Remembering John Prine
• Legendary singer-songwriter John Prine, who for five decades wrote rich, plain-spoken songs that chronicled the struggles and stories of everyday working people and changed the face of modern American roots music, died Monday, April 7 at the age of 73. The cause was complications related to COVID-19. Prine’s family confirmed his death to Rolling Stone.
Prine was hospitalized last month after the sudden onset of COVID-19 symptoms, and was placed in intensive care for 13 days. Prine’s wife and manager, Fiona, announced on March 17 that she had also tested positive for the virus after they had returned from a European tour.
As reported by Billboard, Prine’s beautiful songs were covered by countless artists, including Johnny Cash (“Sam Stone”), Bette Midler (“Hello in There”) and Bonnie Raitt (“Angel From Montgomery”), as well as Zac Brown Band (“All the Best”), Miranda Lambert (“That’s the Way the World Goes Round”) and George Strait (“I Just Want to Dance with You”). Prine is also an un-credited co-writer on “You Never Even Call Me by My Name,” which was made famous by David Allan Coe and recorded by many others.
Prine’s last studio album, The Tree of Forgiveness, was released in April 2018, just six months after he was named the Americana Music Association’s Artist of the Year. Prine was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Grammy Awards in January, where he was seen on television with his family, grinning and wearing sunglasses, as Bonnie Raitt sang “Angel From Montgomery.” Last year, Prine was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• Benztown and The Mix Group (password: prine) have both produced audio tributes to John Prine.
