John Prine, one of our greatest songwriters, passed away yesterday at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. His family confirmed to Rolling Stone that the cause was complications related to Covid-19.
His skill as a songwriter was second to none, upon news of his passing, Bruce Springsteen called him “…the loveliest guy in the world. A true national treasure and a songwriter for the ages.” That sentiment has been echoed throughout his career and while his warmth and humour are often reflected in his love songs, he could equally move an audience to tears with his songs of sorrow and heartbreak.
Despite his skill as a songwriter, it was in the last ten years that his exposure really blossomed which he touched on in his 2018 interview on Folk Radio:
“Well, fortunately, I’m going through a really great period in my life right now,” John smiles. “I’m not sure if everybody can say that when they get to seventy-one, but things are going really great. And I think it’s why I’ve been in no hurry to make a record because in the last ten years my audience has grown something incredible. But you know when it’s ‘I’d like to go see him, but where’s the new record?’ Nobody was saying that and when we played, each time we’d go back to a city, which we try to leave three years between in the US, we would pick up another five, six hundred to a thousand people. And a lot of them were young, and their parents or even grandparents had played my music on car trips. It means that these songs are being passed down through a family, which is a really nice feeling and almost the true meaning of a folk song, being passed individually, instead of through a radio or TV.”
Those songs will continue to be passed on down through generations, he has certainly left us a beautiful legacy. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.