He Did It Without Changing His Tunes

The way things have been going in recent years for singer-songwriter John Prine, it’ll be hard to categorize him as an underdog much longer.

He spent much of his 25-year recording career on the fringes, despite critical acclaim that places him among the top songwriters of the rock era.

But after founding his own record company in 1984, he not only escaped the carousel of frustration that can come with being a major-label recording artist, with his 1991 breakthrough album, “The Missing Years,” he found solid commercial acceptance as well.

“The Missing Years” has sold close to half a million units to date, more than any other Prine album. Its success, which included a Grammy for best contemporary folk recording, was particularly gratifying to Prine, who plays tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, coming as it did at this point in his career.

“It was as big a surprise to me as anybody,” said Prine in a recent phone interview from the Oh Boy office in Nashville. “I was trying hard, but I wasn’t looking for ‘The Missing Years’ to be as big a breakthrough as it was.

“I think a lot of it had to do with the timing. It was the best sounding record I’ve probably ever made due to [producer] Howie Epstein, and I had a really good collection of songs, but it was also just the right time for it,” he said. “People wanted it.”

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While Prine, 49, has often asserted that he was never interested in huge stardom and is not bitter about the lean years, he fesses up to taking delight in finally being able to thumb his nose at the record-industry bigwigs who doubted him.

“A long, loud ‘nyah-nyah’ is what it is,” he said with a chuckle. “It kind of makes sense to me that we’d be able to find a way to sell my records on my own terms rather than have some marketing genius come up with ideas. It seems right to me.”

Prine’s momentum didn’t stop with “The Missing Years” either. Last year’s follow-up, “Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings” has been selling at a similar rate, has garnered more rave reviews and has found a warm reception on adult-alternative radio.

It’s a louder, busier and perhaps less-satisfying affair than “The Missing Years” but still full of Prine’s uniquely tongue-in-cheek brand of humor and intelligence.

“I’m happy with it in a different sort of way than ‘The Missing Years,’ ” he said. “We went after making a lot bigger-sounding record, and it’s been doing real good.

“This one’s sold about 200,000 and it’s only been out about 10 months,” he added. “It’s basically doing right around what ‘The Missing Years’ was at the same time. After so many years, I was pretty well satisfied with what my records sold, about 75,000 each.

“It seemed like just about everyone who bought the records would come to the shows. We were playing nice venues, people were coming out to hear the songs, so you figure, ‘Whatever.’ But, Jesus, now we’re picking up people that haven’t bought a record in years; we’re picking up totally new fans.”

For concert-goers unfamiliar with his earlier work, Prine has been steering them to a 1993 two-disc retrospective that Rhino Records issued. It’s a lovingly compiled, extensively annotated set that includes such Prine gems as “Sam Stone,” “Hello in There,” “Paradise” and “Dear Abby.”

“Man, I thought that was real sweet,” he said. “I like it a whole lot--in fact, I recommend it to people who come up after a show and say they’re just getting into my stuff. It doesn’t do Oh Boy any good, but it has stuff from all the different records.”

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Prine is now working on collecting unreleased older material for a 25th anniversary album to be released on his own label.

“It’ll probably be released by the end of the year--the idea behind it is a 25th anniversary, and if I wait any longer it’ll be a 26th anniversary, which just isn’t the same,” he sniggered.

“I found one tape I made when I was 19 that’s like a job resume or something. I said my name, how old I was and yes sir, I wrote these songs and I sing ‘em. Man, I sound like I’m about 12 years old.”

And when will an album of new material be released? Prine works at a notoriously slow pace, and seems in no rush to get anything out too soon.

“It seems like I run from writing,” he said. “I’m always interested in it, but I hate to think I have to write so many songs or anything. I sit around and wait for one to come to me that really speaks to me, and that usually leads to about two or three others. Then I’ll wait again.

“Right after you do a batch of songs you really like, it feels like you’re never gonna write again,” he said. “I really don’t know anything more about it now than I did 25 years ago.”

* John Prine and Heather Eatman perform tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. 8 p.m. Sold out. (714) 957-0600.