PORTSMOUTH, NH – Based in San Francisco, Chuck Prophet has been an incredibly versatile musician since the mid-’80s while dabbling in the desert rock and alt-country styles. This approach has garnered him acclaim from both critics and contemporaries, with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Solomon Burke, Heart, Peter Wolf, Mark Erelli, Penelope Houston and many others covering his songs. Prophet has recently switched things up a bit with his latest album, “Wake The Dead,” that came out via Yep Roc Records this past October.
Diving into Latin influences, the record has a really cool vibe while defying classification. As part of his tour in support of the full-length release, Prophet and his backing band, His Cumbia Shoes, are going to be performing Jan. 29 at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth starting at 8 p.
m. Before the making of “Wake The Dead,” Prophet was going through a health crisis with a stage four version of lymphoma taking him off the road and putting him into surgery. It was a time that had him realizing his own mortality for the first time in his life while being forced to stay still, a position that he was very unfamiliar with.
“I was going through a tunnel,” he recalls via a press release. “It was dark, but I had music: music to play, music to listen to, music to get me out of my head. Music was my savior.
” After the ordeal, Prophet went into the studio to work on the album with ¿Qiensave?, a band of brothers who hail from the farming community within .
