43 Facts About John Prine

John Edward Prine was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music.

John Prine was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death.

John Prine was known for an often humorous style of original music that has elements of protest and social commentary.

John Prine attended classes at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music.

The acclaim John Prine earned from his first LP led to three more albums for Atlantic.

Widely cited as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, John Prine was known for humorous lyrics about love, life, and current events, as well as serious songs with social commentary and songs that recollect sometimes melancholy tales from his life.

John Prine was the son of William Mason John Prine, a tool-and-die maker, and Verna Valentine, a homemaker, both originally from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.

John Prine started playing guitar at age 14, taught by his brother, David.

John Prine was a US Postal Service mailman for five years and was drafted into the United States Army during the Vietnam War era, serving as a vehicle mechanic in West Germany before beginning his musical career in Chicago.

In 1970, Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert heard him by chance at the Fifth Peg and wrote the first review John Prine ever received, calling him a great songwriter:.

John Prine appears on stage with such modesty he almost seems to be backing into the spotlight.

John Prine became a central figure in the Chicago folk revival, which included such singer-songwriters as Steve Goodman, Michael Peter Smith, Bonnie Koloc, Jim Post, Tom Dundee, Anne Hills, and Fred Holstein.

John Prine was offered a one-album deal of covers and with a few of his original songs, by Bob Koester from Delmark Records, but decided the project was not right for him.

In 1971, John Prine was playing regularly at the Earl of Old Town.

John Prine's second album, Diamonds in the Rough, was a surprise for many after the critical success of his first LP; it was an uncommercial, stripped-down affair that reflected John Prine's fondness for bluegrass music and features songs reminiscent of Hank Williams.

Highlights of the compilation include the allegorical "The Great Compromise", which includes a recitation and addresses the Vietnam War, and the ballad "Souvenirs", which John Prine later recorded with Goodman.

John Prine refused to take a songwriter's credit and Goodman received sole credit.

In 1975, John Prine toured the US and Canada with a full band featuring guitarist Arlen Roth.

In 1981, rejecting the established model of the recording industry, which John Prine felt exploited singers and songwriters, he co-founded the independent record label Oh Boy Records in Nashville, Tennessee.

John Prine's fans, supporting the project, sent him enough money to cover the costs, in advance, of his next album.

John Prine's songs continued to be covered by other artists; the country supergroup The Highwaymen recorded "The 20th Century Is Almost Over", which had been written by Prine and Goodman.

Steve Goodman died of leukemia in 1984 and John Prine contributed four tracks to A Tribute to Steve Goodman, including a cover version of Goodman's "My Old Man".

In 1991, John Prine released the Grammy Award-winning The Missing Years, his first collaboration with producer and Heartbreakers bassist Howie Epstein.

The title song records John Prine's humorous take on what Jesus did in the unrecorded years between his childhood and ministry.

John Prine followed it up in 1999 with In Spite of Ourselves, which was unusual for him in that it contained only one original song ; the rest were covers of classic country songs.

John Prine recorded a version of Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home" in 2004 for the compilation album Beautiful Dreamer, which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2004.

In 2016, John Prine released For Better, or Worse, a follow-up to In Spite of Ourselves from 1999.

The exhibit featured a pair of cowboy boots and jacket that John Prine often wore on stage, his personal guitar, and the original handwritten lyric to his hit, "Angel From Montgomery".

On February 8,2018, John Prine announced his first new album of original material in 13 years, titled The Tree of Forgiveness, would be released on April 13.

The last song John Prine recorded before he died was "I Remember Everything", released on June 12,2020, alongside a music video.

John Prine was married to bassist Rachel Peer from 1984 to 1988.

John Prine met Fiona Whelan, who later became his manager, in 1988.

John Prine moved from Ireland to Nashville in 1993, and they were married in 1996.

John Prine had a home, and spent part of the year, in Kinvara, Galway, Ireland.

In early 1998, John Prine was diagnosed with squamous-cell cancer on the right side of his neck.

John Prine had major surgery to remove a substantial amount of diseased tissue, followed by six weeks of radiation therapy.

In 2013, John Prine underwent surgery to remove cancer in his left lung.

John Prine died on April 7,2020, of complications caused by COVID-19 at the age of 73.

John Prine is widely regarded as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.

John Prine has been referred to as "the Mark Twain of songwriting".

John Prine's influence is seen in the work of younger artists, whom he often mentored, including Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, Tyler Childers, and Robin Pecknold.

John Prine won four Grammy Awards out of 13 nominations, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The week after his death, John Prine hit number one on Billboards Rock Songwriters Chart because his singles all charted in the top 25 of the Hot Rock Song Chart.