FMH Presents
TOMMY PRINE
with Wayne Graham
Tickets: ADV $18 • DOS $20
All Ages
Tommy Prine
Tommy Prine's debut album This Far South (released 6/23/23) is not only a long-awaited introduction but a testimony to Prine's 20s and the loss, love, and growth that has defined them. Co-produced by a close friend and kindred musical spirit, Ruston Kelly, and beloved Nashville engineer and producer, Gena Johnson, the album is rich and dynamic from cathartic jams to nostalgic storytelling. "I feel like I've learned more about myself in the last year and a half than I ever have in my life," Prine says. "And I think that speaks a lot to doing something that I'm passionate about. I love and respect the craft. Just hitting the road and doing what so many people before me have done and will continue to do, it's really resonated with me. I think it has transformed me into the person that I am meant to be." Prine is currently crisscrossing the country playing full band headlining shows as well as festivals. Last year, Prine opened for Tyler Childers on the "Send In The Hounds Tour" and was named one of Amazon Music's 2023 Breakthrough Artists to Watch. He wrapped up 2023 by making his Grand Ole Opry debut in December. The son of late songwriting legend, John Prine, Tommy Prine grew up in Nashville surrounded by music, art and writing. As a child, he thought all parents were musicians, as his father "going to work" meant performing shows for adoring fans and writing songs. Tommy learned to play guitar by watching his father play, copying the ways his fingers moved and inadvertently developing his own singular style. Summers in Ireland lent their own inspiration, as did 10 straight years camping at Bonnaroo. Prine's musical tastes grew to become decidedly eclectic, spanning John Mayer, Outkast, Bon Iver, the Strokes and more. It wasn't until Prine reached his mid-twenties, though, that he considered a career of his own in music and began to share with others the songs he wrote in private. His songs were quickly met with excitement and enthusiasm, which sonically brings together a colorful patchwork of musical influences and lyrically explores existential questions and emotional experiences.
Wayne Graham
Wayne was a renaissance man. Curiousity and good hand-eye coordination are a deadly combination. He was an electrician, a locksmith, a mechanic, a coal miner, a guitarist, and a singer, but the roles that took the highest priority in his life were husband, father, brother, and son. He approached life with a laughable optimism and proved over time he was right. He made sure to be my earliest memory and I have consulted him, wherever he is, with every major decision in my life. Over the years, I've met many strangers who knew him. Their tall tale is the same as those I've heard before. He was a legendary man with more soul than his body could hold.
Graham was the first one of his brothers to own a car. He was able to buy it because he started working when he was very young. When his younger brother graduated from high school, he drove him to college. He left his car with him and headed home to pine creek.
He married my grandmother and bought a small shack on Pine Creek. They moved in in February, a logging trail covered in snow, to a shack with quarter inch slits between the slats.
He slowly bought that mountain, acre by acre, building more rooms on his house for his growing family. He was the neighborhood farmer, old regular Baptist, democrat, World War II vet, coal miner, romance novel patron, Kentucky Wildcats fan. His image flashes in my periphery at least once a day, reminding me his constant refrain when he and Mamaw kept me in my early years, "This boy is gonna make me president."