Chuck Prophet - Life and Work

Life and Work

Chuck Prophet was born in Whittier, California. Prophet's father appears briefly in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle. After recording one E.P. and eight albums with rock group Green on Red, he released his first solo record Brother Aldo on Fire Records in 1990. He has been compared to everyone from Ray Davies, to Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty, Randy Newman and Alex Chilton. Prophet is also a sought-after guitarist known for his unique rhythmic yet lyrical style. He has worked as a sideman or session musician with many artists, including Kelley Stoltz, Bob Neuwirth, Kelly Willis, Aimee Mann, Warren Zevon, Jonathan Richman, Lucinda Williams and Cake. He has frequently collaborated with songwriter Dan Penn and Jim Dickinson.

His compositions and co-writes have been recorded by musicians like Alejandro Escovedo, Solomon Burke, Heart, Michael Grimm, Kim Carnes, Peter Wolf, Kim Richey, Carter's Chord, Jace Everett, Arc Angels, Mofro, Calvin Russell, Chris Knight and Kelly Willis. He has toured with Memphis producer and pianist Jim Dickinson, who recorded Prophet's "Hungry Town". In Nashville, Tennessee, Prophet and songwriter Kim Richey penned "I'm Gone", a top-40 country hit in 2002 for singer Cyndi Thomson. He records and tours with his wife Stephanie Finch, who is a singer, keyboardist and guitarist.

Prophet was signed to New West Records by Peter Jesperson in 2002. He made two records for New West: No Other Love and Age of Miracles. After years of mostly European and UK success, 2002’s No Other Love was a breakthrough record for Prophet stateside due to the success of the summer single "Summertime Thing" and endorsements from Lucinda Williams, who gave him the opening slot for her summer tour.

Recorded in San Francisco and Nashville, 2007's Soap and Water received critical praise. Prophet toured Europe and North America in support of the album and appeared with his band on the Late Show with David Letterman and Last Call with Carson Daly.

Prophet has contributed to several Kelly Willis records, and produced 2007's Translated From Love for Rykodisc. Willis and Prophet co-wrote six of the albums tracks and Prophet played guitar throughout.

Evangeline Recording Co. released a limited-edition work entitled Dreaming Waylon's Dreams, which he recorded in San Francisco. The record re-creates Waylon Jennings' 1975 country album Dreaming My Dreams in its entirety and features, among others, members of American Music Club and Meat Beat Manifesto. The package and booklet were printed by the legendary Bruce Licher (Savage Republic, Independent Music Project, REM fan club etc.) using a custom letterpress design on original stock. Included in the packaging is a recounting of the events surrounding the recording of the record by close friend John Murry (who also played on the record). Each piece was lovingly printed by hand on a circa 1930's printing press. And each one is numbered. Dreaming Waylon's Dreams is one of the rarest and most sought-after items in Prophet's discography. It is a limited edition of only 1000.

In 2008 Prophet co-wrote all the songs on Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal, to which he also contributed guitar and vocals.

Released by Rounder Records, in 2001, Raisins in the Sun was a one-off collaboration with Jules Shear, Harvey Brooks, Paul Q. Kolderie, Jim Dickinson, Sean Slade, and Winston Watson, recorded in May 1999.

In May 2009, Prophet along with a cast of characters including Ernest "Boom" Carter headed to Mexico City to record a collection of "political songs for non political people". ¡Let Freedom Ring! was released on October 27, 2009 on Yep Roc. Michael Hoinski of The Village Voice compared ¡Let Freedom Ring! to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., citing the recordings as "albums that manifest patriotism through disenchantment, and both rely heavily on marginalized characters to expose socioeconomic woes."

in 2009 Chuck along with Brad Jones produced Jace Everett's Red Revelations CD. Chuck co-wrote four songs and played guitar. The CD includes Everett's "Bad Things", best known as the theme song to HBO's True Blood. Prophet's song "You Did (bomp shooby doobie bomp)" is part of the True Blood (season 2) soundtrack.

In January 2011, Chuck formed the Spanish Bombs along with Chris Von Sneidern and San Francisco rhythm section The Park. The Spanish Bombs performed The Clash's LP London Calling in its entirety at the Actual Music Festival in Spain. This special project came at the invitation of curators Houston Party. This festival show was followed by a 12-date tour of Spain.

February 7, 2012, was the release date of the Temple Beautiful CD, a "nuanced, insightful and passionate ode to San Francisco" on YepRoc Records. It was met with positive reviews scoring 82 on Metacritic.