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John Prine, a great storyteller through his songs, knew rural America

John Prine, who died Tuesday night of COVID-19, was a songwriter for the ages and for our times. He knew rural America. The only full stanza in The New York Times’ obituary was from “Paradise:

The coal company came with the world’s largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal ’til the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man

For many people in America’s coalfields, that said it all.

Prine, a Chicago native, wrote it about a town in “Western Kentucky, where my parents were born,” one of his hundreds of plain but unusual lines.

But that was the genesis of the story he wanted to tell, and Prine was a superb storyteller: evocative, somber, silly, thoughtful and surprising. His “ingenious lyrics to songs by turns poignant, angry and comic made him a favorite of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and others,” William Grimes writes for the Times. Kristofferson and Steve Goodman were

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John Prine’s music career began when someone asked him, “you think you can do better?” As it turned out, he could.

A vague statement, of course, so for context, Prine – who worked as a mailman in the late ‘60s in Maywood, Illinois – began to sing at open mic evenings at the Fifth Peg on Armitage Avenue. Originally a spectator, reluctant to perform, he eventually did when someone asked him that question, and, as the old cliché goes, a star was born.

Well, depending on your definition of “star,” that is. Truthfully, Prine’s performance of “Sam Stone” was greeted with icy silence, at best, mostly due to the audience being uncomfortable with the “Jesus” line. Prine’s career can’t be measured by that, though, nor can it be determined by a number of hit records; his subject matter was often too brutal and too real for commercial playlists. His talent and appeal can be best described by examining his three top musical influences: Hank Williams, who inspired Prine to write about common folks in their own terse vernacular; Bob Dylan, who inspired Prine to write lyrics that wo

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John Prine

American singer-songwriter (1946–2020)

This article is about the musician. For his debut album, see John Prine (album).

Musical artist

John Edward Prine^[2] (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, Prine was known for his signature blend of humorous lyrics about love, life, and current events, often with elements of social commentary and satire, as well as sweet songs and melancholy ballads. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death.

Born and raised in Maywood, Illinois, Prine learned to play the guitar at age 14. He attended classes at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music.^[3] After serving in West Germany with the U.S. Army, he returned to Chicago in the late 1960s, where he worked as a mailman, writing and singing songs first as a hobby. Continuing studies at the Old Town School, he performed at a student hang-out, the nearby Fi