We’d still revere John Prine as a songwriting immortal even if he’d only left us “Hello In There,” “Sam Stone” and “Angel From Montgomery.” Just ask Bonnie Raitt or Bob Dylan, just two of many artists who sing his songs. And we’d still curse COVID, even if he were its only casualty.

The Eighth Step honors Prine at Proctors GE Theatre on Friday, Feb. 17 with a film showing and panel discussion. The film – “You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine” – shows us a memorial concert on what would have been Prine’s 76th birthday, October 10, 2022 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the last place Prine called home.

It shows fellow troubadours mourning their friend by singing his songs and recalling him in backstage conversations, including veterans Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, Bob Weir, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle. It also shows the deep respect of younger musicians, including Brandi Carlyle, Tyler Childers, Jason Isbell, the Milk Carton Kids, Kacey Musgraves and more.

Prine’s widow Fiona Whalen Prine produced the film; Michael John Warren directed; and it’s  trailer promises it will be far too much fun to feel as sad as Prine’s death deserves. 

After the 90-minute film, area folk music stalwarts will talk about Prine and the Chicago scene where he transformed himself from mailman who’d hide out in blue sidewalk relay boxes to write songs into a star onstage and on record. Wanda Fischer of the Hudson River Sampler on WAMC, Eighth Step impresario Margie Rosenkranz and troubadour Anne Hills – who came up in the same Chicago clubs and festivals as Prine – will speak of Prine onstage while others will contribute by video.

While the film looks forward by demonstrating the permanent power of his songs, a backward scan across his life and career tells a remarkable story. 

Born near Chicago, Prine adopted the Kentucky homeland of his parents and grandparents as his musical origin point/inspiration. He served in the Army, with stints as mailman before and after, and was discovered by fellow songwriter Kris Kristofferson, then by Atlantic Records chief Jerry Wexler. This launched a sporadic but universally respected output of albums and tours.

Cancer beat up his always-rough voice, but also amplified the emotional power of his songs.

How damn cruel was the fate that he survived cancer only to die of COVID.

In 2009, Bob Dylan told Huffington Post that “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism; midwestern mindtrips to the Nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs.” Dylan, who knows about such things, cited “Lake Marie” as his favorite Prine song.

“Lake Marie” is on Prine’s 1996 album “Lost Dogs + Mixed Blessings.” It appeared 25 years after his self-titled debut that earned his first Grammy nomination with powerfully poignant, casually insightful folk-rock numbers “Paradise,” “Angel from Montgomery,” “Illegal Smile,” “Hello in There” and “Sam Stone.” 

Prine’s press-kit bio touts his four Grammy wins plus a Lifetime Achievement award, three Artist of the Year wins at the Americana Music Honors and Awards, which also added another  Lifetime Achievement Award, for Songwriting. Prine also won the PEN/New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award (2016), joined the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2019) and was named Honorary Poet Laureate of Illinois (2020).

Since Prine’s death, his family created The Hello in There Foundation to honor his spirit of generously helping many in need. Fiona Prine and their sons also manage Prine’s song catalog, most tunes available through his independent record label, Oh Boy Records.

PRIME PRINE

A young John Prine in the studio. Photo provided

Life-size statues of Prine – and his fellow Kentuckians the Everly Brothers – stand in Central City, Kentucky (Muhlenberg County, title of a Prine song). T-shirts, camp flags, collected singles, coffee mugs and, best and most essential of all, 20 albums, are available at https://www.johnprine.com/.

His albums span his self-named 1971 debut to “I Remember Everything” (2020, the year he died) and include “The Best of John Prine” (1976).

Numerous books tell his story or explain his songs:

John Prine: In Spite of Himself June 2017 Eddie Huffman

Join Prine Beyond Words June 2017 (Explanations of songs) 

Prine on Prine: Interviews and Encounters with John Prine Sept. 2023 Holly Gleason 

Living in the Present with John Prine Sept. 2025 Tom Piazza (Piazza appeared at the Saratoga Book Festival to discuss this book in October.)

John Prine – Guitar Songbook (15 songs transcribed for guitar)

“John Prine live from Sessions at west 54th” (2001) collects live performances of 13 songs on DVD; Prine sings onstage with multi-instrumentalist Jason Wilbur, bassist Dave Jacques and singer Irish Dement, a frequent duet partner. 

Prine performed on Austin City Limits eight times and he received the long-running PBS show’s Annual Hall of Fame Honors in 2024.

He played here many times, including with his rocking Lost Dogs Band at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Sept. 22, 1995 with Delevantes. Onstage at the fragile non-smoking Hall, he lamented “I’m dying for a cigarette.” He also played The Egg in 2009 and Albany’s Palace Theatre in 2012 and 2017.

After he played The Egg (Nov. 7, 2009), I reported in the Gazette: “Looking more and more grandfatherly himself, like actor Oskar Homolka portraying a commissar in a dark slab of a suit, with thinning hair, widening everything else and lumpy features, Prine proved himself a consummate carpenter of song, nailing each one.

He spoke of making up ‘Souvenirs’ in the car enroute to an early gig, noting a few songs later that ‘Fish and Whistle’ almost never got written at all and that this could be said of most of his compositions, due to laziness. Maybe so, short term; but cumulatively, Prine is some kind of genius, hammering songs together of simple materials but achieving a monumental permanence.”

Before his 2017 show with Margo Price, I wrote: “Check ‘durability’ in the dictionary, you’ll find Prine’s photo. Recording since 1971, he’s influenced/scared every songwriter in sight: Kris Kristofferson threatened, “He’s so good, we’re gonna have to break his fingers,” and Dylan said, “Nobody but Prine could write like that.” Johnny Cash put Prine in his ‘big four’ with Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark and Steve Goodman, and Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) ranks him with Neil Young and John Lennon. He’s beaten cancer, twice, and keeps writing and singing.”

On Friday, the Eighth Step at Proctors GE Theatre presents “You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine.” 7 p.m. $25 plus Proctors box office fees. 518-434-1703.