Lucky LaRue Trois

So lessee, since i last visited the question of how did John Prine come upon the amazingly perfect name Lucky Larue for his great song I aint hurtin' nobody, in the post now known by me as Lucky Larue Too to distinguish it from my first post on Lucky Larue, an anonymous commenter whose possibly real or possibly pseudonymous name is Scott Nolan (and who might also possibly be a Canadian songwriter to boot) but is in any event the real author of a fine book that I've downloaded & am now about half through reading and enjoying ... on my iPhone, mind you! ... with the arresting title of Argyle Gargoyles: A Darkly Humorous Novel that You Too Should Download from Amazon or B&N ... well, he left a comment suggesting I check out the music of Mr. Frank Trainor, since Trainor had written & recorded a song by the name of Lucky LeRoux ... back in The Comfort Sound Sessions of ... 1981/82.

Being a steel trap, my mind instantly recalled -- at the speed of light! -- that I Aint Hurtin' Nobody wasn't released by Oh Boy Records on Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings until ... 1995. OK, I had to look it up. But still.

So having done that, ladies and gentlemen, I was already on the Nolan Train for Trainor when ... up steps a commentator by the name of ... Frank Trainor! Yes! And HE says well, he says he might not be the source for the name in Prine's song, but then again, he might, to wit, he says:

Hello and Happy New Year.

Just stumbled upon your comments conversation re: Lucky LaRue and thought I’d offer my take on the matter for what it might be worth.

Thanks Anonymous for referencing my song Lucky LeRoux from my 1981 album The Comfort Sound Sessions and indeed, Lucky LeRoux and all songs from that record and many other older recordings, have just been uploaded to YouTube, so lots to hear there now. My Lucky LeRoux story is stranger than fiction. First of all, I actually have an old friend,Lucien "Lucky" LeRoux, a musician now known as Lucien Parkin. He's fine musician/artist, a bit older than me, and he inspired me early on towards my own life as a songwriter/artist. I wrote the song Lucky Leroux in tribute to him in the mid 70’s and around ’79 had an opportunity to pitch a rough worktape demo of it to a Canadian sub-publisher in Canada named Mark Altman. He liked the song and said he thought John Prine might like it and could he send it to him. I was thrilled of course to have such interest from a publisher firstly and honored to know a pitch would be made to John Prine. As far as I was able to determine after that meeting, the song was pitched, but follow up’s were few, so I moved on. This was years before Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody of course but I got a real kick out of the Lucky reference when I heard Prine’s Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody years later and would frequently tell people that John Prine must have indeed been subliminally channeling my Lucky LeRoux song.

Good for a laugh, but as fate would have it, I succeeded in my efforts as a songwriter/artist scoring several country radio hits in Canada in the mid 80’s winning recognition and interest from major publishers in Nashville. I eventually signed to a publisher’s staff as a writer on Music Row in 1987. Around the time of Bug’s start-up office on the row if my memory serves. Indeed, I first met and talked with JP at The Station Inn one night after a gig there and a few times around the Row at BMI and The Bluebird but I have no idea if he ever even heard my Lucky LeRoux song or if the title name factored into his creative processes in any way as there are lots of legendary Lucky LaRue stories out there I’m sure. Tony Hazelton’s old band from his very early days cut a song called Lucky LeRoux as well somewhere along the line in their career, so I harbor no illusions that my Lucky was THE Lucky LaRue in JP’s song despite Canadian publisher Mark Altman’s possible pitch to him years ago.

As Bob Dylan says in Things Have Changed…”lot of water under the bridge…lot of other stuff too”…so I’m just happy to be able to ring in on this theme today ahead of the new year bell and say hello.

The Lucky LeRoux I knew was a real deal and there's a great photo of him that appears at the end of my YouTube clip of Lucky LeRoux so you might enjoy experiencing that.

So my sincere thanks to Anonymous once again for referencing me and my Lucky LeRoux song and my old 1981 album, The Comfort Sound Sessions. I am rather obscure but indeed grateful for the mention.

40 songs from 4 previous production albums all just uploaded to YouTube this week with many more new acoustic flavored songs and audio/visual streaming stuff coming in 2012.

Thank you and all the best to you and yours in the new year.

Frank Trainor
http://www.franktrainor.com/gallery.htm

So ... when we look at this picture ...

are we now looking at the very Lucky LeRoux who inspired Trainor, who inspired Prine, who intrigued me & the many dozens of other Prine fans who drove this very blog to the heights of No. 1 (with a bullet!) when it comes to Google searches for Who Was Lucky Larue?

I think we are!

You're welcome!

Oh -- AND!

I mentioned earlier that I'd let you know if Josh Talley, JP's bookings and publicity guy, got back to me regarding my email about this very Lucky Larue question. Welp, he did, and right quick & kindly too:

Hey Chuck,

Thanks for your support of John Prine throughout the years and for all the hard work on your website. Unfortunately John Prine will not be able to comment on your site at this point in time. He has just done a string of interviews for our new album The Singing Mailman Delivers and is taking some time off from them.

Happy holidays and take care. Sorry we weren't better able to accommodate you as well. Thank you.

Best

Jon Nowak
Oh Boy Records / Al Bunetta Mgmt
33 Music Square West, Suite 102B
Nashville, Tennessee 37203

Lucky LeRoux, Frank Trainor, 1981


Aint Hurtin' Nobody, John Prine, 1995