John Prine, Fred Koller

I found myself telling this story in a couple of different places within the last few weeks, so it must be on my mind. On my first visit to Nashville, more years ago than I care to remember, I met a guy named Art Sparer, who was to become one of my closest friends in Nashville, and whose couch I regularly stayed on when I visited -- "the songwriters' couch," he called it.

Art went out of his way to introduce me around town, and in one out of the way tavern, he introduced me to John Prine, who invited me to come to recording session he was doing the next day at Cowboy Jack Clement's studio.

Naturally, I was there. The song he recorded that day was "Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian," which you can find on Prine's German Afternoons and Lucky 13 albums, not to mention his massive The Full Johnny collection. The song was co-written by Prine and Fred Koller, whom I was to meet within the next couple of days, and who would become my other closest friend in Nashville.

Art, a true gentleman, a wonderful musician and producer, is no longer with us, but Fred is, very much so, and he remains a close friend.

Fred is a first-class bibliophile and the co-owner of Rhino Booksellers in Nashville.

More than that, he's one of Nashville's great talents, as songwriter and performer. You can find his full discography at the link above, and it's all good. He and I have written several songs together, and I'm including one here, from his Songs From the Night Before album, which also has his version of "Let's Talk Dirty."

The Hell We Created