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Charles William Prophet (born June 28, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. A Californian, Prophet first achieved notice in the American psychedelic/desert rock group Green on Red, with whom he toured and recorded in the 1980s. He has also recorded a number of solo records, and gained prominence as a musician and songwriter.
After recording one E.P. and eight albums with rock group Green on Red, he released his first solo record Brother Aldo on Fire Records in 1990. It was not released in the U.S. until 1997.
He records and tours with his wife Stephanie Finch, who is a singer, keyboardist and guitarist.
Prophet was signed to New West Records by Peter Jesperson in 2002. He made two records for New West: No Other Love and Age of Miracles. After years of mostly European and UK success, 2002’s No Other Love was a breakthrough record for Prophet stateside due to the success of the summer single "Summertime Thing" and endorsements from Lucinda Williams, who gave him the opening slot for her summer tour.
Prophet was signed to Yep Roc Records in 2007.
Recorded in San Francisco and Nashville, 2007's Soap and Water received critical praise. Prophet toured Europe and North America in support of the album and appeared with his band on the Late Show with David Letterman and Last Call with Carson Daly. To better motivate the various musicians and engineers who were involved in the production of this album, Prophet gave them a stake in the master recordings.
Prophet has contributed to several Kelly Willis records, and produced 2007's Translated From Love for Rykodisc. Willis and Prophet co-wrote six of the album's tracks and Prophet played guitar throughout.
Evangeline Recording Co. released a limited-edition work entitled Dreaming Waylon's Dreams, which he recorded in San Francisco. The record re-creates Waylon Jennings' 1975 country album Dreaming My Dreams in its entirety and features, among others, members of American Music Club and Meat Beat Manifesto. The package and booklet were printed by the legendary Bruce Licher (Savage Republic, Independent Music Project, REM fan club etc.) using a custom letterpress design on original stock. Included in the packaging is a recounting of the events surrounding the recording of the record by close friend John Murry (who also played on the record). Each piece was printed and numbered by hand on a circa 1930's printing press. Dreaming Waylon's Dreams is one of the rarest and most sought-after items in Prophet's discography. It is a limited edition of only 1000. Released by Rounder Records, in 2001, Raisins in the Sun was a one-off collaboration with Jules Shear, Harvey Brooks, Paul Q. Kolderie, Jim Dickinson, Sean Slade, and Winston Watson, recorded in May 1999.
In 2008 Prophet co-wrote all the songs on Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal, to which he also contributed guitar and vocals. The LP was recorded in Lexington, Kentucky and produced by Tony Visconti.
In May 2009, Prophet along with a band of musicians including Ernest "Boom" Carter headed to Mexico City to record a collection of "political songs for non political people". ¡Let Freedom Ring! was released on October 27, 2009, on Yep Roc. Michael Hoinski of The Village Voice compared ¡Let Freedom Ring! to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., citing the recordings as "albums that manifest patriotism through disenchantment, and both rely heavily on marginalized characters to expose socioeconomic woes."
In January 2011, he formed the Spanish Bombs along with Chris Von Sneidern and San Francisco rhythm section The Park. The Spanish Bombs performed The Clash's LP London Calling in its entirety at the Actual Music Festival in Spain. This special project came at the invitation of curators Houston Party. This festival show was followed by a 12-date tour of Spain.
February 7, 2012, was the release date of the Temple Beautiful CD, a "nuanced, insightful and passionate ode to San Francisco" on Yep Roc Records. It was met with positive reviews scoring 82 on Metacritic. The title track, "Temple Beautiful" (featuring Roy Loney of the Flamin' Groovies), was proclaimed "Coolest Song in the World" on Little Stevens Underground Garage.
On March 3, 2013, Prophet played a Benefit Concert at The Great American Music Hall for Tom Mallon, a producer who documented much of the San Francisco Punk scene and went on to produce the early American Music Club records. (Mallon at that time had a brain tumor, which he died of in 2014.) Members of many seminal San Francisco bands played as well including members of American Music Club, Frightwig, Ugly Stick, Flying Color.
On September 23, 2014, Prophet released Night Surfer on Yep Roc Records. The album was met with positive reviews, including a three-and-a-half out of five star rating from All Music Guide.
On February 10, 2017, Prophet released Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins. The album was given four out of five stars from All Music Guide.
On February 19, 2017, he appeared on the BBC Sunday morning political show The Andrew Marr Show singing "Bad Year For Rock and Roll," one of the standout tracks from his latest album Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins.
In 2018, Prophet was tapped to co-write and produce a new LP for The Rubinoos. The album, From Home, released in 2019, was recorded at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, formerly Wally Heider Studios, where the group made some of its first recordings.
Prophet's songs and co-writes have been recorded by many other artists including Alejandro Escovedo, Bruce Springsteen, Solomon Burke, Heart, Michael Grimm, Kim Carnes, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Peter Wolf, Kim Richey, Carter's Chord, SistaStrings, Jace Everett, Arc Angels, Penelope Houston, Julie Christensen, Latin Soul Syndicate, Micky & the Motorcars, Peter Mulvey, Bun E. Carlos, Mark Erelli, Mofro, Kevin Bowe, Calvin Russell, The Cadillac Three, Ryan Hamilton, Chris Knight, Dan Penn and Kelly Willis. He has toured with Memphis producer and pianist Jim Dickinson, who recorded Prophet's "Hungry Town", which was co-written with klipschutz. In Nashville, Tennessee, Prophet and songwriter Kim Richey penned "I'm Gone", a top-40 country hit in 2002 for singer Cyndi Thomson.
Prophet's primary co-writer, over three decades, is klipschutz (pen name of Kurt Lipschutz). Their collaborations on every release starting with Prophet's second solo album, total over 100 songs. On the San Francisco-centric Temple Beautiful (2012), they share credit on every song (and a theatrical musical of this has been written). In 2008, Prophet performed their co-write “Doubter Out of Jesus” on the David Letterman Show. Their writing process starts by sitting "in a small room" and shooting "gloomy looks at each other” (No Depression, 2017). Prophet’s Cumbia-inflected 2024 release Wake The Dead includes 8 Prophet/klipschutz co-writes.
Between 2000 and 2010, the duo stopped writing together due to what has been humorously described by klipschutz as “falling out over money – there was too much of it” and by Prophet as "creative differences".
Prophet and klipschutz have written a full-length theatrical musical, , inspired by Temple Beautiful the album and including characters from the album's songs.
Klipschutz is also a poet. His eight collections include The Erection of Scaffolding for the Re-Painting of Heaven by the Lowest Bidder (1985, o.p.), This Drawn & Quartered Moon (2013), and Premeditations (2019) .
The line-up:
Former members:
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