John Prine is an understated kind of songwriter, one who hits you in the gut before you realize you're listening to more than just a nice acoustic number.

Prine's songs, which have been covered by Bonnie Raitt, Ben Harper, Bette Midler, Billy Bragg and many others, are often tales of sad-sack losers and underappreciated loners.

They're laced with back-handed humour, irony and sometimes heart-wrenching pain -- as in, for instance, Sam Stone, the beautifully told story of an army veteran who comes home and becomes addicted to morphine.

And Prine's delivery is as deceptively laid-back as his material.

Prine started singing in a Chicago bar after stints in the U.S. army and as a letter carrier. Since his self-titled debut in 1971, he has steadily built a devoted audience and won a Grammy, but never had a radio hit -- despite brilliant albums like Lost Dogs And Mixed Blessings, The Missing Years and In Spite Of Ourselves, a collection of covers featuring Iris DeMent and other female duet partners.

Still, to him that's probably a good thing. He once told an interviewer his theory that, "if you've never had a big hit, it's hard to go out of fashion."

John Prine plays Convocation Hall Saturday and Sunday.