There’s a risk with tribute acts that they can become a parody of the act they are supposedly paying tribute to by trying to ape a singing style and exaggerate every vocal nuance. Not so with Bruised Orange when they delivered a delightful set of songs from the catalogue of the late Illinois country star John Prine at the Wexford Arts Centre.
Their frontman Mike Mack McGarry has a natural voice that fits snugly around Prine’s songs that offer a hard-headed view of white working-class America. In a dark room he could easily be mistaken for the late American country-folk singer too, such is his physical resemblance.
The full house at the Wexford Arts Centre lapped it all up. It helped that McGarry had a crack band (named after Prine’s 1978 album) who delivered faithful renditions of Prine’s work. Anthony Toby Cregan on lead guitar impressed with his crisply played fills and solos. Bandmates Derek Matthews on bass, Steve Milne on keyboards and Shay Carry on drums hardly put a note wrong throughout a generously lengthy set that was light on needless patter and heavy on sheer musical talent.
McGarry gave us some equally engaging solo efforts including the “agony-aunt” send-up of ‘Dear Abby’ and ‘The Great Compromise’, about female infidelity. Milne’s keyboards added pathos to the searingly anti-drug ‘Sam Stone’ before the band re-joined for a magnificent ‘Hello in There’. Other essential Prine gems treated to a fine night out in Wexford included his Bonnie Raitt duet ‘Angel from Montgomery’, the cheeky self-deprecating ‘Illegal Smile’, his song about rural decay ‘Paradise’, Please Don’t Bury Me’, Souvenirs’ and the Nanci Griffith hit ‘Speed of the Sound of Loneliness’.
I was disappointed not to hear ‘In Spite of Ourselves’, but all in all this was a superlative show on every level, and McGarry’s deferential modesty and lack of showboating made it even more enjoyable. Enhanced by the pristine sound production we have come to expect at the WAC, we had a tribute night that did what it said on the tin.

Aficionados of American singer-songwriter John Prine enjoyed a rare evening at An Grianan theatre in Donegal this weekend – with many of the influential musician’s memorable songs performed by tribute group, Bruised Orange.
The reward : a loud standing ovation and shouts for more.
With photos of the late two-time Grammy winner on-screen throughout the two-hour, 27-song show including him in Army uniform and as a boy in a cowboy suit, the band, led by talented guitarist-vocalist, Michael McGarry, kicked-off with ‘Spanish Pipedream’ from Prine’s 1971 self-titled debut album, a tongue-in-cheek story about life and relationships. Prine said he wrote the song for a Puerto Rican dishwasher in Chicago who liked Spanish songs.
Other compositions from the album performed by the group included the poignant ‘Sam Stone,’ about the death by overdose of a drug-addicted war veteran, with the haunting refrain, ‘There’s a hole in daddy’s arm, where all the money goes,’ referring to heroin and morphine use by Vietnam veterans.
Another cut from the same album was ‘Paradise,’ a bluegrass standard named for a now-defunct town, written by the Illinois-born songwriter for his father and recalls the devastating impact of strip-mining for coal around the Green River in Kentucky.
Maybe it was my imagination or the theatre lighting, but it seemed to me McGarry actually resembled Prine at one stage in the songwriter’s life. Or perhaps it was simply his delivery, what one reviewer termed his ‘affected twang and drawl,’ a suitable tone for country, folk, rhythm and blues. 
Regardless, McGarry first learned about Prine from his father, also a musician, but admitted it was much later that he took a serious interest in his work. “Growing up as a boy, my favourite artists were always Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash,” he said. “It would take about thirty years for me to recognise there was somebody whose music fit between the two.” McGarry described Prine’s songs as “droll, deadpan observations on everyday life, stories so understated you often had to hear them twice to get the joke or the knife stab of fate.”
Reflecting Prine’s keen sense of empathy McGarry sang, ‘Angel from Montgomery,’ about a bored middle-aged woman who feels old and worn out and wants an angel to take her away from everything. Why Montgomery? Mainly because of Prine’s admiration for Hank Williams who had strong ties to that Alabama city. Prine’s songs aren’t all serious social observations, there was also a humorous side to his outlook, as McGarry showed through both fine vocals and guitar-playing in his rendition of ‘Signed, Dear Abbey,’ a reference to the once popular newspaper agony aunt, with amusing lines such as ‘Dear Abby, dear Abby, you won’t believe this, But my stomach makes noises whenever I kiss, My girlfriend tells me it’s all in my head, But my stomach tells me to write you instead.’   
I was delighted when the group performed several of my favorite Prine’s songs, ‘Souvenirs’, about the importance of remembering special moments and his touching love song, ‘You Got Gold.’
Bruised Orange, the title of Prine’s fifth album, also played ‘That’s The Way The World Goes Round’ which emerged from Prine’s urge to move away from cynicism and find a way to get back to a better world, a more childlike one, thus the zany lines, ‘I was sitting in the bathtub, counting my toes, When the radiator broke, water all froze.’
Throughout the show, McGarry was well-supported by an experienced backing group comprising Anthony Toby Cregan (lead guitar, vocals), Derek Matthews (bass & vocals), Shay Carry (percussion) and James Quinn (keyboards), the latter shining solo in ‘Saddle in the Rain’ from Prine’s ‘Common Sense’ album. 
While I would have liked a little more between-song commentary about Prine’s life and more context about the songs themselves, there is no doubting the singing ability and musicianship of this Meath-based group and their admiration for Prine.

Bruised Orange, the John Prine Tribute Band, returned to the Theatre Royal for a blast of a Saturday night. Mike ‘Mack’ McGarry channelled Prine and caught the Americana quirkiness and country rock guitar work that Prine promoted. Early on, there was a shout-out and singalong vibe, and the audience settled into the groove. Anthony Toby Cregan is a guitarist in the Jason Wilber style, with bassist Derek Matthews, Shay Carry on drums, and James Quinn on keyboards, who created a powerhouse country rock sound. They were tight, interactive, and delivered a memorable Saturday night.
Cregan opened the show with some Burt Bacharach, ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’. Lyle Lovett’s ‘She’s No Lady’ was a gem of guitar work, and he topped it off with some Tom Waits with ‘Diamond In Your Mind’ and ‘Picture In A Frame’.
Mack McGarry and band gentled into the music of Prine with the ‘knowing ‘Illegal Smile’ and excelled with ‘Souvenirs’, and the hit for Bonnie Raitt, ‘Angel From Montgomery’ The Americana feel was established with ‘Six O’Clock News’ and the small town masterpiece, ‘Donald and Lydia’. ‘You Gt Gold’ restored the happy, tuneful vibe with a ‘lode of gold’, and ‘Linda Goes To Mars’ was quirky.
‘Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness’ was terrific and evocative to close the first half.
After the interval, McGarry did several songs solo, ‘Dear Abby’, ‘Other Side Of Town’ and ‘Mexican Home’, before being joined by James Quinn on keyboards for the superb ‘Sam Stone’. ‘Hello In There’ touched on old age and retirement, “Old people just grew lonesome”.
‘Please Don’t Bury Me’ was life-affirming, and ‘There She Goes’ rocked towards a finale in which ‘Saddle In The Rain’ and ‘Picture Show’ made powerful statements.
‘Paradise’ was what it promised, and ‘That’s The Way The World Goes Round’ had a reality vibe. ” Up one day, the next, you’re down”.
‘Lake Marie’ was a perplexing pastoral for an encore, but the standing ovation was beautiful.