Dick Prall ready to shake up CSPS in Cedar Rapids

Dick Prall wears his heart on his sleeve like his musical heroes of a generation ago.

The singer/songwriter's potent alt-rock possesses poetry reminiscent of The Replacements' Paul Westerberg and the hooks of Husker Du.

“The guys in those bands were my Salinger and Kerouac," Prall said by phone from his Des Moines home. "As a kid growing up in Iowa, I went from the Beatles to R.E.M. The great bands from the ’80s had such an impact on me. Much of their music was very punk in its attitude but very pop musically. That music won me over. It still stands up today.”

Prall, 52, will deliver some unreleased tracks and play some old favorites when he returns for a solo show April 15 at CSPS Hall. It's a homecoming of sorts for Prall, who lived in Cedar Rapids from 2015 to 2020, and owned Dick’s Tap & Shake Room in Cedar Rapids. He left just before the pandemic arrived, moving to Des Moines to work in office management.

“I’m looking forward to seeing friends when I come back, and I enjoyed my time there, but I'm very happy living in Des Moines. I work for an amazing company (Workhound). I came here to help with the office and I couldn't be happier,” he said. “I met someone at the start of the pandemic and got married in the fall of 2021. My sister and brother live here. It's been fantastic.”

Prall was slated to perform April 6 at Analog Vault in Cedar Rapids.

“I'm just looking forward to playing out,” he said. “I'll have some vinyl with me for my record store appearance. The last time I played in the area was at CSPS in January of 2020. I can't wait to get back.”

Expect Prall to deliver a number of tracks from his latest album, “Minus Thieves.”

The album was produced by Pat Sansone (Wilco, The Autumn Defense) and Josh Shapera.

“It's still hard to believe that Josh Shapera passed away (in 2020) after he developed cancer after having a liver transplant,” Prall said. “I really enjoyed making that album with him and (producer) Pat (Sansone).”

Prall enjoyed certain aspects of the pandemic. His daughter Elizabeth was attending the University of Pittsburgh virtually and she left Pennsylvania in 2020 to spend two months with her father in Des Moines.

“That was amazing,” Prall said. “We had such a great time. She asked me to make a playlist of songs from the late ’80s and early ’90s. That was truly a golden era. She was blown away by the songs.”

It always goes back to those songs from a bygone era for Prall, but that shouldn't be surprising, since the veteran singer/songwriter is an old-school guy with an old-school name.

“Dick was my father's name,” he said. “He passed away when I was 4 years old. But with the name ‘Dick,’ you couldn't help but get made fun of. Anytime you were introduced there was a chuckle or a joke. The good thing about the name is that it helps you weed through the idiots.

“When I moved to Denver years ago, I worked at this job and nobody knew me, so I went by ‘Richard.’ A year went by and I had so much guilt that I told everybody that they had to call me ‘Dick’. When your name is ‘Dick,’ you take a lot of punches and you learn how to throw them.”