Tickets for John Prine in concert priced £30 and £32.50 are on sale from Thursday 5th July from www.belfastfestival.com and the Waterfront Hall box office (tel. 90334455) or www.waterfront.co.uk

Further details of this year's Belfast Festival at Queen's programme will be released over the coming months. For further information and to sign up for the festival e-newsletter, please visit www.belfastfestival.com

Celebrated for over 35 years as both a nonjudgmental social commentator and a champion of the common man, John Prine has written numerous classics of country and American folk, which have been covered by artists including Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash.

When Kris Kristofferson introduced Prine at a popular folk club in Chicago in 1971, he gave the ex-mailman and Army mechanic one of the greatest celebrity endorsements of all time: "John Prine is so good," Kristofferson declared in his trademark barfly rasp, "we may have to break his thumbs."

Prine won his first Grammy for 1991's The Missing Years, which featured appearances by Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and consequently became one of his best selling albums to date.


1999 saw the release of the Grammy nominated In Spite Of Ourselves, an album comprised of classic country lovin', leavin', and cheating songs and which featured duets with Lucinda Williams, Trisha Yearwood and Emmylou Harris.


With a twinkle in his eye and his characteristic understatement, Prine continues to attract fans all over the world who closely identify with his emotional sharp shooting:


"It's a great feeling when you put something in a song and other people say that's exactly how they feel. That's the most gratifying thing about songwriting for me: it's always been a real outlet for me, being able to put those feeling down."

If press-clipping tonnage, the good will of devoted fans, and the diehard respect of his peers can measure success, John Prine is a superstar. Critics have wrung their thesauruses dry attempting to do justice to Prine's talents: the way he can pull your leg and tug at your emotions with his laconic wit and frank heart talk; his sharply etched portraits of working-class men and women on the job, at play, and hopefully, at the end of the day, resting in the right pair of arms.

Jackie Entwistle, Marketing Manager with Allianz, said:


"John Prine is one of the biggest names in American music and we are delighted to be working with the Belfast Festival at Queen's in helping to bring him to Northern Ireland. We know that his concert will be a huge success and Allianz are very pleased to have been given the opportunity to provide key support."