German Afternoons is the ninth album by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 singer and songwriter John Prine

John Prine

John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...

, released in 1986. It features the progressive bluegrass

Progressive bluegrass

Progressive bluegrass is one of two major subgenres of bluegrass music. It is also known as newgrass, a term attributed to New Grass Revival member Ebo Walker. Musicians and bands John Hartford, New Grass Revival, J.D. Crowe and the New South, The Dillards, Boone Creek, Country Gazette, and the...

 band, New Grass Revival

New Grass Revival

New Grass Revival was an American progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles....

.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, critic Jim Smith wrote of the album "...this is a sleepy-town stroll, featuring snappy accompaniment by the New Grass Revival." Music critic Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...

 wrote "... this relaxed, confident album is where Prine comes out and admits he's a folkie... The songs are straightforward and homemade..."

Track listing

1. "Lulu Walls" – 2:37
2. "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" – 3:29
3. "Out of Love" – 3:17
4. "Sailin' Around" – 3:25
5. "If She Were You" – 3:35
6. "Linda Goes to Mars" – 3:06
7. "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" (CD version only) – 3:13
8. "I Just Want to Dance With You" – 3:28
9. "Love, Love, Love" – 3:00
10. "Bad Boy" – 3:28
11. "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" – 3:07
12. "Paradise
    Paradise (John Prine song)
    "Paradise" is a song written by John Prine for his father, and recorded for his 1971 debut album, John Prine. Prine also re-recorded the song for his 1986 album, German Afternoons. The song is about the impact of coal mining both while in activity and what happens to the area around the Green River...
    
    " – 3:28

Personnel

• John Prine
  John Prine
  John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...
  
   – vocals, guitar
• Sam Bush
  Sam Bush
  Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
  
   – mandolin
• Philip Donnelly – guitar
• Stuart Duncan
  Stuart Duncan
  Stuart Duncan is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician...
  
   – fiddle
• Roy Huskey, Jr.
  Roy Huskey, Jr.
  Roy Milton Huskey was a prominent American upright bass player in country music from Nashville, Tennessee. Huskey performed alongside musicians such as Chet Atkins, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, George Jones, Steve Earle, Doc Watson and many others...
  
  – bass
• Alan O'Bryant – vocals
• Jim Rooney – guitar