Great Days: The John Prine AnthologyAmazon. com If you buy Great Days: The John Prine Anthology, you may live to regret it. He's probably the best American folk song lyricist of his generation, mixing low key poignancy and deadpan humor in perfect proportions. His musical limitations serve to reinforce the understated nature of his art, and his short, plain spoken lines (written in the offhand conversational style of his Midwestern and Appalachian characters) sneak through the back door