John Prine, 1946-2020 (updates)

Singer/ songwriter John Prine died on Tuesday from pneumonia complicated by the effects of coronavirus. The image on the right is the cover of The tree of forgiveness, his eighteenth studio album, released almost two years ago.

David Morris, in a major feature on Bluegrass Today, shows the ample reasons why the news of his death 'rocked the bluegrass world as though he was one of our own'. The feature also includes a video of Jim & Jesse performing 'Paradise' in 1976.

BIB readers will have their own favourites among John Prine's songs; the NPR website provides an hour-long playlist in the 'All songs considered' series, under the title 'John Prine's life in 10 songs'.

Update 10 Apr.: 'John Prine: a grief counsellor for our time', a thought-provoking article by Johnny Kauffman, appeared yesterday in the Bitter Southerner online magazine.

Further update: More on John Prine, written by his friends, family members, and collaborators, is appearing on the Bitter Southerner, together with this video.