Since releasing his self-titled first album in 1971, Prine has penned so many great songs. Songs for and about the American everyman, the upbeat and the downtrodden; songs that have been recorded by everyone from Johnny Cash and Bette Midler to the Everly Brothers, Nanci Griffith and Bonnie Raitt.

Prine was in great form Saturday night as he took the stage before a near capacity crowd in the intimate confines of the Touhill Performing Arts Center. Backed up by Jason "Shorty" Wilber on guitar and David Jacques on bass, Prine and his band opened the show with great rendition of "Spanish Pipedream," a song from that very first record. Just four songs into the set and the show was already worth the price of admission as the band tore through the wonderful anti-jingoistic anthem "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore." A song he said was "so old, I forgot what war I wrote it about."

With a 40 plus year career as a folk singer and songwriter, as well as a fairly recent battle with cancer behind him, Prine has obviously racked up some miles. But his well-worn voice is as warm as the weathered old Martin acoustic he pulled out early in the show. With a razor-sharp wit, wry sense of humor and an unapologetically sentimental streak, he will make you laugh as easily as he will break your heart.

Songs like "Dear Abby" showed off his goofy sense of humor at it's finest, but then he quickly followed that with songs like "Hello in There," a song about aging and empty nests that is surely one of the saddest in the world. But the audience can make him laugh, too. A crying baby joined in on "Six O' Clock News," punctuating the line about "Changing all them diapers." Prine grinned broadly at the child's appropriate vocal contribution, and continued the song. Oddly and thankfully enough the child remained quiet for the rest of the show.

The duo band was perfectly suited to the songs, with Wilber contributing lead and slide guitar and mandolin, and Jacques on the upright and occasional electric bass. Wilber contributed wonderful acoustic lead work, especially on a beautiful version of "Christmas in Prison." At one point Prine even acknowledged his own declining guitar skills with a nod to Wilber as he said, "I used to be able to play like that." But that's okay. He left the fancier guitar playing to the younger man, instead providing a solid rhythm guitar backing to his songs. And his voice is still, without question, a most capable instrument; he demonstrated just that as the rest of the band left the stage about midway through the show.

Beginning with "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone," Prine performed six songs at his best: just the man himself and an acoustic guitar, proving just how formidable a man and a Martin can be. The band rejoined him onstage at the end of "Sam Stone" and then launched into "Bear Creek Blues" and "Lake Marie," songs that gave the band some space to stretch out and groove.

Opening the show was Jason Isbell, formerly of Drive-By Truckers, who also showed how formidable a man with a Martin can be. He performed a short but earnest set, highlighted by polished guitar picking. Like John Prine, he sang songs about his contemporaries, beaten down by economic iniquities and this generation's round of wars.

After an encore of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," Isbell joined Prine and band on stage to close the show with a raucous version of that classic song about Muhlenberg County and Mr. Peabody's coal train, "Paradise."

From the political to the amusing, the poignant to the absurd, his songs are as relevant as ever. And while he has never been as widely known to the general public as he has been beloved by critics and his fellow musicians, John Prine is certainly one treasure his fans are happy to share.

John Prine set list:

Spanish Pipedream
Picture Show
Humidity Built the Snowman
Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
Six O'clock News
Souvenirs
Grandpa Was a Carpenter
Storm Windows
Christmas in Prison
Fish and Whistle
Crazy as a Loon
Glory of True Love
Angel From Montgomery

Solo set:
Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
That's The Way That the World Goes 'Round
Dear Abby
Mexican Home
Sam Stone

Bear Creek Blues
Ain't Hurtin' Nobody
Hello in There
Lake Marie

Encore:
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Paradise (with Jason Isbell)