John Prine, Who Chronicled the Human Condition in Song, Dies at 73
Source: New York Times
John Prine, the raspy-voiced country-folk singer whose ingenious lyrics to songs by turns poignant, angry and comic made him a favorite of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and others, died Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He was 73.
The cause was complications from Covid-19, his family said
Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts/music/john-prine-dead.amp.html
Two personal heroes have passed in two days: Al Kaline and John Prine.
2020 sucks!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Sad news.
Bonnie Raitt & John Prine "Angel From Montgomery" | ACL Presents: Americana 18th Annual Honors
I loved hearing the harmony from her.
He burst out of the Chicago folk music scene, where he played club shows while he worked by day as a mail carrier, in the early ‘70s. He received his first major break when Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert walked out of a movie screening and stumbled upon Prine’s set at the local club the Fifth Peg.
“Somebody told him to go in the backroom and listen to this kid,” Prine recalled on NPR in 2018. “I was the kid. And he wrote a full page – ‘Singing Mailman Delivers the Message,’ I think that was the headline…and I never had an empty seat after that.”
His greatest stroke of good fortune came after Prine’s close friend and Chicago folk music contemporary Steve Goodman brought Kris Kristofferson, whose Quiet Knight shows Goodman was opening, to an impromptu late-night performance at another local club. Impressed, Kristofferson later called Prine on stage for three songs at a date at New York’s Bitter End. Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler offered Prine a contract the next day.
“It really was a Cinderella story, truly,” Prine told Billboard in 2017.
https://variety.com/2020/music/news/john-prine-dead-dies-singer-coronavirus-1234574129/
"And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the green river where paradise lay?"
"Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away"
skip
When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am
Two-time Grammy winner John Prine has been named one of the recipients of the Recording Academy’s 2020 Lifetime Achievement Awards. The singer-songwriter, whose self-titled 1971 debut LP was enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015, scored three Grammy nominations last year for his album The Tree of Forgiveness.
Other 2020 Lifetime Achievement honorees are pop-rock group Chicago, singer Roberta Flack, late soul legend Isaac Hayes, punk pioneer Iggy Pop, hip-hop innovators Public Enemy, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member and gospel-rock icon Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A special award presentation and concert celebrating the honorees will take place April 18th at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, with additional details announced in the coming weeks.
Unfortunately John won't be around to receive that award.
I imagine his wife, Fiona, and maybe his sons, will accept the award for him, but since there won't be any award ceremonies this year because of the TRUMP VIRUS 
who knows? 
"Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven Anymore" is one of my favorites:
#newrostrong
The first time I saw him was at a club called 'Red Creek' in Rochester, NY. It was a small venue, maybe 30 tables at the most, and we had the table right in from of the stage, not more than 10 feet away from him. Best show I've ever seen in my life. I'll never forget that night so many years ago. This is so sad. I cry for myself, not John, because he's in a far finer place, but I'll never get to hear anymore music from that wonderful man. It also reminds me of my own mortality, and that's happening much too often lately. John had a few health problems of late, but this one I blame on Donald Trump. As if I needed another reason to hate that mother-fucker!
in the late 70s, early 80s, right around the time 'Bruised Orange' was released. The people I hung around with back then knew about John and his music, we bought his albums (yes, albums! ) but it was the first time we'd seen him live, and what a treat that was. Looking back it doesn't seem that long ago, but time slips away so quickly. I'm really 'gonna miss that guy!
RIP John. Bless you for everything you gave to us.
You gave us so much. You'll be missed.
