John Prine's Risk Manager wrote:

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Dr. Invictus:
See my earlier post re Prine and KK's liner notes.  I don't quite understand where you're going here.  When you say "it resembles beat poetry perhaps more than anything Kristofferson ever wrote,"  are you referring to Dylan's  "Planet Wave" liner notes?  Are you suggesting that Kristofferson attempted to emulate the beat poets and in so doing, was unsuccessful, or relatively unsuccessful as compared to Dylan?  I'm unaware that Kristofferson ever modeled his writings after any of the beats.  I've read and heard him say that his primary inspirations were  English romantic poets and various 20th century folk and country artists.  Please explain.  As a long time fan of Dylan, and Kristofferson,  and Prine,  I'm interested in hearing your thoughts, if you have the time.  Thanks.

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I was, of course, referring to Dylan's "Planet Waves" liner notes with my allusion to the beat poets. It's pretty clear to me that KK is pretty much straight country & the only beat in his repertoire is a back-beat.

Prine is a direct descendant of Grandpa Jones, IMHO, with a hefty dose of Sam Phillips (Sun Studio) in the mix. Steve Goodman with fangs, but still a very good example of the best the Chicago folkie scene ever produced. His lyric forte has always been outright wit. And his status as a cancer survivor makes him pretty amazing, too, now that he's an old silverback.

It's kind of interesting that Kristofferson is now on the same "Oh Boy" label as Prine.

But paraphrasing the late great Townes Van Zandt -- whose rendition of Elvis' immortal "Song of the Shrimp" is probably one of the ten best songs ever recorded live -- "all songwriters fish out of the same creek & they're all fishing downstream from Dylan."