring” illuminate the current American predicament, wryly capturing the woes of the workaday and the marginalized. Prophet uses his modest baritone effectively, sounding like Tom Petty after too many drinks and too much sun. A first-rate guitar player, he has much in common with Mike Campbell, Keith Richards, even Richard Thompson. Some of Prophet’s records court Americana’s banal reserve, but “Let Freedom Ring,’ recorded in a funky analogue studio in Mexico City, rocks loose and profits from it. Chuck Prophet isn’t reinventing the wheel. He rarely strays from a sound that would engage a savvy Dylan, Petty or Stones fan. With a really good record like “Let Freedom Ring,” he makes worthy company for such icons. --Steve Wilson --A.V. Club - January, 2010-- !Let Freedom Ring! Chuck Prophet’s old band, Green On Red, enjoyed a cult following in the ’80s and early ’90s, and the same can be said of the solo career he’s maintained since 1990. The San Francisco songwriter may not have tons of fans, but the ones who continue to follow his eclectic path were rewarded with 2007’s Soap And Water and the recent Let Freedom Ring, an album title that's meant to be taken with a grain of salt, given its protest-as-patriotism lyrics. --AP Wire Service - January, 2010-- -Best of 2009 Overlooked CD's- Chuck Prophet chose a studio in Mexico City to record his ninth studio album, and even from a distance, the situation on the home front looked grim. " Let Freedom Ring!" portrays a land of orange alerts and car alarms with blood on the sheets and asbestos in the Kool-Aid. The river's rising, stores disappear and dreams don't extend beyond Saturday night. "Who's going to miss you when you're gone?" Prophet asks. Depressing stuff. As an antidote, Prophet offers stabs of guitars to propel a defiant Stones-style strut, and gradually the mood improves. Past the halfway mark, Prophet turns his attention to a nightclub dialogue and pairs it with a dance beat on "Hot Talk." Two songs later, the backing vocalists are singing "Shoo-be-doo-wah" on "Good Time Crowd." The final song is "Leave the Window Open," which finds Prophet engaged in pillow talk, with no mention of car alarms. --Steven Wine, AP --Bob Edwards Show - December, 2009-- -Best of 2009- Chuck Prophet has been making terrific records since he started out with the raw-and-ready L.A. band Green on Red nearly a quarter century ago. Let Freedom Ring is the latest in that long line, and it takes a place of pride. The title tells you that, once again, this album centers on Prophet’s favorite subject: America. He recorded the album amid the quotidian chaos of Mexico City, but guess what: One side of the border turns out to be not that much different from the other. If it’s chaos you’re after, Prophet understands that you need look no further than the local news. In his own good-humored, ramshackle way, Prophet earns his last name. --Anthony Decurtis --HARP Magazine - November, 2007-- -****- Pure, guileless rock abandon Chuck Prophet's genius lies in assimilating a wide variety of genres into his essentially Stonesy architecture ahead of the standard curve. From the seminal '80s alt-country shimmer of Green on Red to his incredibly diverse solo sonic quilt - early Americana rocker/mid-period electronic folkie/latter-day style hybridist - Prophet has engagingly exemplified his surname. On Soap and Water, his Yep Roc debut, Prophet continues to defy easy categorization, seamlessly weaving together his myriad roles: chunky rocker ("Freckle Song"), sensitive pop balladeer ("Would You Love Me"), sonic dabbler ("Doubter Out of Jesus (All Over You)"). For his considerable talents as performer/arranger/stylist, the ribbon that neatly ties the package is Prophet's lyrical gift, as his beat story-songs pulse with novelistic detail, noirish humor and poetic ambiguity and bristle with pure, guileless rock abandon. Originality is not easy in the derivative rock world but Chuck Prophet has blazed genre trails for over two decades with no signs of running out of inspiration or desire. --Fred Mills --The Village Voice - October 2nd, 2007-- "Smart-ass rocker crafts another No.1 Record" Every aspiring guitarist who taped a copy of Big Star's Radio City went on to start his own band. That's conventional wisdom, but what about the misfits who scrounged a burn of Alex Chilton's Like Flies on Sherbert or treasured a bootleg LP of his late-'70s Elektra demos? On Soap and Water, former Green on Red guitarist Chuck Prophet answers that question. It's a catchy, accurate recasting of Chilton's terrified insouciance and sickening pop modulations, and if it occasionally descends into pastiche, it scrubs behind Chilton's ears with a loving touch. Prophet might not sing as snidely as the Memphian did on such numbers as Sherbert's "Hey! Little Child" (referenced here on "Heart Beat"), but he adds complaisant female vocals to an ingenious series of mocking guitar moves. "Down Time" rocks along in the jaunty manner of the Sir Douglas Quintet's "She's About a Mover" and fades before it has time to gather momentum. Intelligent enough to take pleasure in the basics but too impatient to stick with anything for very long, Prophet sounds like the kind of smart-ass who doesn't worry about earning your respect. This means he gets away with lines like "The women threw their panties/And the women threw their bras/Elvis hung his head/And said, 'They'll forget me when I'm gone.' " He affects wisdom on "Small Town," a gorgeous meditation on big-city temptations—specifically, Prophet doesn't want anyone to mess with his sister, who leaves town with only "a Realistic stereo and a phone that doesn't ring" for evidence. Best of all is the title track, a two-chord stomp that finds Prophet trafficking in the cheap oppositions big brother Alex perfected 30 years ago. "Dry hump/Wet nurse/Loose change/Tight purse," he sings, sounding like a man who wears clean underwear but is scared to change his dirty socks. -- Edd Hurt --Entertainment Weekly.com - 09/27/07-- "Chuck Prophet soaks up the Stonesy vibe on his excellent new CD Soap and Water" Though the guitarist's narco-blasted days in indie-rock band Green on Red are long behind him, there's still something elegantly and acerbically wasted about Chuck Prophet. This collection of roots rock is Stonesy loose, which is also to say that it's Stonesy tight. The lumbering ''A Woman's Voice'' aside, Soap and Water's tracks impress ‹ from the sex-drenched ''Freckle Song'' to ''Let's Do Something Wrong,'' where his Tom Petty-ish vocals are puckishly augmented by a kids' choir on the lyrics ''Let's do something wrong/Let's do something stupid.'' A- -- Clark Collis --Manchester Evening News - 09/27/07-- →Why all is this Prophet of doom, Chuck? IT has been three years since his last album, Age Of Miracles, but Chuck Prophet hasn't exactly been sitting around. For one thing, there's his own new album, possibly his best, called Soap And Water. He has also produced a new album from Kelly Willis ("We jumped off some cliffs together!"), reformed and toured Europe with his former band Green On Red, collaborated with Alejandro Escovedo an a new album, made his big screen acting debut in a film called Revolution Summer, and worked on the soundtrack of the Sundance Film Festival hit, Teeth. Surprisingly, then, Chuck talks of a "crisis of faith" after Age Of Miracles. "We toured for a month too long with that record," he contends. His current touring band, though, which he'll be bringing to Club Academy this weekend, is, he enthuses, "lighter on their feet than any band I've worked with before" →Surprised Speaking of which, a lot of people were surprised when alt-country rockers Green On Red reformed a few months back "It took us by surprise too," he laughs. "I suppose we did it as a kind of dare, but I was surprised, I think we all were, at the ease with which it came together. Might we do it again? I wouldn't be against it at all." The project with Alejandro Escovedo also "just sort of happened. He asked me down one weekend to try writing some songs together and we've ended up writing a whole record. "It's sort of like our joint musical biography. There's a lot of real characters in there." --Kevin Bourke --Q - October, 2007-- -****- "80'S ROOTS-ROCK SURVIVOR NOW HITTING HIS PEAK" A decade ago, it looked like Chuck Prophet was finished. The former golden boy of seminal American alt-country, retro-rock stars Green On Red was hooked on crack and unravelling fast. Now, fully detoxed, Prophet has just made his acting debut in the cult movie Revolution Summer, and with his eighth solo album turned in the best work of his career. The rockier songs are reminiscent of late-'80s Rolling Stones and new wave-era Tom Petty. But best of all is Would You Love Me?, the most elegiac country-rock ballad since Ryan Adams's Gold. --Paul Elliott --Maverick - September, 2007-- -****- "Carving an independent path through country, soul and rock" The eighth solo studio album from Californian singer, songwriter and guitarist Chuck Prophet oozes character and confidence. Prophet's delectable guitar work and world-weary but sharply expressive vocals, along with backing from his own outfit the Mission Express and guests the Spinto Band, ensure that these tracks are packed with rich, flavoursome detail. Brad Jone's intelligent production has brought a dustily textured finish to the album; this brooding, sun baked sound is the perfect compliment to Prophet's casually memorable way with words. But despite an overriding sense of direction and coherence, SOAP AND WATER never once threatens to fall back on basic sylistic similarity to keep its twelve tracks knitted together. Each song brings with it a genuine feeling of discovery, from the witty, infectious country-rock opener Freckle Song with it's irresistible twang and punchy rhythm section, to Happy Ending, a subtly shaded and atmospheric rootsy number that provides a gently philosophical conclusion. The most innovative moment of all comes with All Over You, a sublime blend of heady dance beats and earthy guitar-based Americana. Led by Prophet's captivating vocals - nonchalant one minute, exhilarating the next - it layers into the mix a bewildering number of additional ingredients, from ominous strings and twinkly percussive effects to the improbably successful use of a children's church choir. There is simplicity too; in the form of the dreamy, sinuous ballad Would You Love Me, and its delicate arrangement featuring distant, angelic backing voices and haunting, understated farmonica. A dryly effective female guest vocalist joins Prophet to exchange the clever lyrics of Soap an Water, an angular blues-rock foot-tapper, while taut blues rhythms also form the basis of the intricate but exuberant Down Time, a hugely enjoyable paean to getting away from it all. 'A woman's voice can drug you like an AM radio/Like a motorcycle preacher/Like a Sunday far from home', these vocals warn Prophet on A Woman's Voice, at times tapping into a near Dylan-esque drawl, The song's effect is hypnotic, driven by a smouldering slide guitar groove, and its strolling pace builds to a euphoric, bluesy sing-along chorus. Chuck Prophet's last solo album may have appeared three years ago - he has since toured Europe with a revived incarnation of his former band Green On Red, collaborated with Kelly Willis and made his cinematic acting debut - but the wait has proved worthwhile. Charming, fiercely imaginative and brilliantly executed, this is contemporary roots-rock of the highest quality. A European tour is planned in support of SOAP AND WATER during September and October, which will surely demonstrate the vitality of these songs in a live setting. --HC --Uncut - October, 2007-- -****- "San Francisco-based songwriter on killer form" Back from the Green On Red reuinion and studio time with Kelly Willis and Alejandro Escovedo, Prophet has been the much in demand lately. But having long dropped the sub-Dylanisms of his early work, its his solo career thats thriving. Soap And Water is his most satisfying album yet. The range of styles is impressive, from the pale hip hop of Something Stupid to the title tracks murky Southern funk and the swamp-blues of A Womans Voice. But he does the fucked-up ballad thing expertly, too, even drafting in a childrens Christian choir for Would You Love Me. --Mojo - October, 2007-- -****- "The San Franciscan guitar slinger's persuasive eighth solo album" Plucked from Berkeley obsurity in the mid-'80s by psychedelic cowboys Green On Red, Chuck Prophet was always a gifted rapier to lead singer Dan Stuart's yeoman bludgeon. His Richard Thompson-indebted Telecaster squalls have subsequently decorated a litany of creditable solo albums of which this latest may well be the finest. Recorded in Nashville with innumerable guests, Soap And Water runs the gamut of Prophet's influences, from Bob Dylan (Naked Ray) to Alex Chilton (Let's Do Something Wrong) and the Stones (Soap And Water), all of it delievered with a quixotic swagger and Prophet's declamatory sneer of a voice. His quicksilver fretwork still impresses - especially on the Television-like stomper Freckle Song, though the stand-out track is the burnished, redemptive ballad Would You Love Me, replete with a Methodist children's choir and a counterpoint melody that could melt the stoniest heart. --David Sheppard --Irish Times - 08/31/07-- -*****- Even in this iPod era, albums can be journeys of discovery. When I started out on Soap and Water I was armed with a huge admiration for San Francisco-based guitarist and songwriter Chuck Prophet, his work with seminal alt. everything band Green on Red, and his large body of solo work. Soap and Water, however, seemed cloaked in obscurity and the music was oddly rootless. A few dozen plays later and there is not a track I'd change - though I might argue a backing vocal here or a guitar lick there. This is a monumental album of constant surprise, chilled intelligence and quietly assured song writing skill, singing, playing and production. Prophet has said it was inspired by wayward rock icon Alex Chilton, but I also hear Randy Newman's caustic amusement at the human condition, especially on the epic New Kingdom. Wonderful, but time is required. --Joe Breen

Videos

00:00 | 0 plays | Jan 1 0001

You have no videos.

Login

Forgot password?

Need an account? Sign up