4/14/20 RIP John Prine (10/10/1946 - 4/7/2020)
13Well, I guess it is finally time for me to address the loss of one of America’s great troubadours.
John Prine passed away on 4-7-2020 in Nashville of COVID 19 complications. While I was never a big country fan, John’s music has resonated with me for almost 50 years.
Those of you aware of the folk/protest scene in the 60’s and 70’s will remember him for songs like
His lyrics and story lines were amazing, and he had several songs that became legendary, such as:
made even more poignant as he aged and the “lines wore on his face”
and the beautiful ode to the loss of place caused by mining/enterprise (skip to 2:10 if you must, but the lead-in is equally evocative.)
Some of his songs were picked up by others who made them their own:
If you haven’t ever heard of John, take this opportunity while you are sequestered at home to get to know him. If you do know him, now is the perfect time to re-visit his body of work. While he never was a huge commercial success, he left his mark on the music scene and made the world a bit better place to be.
Sleep well John. You were a treasure and will be missed.
- 4 comments, 1 reply
- Comment
He got a post in the RIP topic… but he’s worth his own topic. So thx.
Perhaps a few folks will discover how much they love his work.
@f00l yeah, that was my hope. Several of my daily missives have been addressed at least tangentially in other parts of this site, but I have resurrected/recycled them for my own pleasure…
I spent the day yesterday working outside and revisiting his body of work. It still rings true after all these years, even if his later work gets a bit ‘country’ for my tastes.
Flashback Blues by John Prine … da best!
I think you long-time fans of his will enjoy this…
So, I grew up with very little exposure to American folk/country music. Plus, hardly ever went to concerts or music festivals of any kind.
Last year (early 2019), I see an ad somewhere promoting that Paul Simon is having a farewell tour, and the next-to-last stop will be close to where I live. I generally like music of all sorts, and I remember watching a special of his somewhere and admiring the way he fuses styles from across the globe. So off we went to the first concert of our marriage.
We enjoyed the experience so much that we went to two other concerts (different artists) in short order. Enjoying each subsequent one more and more.
Then, around late November, I get an email from Ticketmaster suggesting the early December concert of this artist I might be interested in.
It was some fellow named John Prine.
The photo was a simple yet gripping portrait of a man who looked like he’d been through a lot in life.
The venue was one of the smaller ones in town, but known for its fantastic acoustics. “Now who could this poor old guy be?” I wondered. Never heard of him, at- allll.
Following my whims, I naively figured, “you know it’d be great to go to the small concert of some totally unknown dude just trying to make ends meet doing what he loves.” Then I went to look at the ticket prices, and whoa! Not exactly cheap… but not ridiculous either. Who exactly is this old fella??
At this point I finally googled “John Prine”… and you can imagine the absolute wake-up call that I was greeted with! Lol! I’m actually chuckling as I type this!
After some quick reading, particularly about how admired he was by well-known names such as Dylan, Cash, Raitt, etc. “Well, let’s give him a listen!” and off I went to click play. I was obviously hooked… I started binge listening and without knowing a single thing about his repertoire nor classics, was immediately captivated by “Hello in there” and “Summer’s end”. When I stumbled across “Sam Stone” I got my kids together (between 10 and 15) and explained the lyrics to them. His lyricism is astonishing; apparently terse, yet tear-jerkingly-profound.
Unfortunately, work had me travelling far too much during the week of the scheduled concert day and I just wouldn’t be able to make it. But I did keep on listening.
Having by then learned of his cancer battles, I was really concerned when the news of him getting COVID was announced, and of course, you all know the end of that battle. CBS has a great bio piece of him touring a reporter through his house and they visit a guitar shop too. Really a great watch.
Coincidentally, before reading your post just now, I had already planned to listen to Summer’s End earlier tonight, but my kids insisted on more talk time without music, and so, like the concert, I left it for later. This time things are looking much better that I’ll get to hear him, though.
Sorry for the novel!
No need to apologize from my point of view. Thanks for sharing your voyage of discovery.
I initially heard JPs work in the early '70s when he released his first album. I wore the groove off that vinyl, listening to Sam Stone, Hello in There, and Paradise plus ALL the rest of the tracks so many times over the years. It is still one of my go to albums when I am mowing etc. and have time to listen to the imagery.
As you say, he was an amazing lyricist, and is definitely one of the artists I listen to that I would have loved to have a beer with and talk about life.
I am particularly taken by the fact that you are sharing his music with your kids. That ROCKS! His legacy will live on…