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John Prine has semi-hollow electric guitar, travels.

John Prine

With Jason Wilber. 8 p.m., May 8. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $40–$50. (203) 624-1825, shubert.com.

 Prine's stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs." — Bob Dylan to Bill Flanagan in The Huffington Post, April 15, 2009.

That about sums it up.

"Angel From Montgomery" is one of John Prine's best known songs, covered most famously by Bonnie Raitt. It's a plea from an aging woman stuck in a loveless rut in Montgomery, Ala. She dreams of escape. She rambles and remembers. She complains. An unlived life has left her hoping for flight on angels' wings. It's a sad statement of futility with a beautiful, uplifting melody. That Prine wrote the song when he was a 25-year-old army veteran from suburban Chicago, on the verge of a successful career, is testimony to his story-telling prowess.

Prine is a songwriter's songwriter. He can write wry, dry, tragic, mundane and fantastic. First person, third person, any person. He's a wordsmith who seemingly pieces rhymes together effortlessly, often with comic results.

Good story-telling alone does not explain why Prine's tunes have been covered by Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews, Kris Kristofferson, Ben Harper, Jimmy Buffet, Laura Cantrell and Tanya Tucker. There's a melodicism built into his finger-picked guitar playing, often in the key of G, "the people's key." Through waltzes and two-beats and straight-four time he can make melodies soar, push, plod, or skip depending on what the lyrics call for.

Here's a good example: The title track of his 1999 album of gal/guy duets is "In Spite of Ourselves," sung with Iris DeMent. He uses the same three chords (C, F and G) throughout the song. In the verses, the melody stays on the beat with very few rests, emphasizing the dead-pan humor ("she thinks all my jokes are corny/convict movies make her horny" and "he ain't got laid in a month of Sundays/I caught him once sniffin' my undies") But in a romantic chorus, sung in two-part harmony, the melody stretches out and arches over the beat, with plenty of rest time between phrases ("In spite of ourselves/we'll end up sittin' on a rainbow/against all odds/honey we're the big door prize") giving the song a true love feel. Check Prine and DeMint's concert performance of this tune on YouTube.

Prine came out of the Chicago folk revival of the late 1960s. He was first reviewed in the Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert (!) who caught him singing at an open-mic and raved about him. His first eight albums were on Atlantic Records and Asylum Records, and met with critical and popular success. When the folk boom died at the end of the '70s, he started Oh Boy Records, where he has been recording comfortably ever since.

It's hard to pinpoint highlights in a body of work as vast as Prine's. There's Dylan's favorite Prine song, "Lake Marie," from Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings. Native-American history, crime drama, good love faded and beautiful melody take this song way beyond the average. Or try "Jesus, the Missing Years," released in 1991 and featuring a host of top L.A. sidemen. It's a hilarious, rambling account of Jesus' life after childhood, before the big years.

His most recent CD, Standard Songs For Average People, is a collection of duets with bluegrass legend Mac Wiseman (aka the voice with a heart). It's safe to say that Prine covers the waterfront of 20th century American popular music.

Catch him at the Shubert with rising folk star Jason Wilber supporting and accompanying him. Come for the Proustian existentialism and/or the beautiful songs.